Niente rose per OSS 117

1968's French-Italian "OSS 117 Double Agent" aka "OSS 117 Murder for Sale" (Pas de Roses pour OSS 117 or No Roses for OSS 117) was the 5th entry in the 60s OSS series, director Andre Hunebelle at the helm for the 4th time, location shooting in Rome and Tunisia. The first two actors cast as Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath aka OSS 117, Kerwin Mathews and Frederick Stafford, both played the role twice, the latter unavailable as he was busy filming Alfred Hitchcock's "Topaz." By sheer coincidence, the one chosen to replace Stafford for this lone entry was "Psycho" leading man John Gavin, just good enough to catch the attention of producer Albert Broccoli until Sean Connery returned to the 007 fold for "Diamonds Are Forever." Perhaps the finest cast assembled for any OSS title begins with luscious Luciana Paluzzi, only three years removed from the biggest Bond blockbuster, "Thunderball," Curt Jurgens still a decade away from Roger Moore's "The Spy Who Loved Me," add Margaret Lee as leading lady and a regrettably brief naked cameo from Rosalba Neri for additional eye candy, plus the welcome return of villainous Robert Hossein (from "Shadow of Evil"), and there are the makings of a film almost as good as Stafford's "OSS 117 Mission for a Killer." Hubert impersonates a notorious assassin to infiltrate 'The Organization,' keeping their paid killers in line via a slow acting poison, for without the antidote administered by Hossein's cold hearted Dr. Saadi they are certain to perish. Curt Jurgens is in familiar form as the criminal mastermind known as 'The Major,' George Eastman his main henchman, assisted by beautiful doctor Luciana Paluzzi, who sadly vanishes from the picture after the phony 'vaccine.' Hubert's assignment is to cause a rift between warring tribes eager to sign a peace treaty, foiling the plot by kidnapping the intended victim and replacing his 'corpse' prior to the fatal explosion, Margaret Lee a delightful love interest and damsel in distress (apparently on loan from Harry Alan Towers). The plot tends to move in fits and starts, one impressive early scene with Hubert forced to fight while preserving his unclothed modesty, the climactic rooftop skirmish falling short much like its wicked protagonist (a soft jazzy music score is no help either). This 60s series could not lay claim to be classics but they weren't cheap ripoffs either, just diverting enough to offer solid fare for undiscriminating viewers.

Not as entertaining as the first in the series , but stiil amusing entry in Oss 117 series with John Gavin as absolute starring . While I didn't enjoy as much as the first in the series this Oss 117 installment results to be an acceptable film into the Eurospy subgenre , whose origin was the James Bond movies and especially : James Bond against Dr. No and From Russia with love by Terence Young . In this one, our starring is posing as a ruthless crook to penetrate into a terrorist organization led by a nasty boss , Curd Jurgens who played the main villiain in Guy Hamilton's The spy who loved me , and his cohorts , Doctor Saadi : Robert Hossein and a tall henchman : George Eastman . Along the way Gavin runs into a pack of baddies who intent on stopping him .Meanwhile , John Gavin falls for 3 beautiful damsels : The Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi , Rosalba Neri , and Margaret Lee .

Typical Euro spy movie with ordinary ingredients : thrills , noisy action , fights, fantastic gadgets along with strange artifacts , simple helicopters and explosive women . It has some flaws and gaps , as it does tend to get a bit old , including repetitive nature of some fight scenes , but it has big fun , so it cares . John Gavin gives a passable acting as a brave secret agent who infiltrates an criminal organization that especializes in political assassinations by assuming the identity of one of its top killers . Gavin has an easy going air about him that makes him great to see . Gavin starred two classics for Douglas Sirk : Imitation to life and A time to love and a time to die . However , he followed to play secondary roles in Spartacus , Throughly Modern Millie and Pycho , TV series , until his death at 86 . He is well accompanied by a brilliant enemy , Curd Jurgens , and a suitable villain doctor , Robert Hossein. Along with a plethora of Italian secondaries , usual in Spaghetti and Peplum , such as the hunk George Eastman , Renato Baldini , Emilio Messina , Roberto Messina and the always present Piero Lulli . And 3 luscious , bombshell girls : Luciana Paluzzi , Margaret Lee , Rosalba Neri.

It packs a cololorful and evocative cinematography in terrific locations from Tonino Delli Colli, Pasolini' s ordinary cameraman . And atmospheric musical score in jazzy style of the sixties and seventies by Piero Piccioni . This motion picture titled OSS 117 murder for sale or No flowers for OSS 117 (or one of the other half dozen names this movie goes by) was regular but professionally directed by Andre Hunebelle , and it definitively worth checking out if you are a fan of Euro spy genre . Andre was a craftsman who used to direct to Kerwin Matthews , Jean Marais and Louis De Funes in various films ; as he made several watchable pictures of all kinds of genres as drama , comedies such as : Casino de Paris , Massacre Dentellos ; adventures , Swashbucklers , many of them starred by Jean Marais : 3 musketeers , Return 3 Musketeers , Mysteries Paris , The hunchback , The captain , Les Charlots mousquetaires , Adventures Cadet Rouselle , Mission Tanger , and especially known for Fantomas Trilogy : Fantomas , Fantomas returns and Fantomas vs Scotland Yard .

The series based on novels written by Jean Bruce begin with "0SS is not dead"1955 by Jean Sacha with Ivan Desny , Magali Noel. " 0ss 117 unleashed" by Andre Hunebelle with Kerwin Matthews, Irina Demick . " Panic in Bangkok" 1964 by Andre Hunebelle with Kerwin Matthews , Robert Hossein , Pier Angeli. "Oss 117 Fury in Bahia" 1965 with Frederick Strafford , Raymond Pellegrin, Mylene Demengeot. "Oss 117 Terror in Tokyo" 1966 by Michral Boisrond with Frederick Stafford, Marina Vlady ."Oss117 Vendetta of spies" 1979 by Pierre Kalfon with Luc Merenda ,Elsa Martinelli , Genevieve Grad. "Oss117 Tue Le Taon" 1971 by Andre Leroix with Alan Scott. And "Oss 117 El Cairo nest of spies" and "Oss 117 lost in Rio" by Michael Hazanavicious with Jean Dujardin , Beatriz Bejo.

The American Secret Service sends their best agent, OSS 117, to investigate a number of political murders that the police was not able to prevent. Disguised as a ruthless killer, 'William Chandler', OSS 117 will penetrate the terrorist organization just when it is preparing the murder of Heindrich Van Dyck, the UN delegate to the Middle-East peace process. OSS 117 will use a fake killing of Van Dyck, and substitute corpses, trying to dupe the criminal master mind, Dr. Saadi.

Only, the Major is too clever, abducts Aicha, and OSS 117 must fight both for his life (as he must take a daily antidote for a drug he was injected with), Aicha's endangered life, and passing the information of the whereabouts of the terrorists headquarters to the Army before it's too late... Too much for OSS 117?

To get Bond villain Stromberg and Bond bad girl Fiona Volpe (Curd Jorgensen and Lucianna Palluzzi) in one film is quite a feat, and the Bond connection doesn't stop there - John Gavin, who was James Bond for a short time and was meant to be in Diamonds are Forever, plays the hero, acquits himself quite well; he's athletic, thinks on his feet, has a smoothness, especially with the ladies, and has a sense of humour. There's some good one liners.

OSS 117: murder for Sale is a decent Eurospy film which moves quite leisurely, the plot has some sort of drive, the production values are good - it's not a spy spoof, though, but there's some gadgets like the canister linked to a helicopter spewing sleeping gas, a lie detector device, the rooms in the château which are inescapable ( well, not for our hero), and a lethal injection contain slow acting poison- the hero is injected with this and has to have an antidote at certain times. This is done so he would comply and do the assassination and not run off- nice idea, a neat hook. Nice looking girls, scenic Tunisian location. The music can be annoying, though. Remember seeing this on LWT in 1991 ( UK TV)

....So OSS 117 has nothing to complain about.Director André Hunebelle ,who used to direct Jean Marais in watchable swashbucklers had become a spy thriller drudge. It's his fourth Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath (OSS 's real name ,for those who care) .He used first Kerwin Matthews ,then Frederick Stafford .

The cast of "Pas de Roses..." is by far the most interesting: gathering one of his talented compatriots (Robert Hossein) earnest German thespian Jürgens,an ex-James Bond Girl (Luciana Paluzzi,remember Fiona Volpe?)and John Gavin ,the hero of Douglas Sirk's last great works ("Imitation of life" (1959) and " a time to love and a time to die") not to mention "psycho" where he was completely overshadowed by Perkins anyway.

The story is routine itself but there are some good ideas ,such as the poison .More somber than "furia à Bahia" but,unlike the precedent 0SS, humorless.

Like this?Try these (James Bond " A La Française")

"OSS 117 se déchaine" Hunebelle 1963

"Banco à Bangkok pour 0SS 117" Hunebelle 1965

"Furia à Bahia pour 0SS 117 " Hunebelle 1965

"Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117" Boisrond 1966

James Bond style film made in Europe -that is professionally made but without the Hollywood touch that gave James Bond series or -in a minor way- Matt Helm ones their lust. Maybe John Gavin was not the best choice for the role -even him seems to think he is miscast- and his acting is unconvincing. Curd Jürgens is totally wasted as the villain with only a couple of scenes and not much to do with them. Margaret Lee with her limited acting abilities does not convince as the lady in distress. The film also lacks of some humoresque touches and when -scarcely- they do appear seem to be out of place.Fight scenes are rather bad (maybe with the exception of the last one on the mansion roof). They could have got the most out of the poison/antidot matter: it is supposed that a so experienced secret agent would surely expect some trick about it and consequently had a better plan far than expecting a last minute antidot that could finally not be such so. Plot is rather poor and characters too plain to succeed. Maybe a better script and dialogues and a more talented director's work would have made a better film but that's something we will never know. By the way, the blu ray edition is really nice: bright colors emphasizing fab. locations and high definition image that sometimes give the impresion of watching a 3D movie. The OSS117 series had two enjoyable same style remake versions in 2006 (OSS117: Le Caire nid d'espions) & 2009( OSS117: Rio ne répond plus), both directed by Michel Hazanavizius with Jean DuJardin as Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath -same team that did The Artist.