Segretissimo

This is another Eurospy which doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be taken seriously or be a comedy, and thus fails to do either.

Did they start out wanting to make a serious Bond knockoff, only to have a change of heart and try to switch to a spoof? Or did they just realise that what they had made was sub-par and decide that their only chance was to and try to dress it up as a spoof, in the hope of salvaging something from the wreckage? Or is it just an attempted spoof that isn't very funny? Movie spying before Bond was generally a serious business and Bond still took itself seriously, but also introduced more glamorous and fanciful elements. However many also felt the franchise crossed the line into parody and the "Spy Spoof" became a fad.

The opening credits of this one strongly suggest it is going to be a comedy, but after that proceedings are mainly played straight, apart from a frequent and annoying "boing" sound effect in the sound track. There are other random moments which might be interpreted as humorous, but they are few and far between.

The MacGuffin is a pile of Nazi secret documents from the war that could contain information which may either be useful or just embarrassing to various parties. Someone has smuggled them out from behind the Iron curtain, but now they have gone missing and everyone wants to find them. The Americans assign Gordon Scott to the task.

Gordon Scott has boyish good looks and a genial nature, but doesn't really display the level of sophistication expected from an "International Man of Mystery". Magda Konopka does better, as the woman who is not what she seems, on the other hand Aurora de Alba's character starts out promisingly but is then underutilised and fades into the background. The villains are numerous but largely undistinguished.

Exotic locations include Casablanca, Rome and Naples, none of which are used particularly imaginatively.

At first the plot develops adequately enough, however eventually it becomes apparent that the makers only have half a script and don't know what to do with the middle section of the film.

Some of the individual action scenes are top notch, but taken together do not add up to a satisfactory whole. The characters end up going around in circles much time, without really moving the story forward. Over and over Gordon leaves the hotel, gets ambushed, fights his way out (or not) and eventually returns to the hotel dishevelled. Moments later he is off again, eventually with the same result. The villains get the drop on him, then he turns the tables and so it goes on, like deja-vu all over again. The villains also deploy several versions of the customary "over-elaborate method of executiing the hero" gambit.

The ending is something of a "The Spy Who Loved Me" scenario. It turns out there's only one competent agent in this film and it's not Gordon Scott, its International Woman of Mystery, Magda Konopka, who's been representing Russian interests. It is she who really succeeds in carrying out her mission, leaving Gordon in the dust in the process.

However she takes pity on him in the end, and is waiting patiently in bed in his hotel room when he finally makes his way back to the hotel for the umpteenth time, looking much the worse for wear, as usual.

No wonder Gordon decide to retire after this one!

Action is good and satisfying I would have to say. Careful of a topless scene at the very end when he meets her in bed. Rec. by Eurospy Guide by Matt Blake/David Deal.

Below average Italian/Spanish co-production with regular ingredients of the Euro-spy genre. A man escapes from a Russian prison and then from a United States embassy, taking with him some very important top secret information from both sides. An ex-Nazi flying ace escapes a Russian prison camp and defects to the West. Doubts as to his real identity mean he is kept under observation, but he's allowed access to his family's estate. Once there, he retrieves some important documents and disappears. Secret agent John Sutton (Gordon Scott) is called in to retrieve them and , of course, bang a couple of European babes (Magda Konopka, Aurora del Alba) , while confronting hoodlums .

Run-of-the-mill setup shows us the adventures of the secret agent John Sutton going after the megalomaniac enemies. American agent John Sutton is tasked with a hard mission, but soon finds himself entangled in a complex conspiracy, involving more than one beautiful woman. Though Scott is suitably dashing, even he can't inject much interest into the ridiculous and rambling plot, which mostly consists of Gordon Scott walking into various settings and pissing off henchmen so that he can beat them up and get info from them. This incidents are broken up with a few liaisons with beautiful women, Magda Konopka , Aurora del Alba , no better or worse than others appearing in the Euro-spy genre. However , the film is marred by silly set pieces and an embarrassing plot . There's some diverting and hilarious scenes , here and there . The more obvious gags see Konopka stealing a truck from a service station with a tiger in the back and Scott interrupting a film crew shooting a movie called Agent Secret 0077 . Gordon Scott played the hunk spy John Sutton in his usual style . But he was a known Peplum actor , in fact in great number of movies was randomly assigned the identity of Hercules , Goliath ,Samson or here Aron for U. S. viewing . Gordon was an American bouncing who emigrated Europe where starred several Tarzan movies , subsequently was to Italy and created a true star-system based on pumped-up heroes. Gordon Scott and specially Steve Reeves paved the way for others actors to seek their fame and fortune in Italy playing stocky adventurers . Other stars by the time on this type of movies are Mark Forest, Gordon Mitchell, Dan Vadis, Brad Harris, Ken Wood ; furthermore 'Gordon Scott' who made more important competence to Steve Reeves . Nobody, nevertheless, topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . Gordon Scott played other epic characters : ¨ , ¨Gladiator of Rome¨ , ¨Hero of Rome¨ , ¨Hercules and Princess of Troy¨ , ¨Conquest of Micene¨ , though also made some Spaghetti as ¨The tramplers¨ and ¨Buffalo Bill ¨, Spy-genre as ¨Secretissimo¨and ¨Death ray¨ and of course his famous Tarzan movies as ¨Tarzan's greatest adventure¨, ¨Tarzan's Fight for Life¨ , ¨Tarzan and the hunters¨ and ¨Tarzan and the trappers ¨ , among others . And Scott played another Euro-spy in similar style , titled : ¨Nido de espías (1967)" playing a secret agent to save the world from the barely described evil spy organization and chasing the kidnappers of the inventor of a death ray. Being well accompanied by gorgeous Magda Konopka who appeared as comic book villainess 'Satanik' (1968), had a supporting role in Hammer's 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth' (1970) and did some guest slots in UK TV in shows like 'Department S' and 'The Persuaders' .

It displays an atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Emilio Foriscot shot in various filming locations in Casablanca, Morocco , Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Naples , Rome , Italy . The motion picture was regularly directed by Fernando Cerchio who often used pseudonym Fred Ringold . He was a prolific craftsman who had a long career in cinema, working on comedies with veteran Italian star Toto, Westerns, Peplum and whose higlights include 'Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile' (1961) with Vincent Price and 'll Marchio Di Kriminal' (1968). He written/directed several action/adventure/ mini-epics movies , such as : 1968 Los Cuatro Budas De Kriminal , 1967 Secretísimo , 1964 Totó against the Black Pirate ,1963 Totò and Cleopatra , 1962 The red mask , 1962 Daggers of blood , 1962 Totó versus Maciste , 1961 Queen of Nile , 1960 Il Sepolcro Dei Re , 1959 Giuditta and Oloferne , 1957 La Venere Di Cheronea , 1957 Desert lovers , 1957 Mysteries in Paris , 1955 I Quattro Del Getto Tonante , 1954 El Vizconde De Bragelonne , 1952 Il Bandolero Stanco and Son of Lagardere .

After Tarzan, Maciste, Goliath, Hercule, Zorro, nice likeble guy Gordon Scott tries the James Bond fashion. Polish sexy blonde Magda Konopka is a very contradictory partner, now she hits him, now she loves him, now runs away from him, now she falls into his arms. The story is super stupid but still has some a little bit of charm and one hour and 34 minutes pass quite quickly. Just for eurospy enthusiasts.