Baraka sur X 13

I have seen almost all of the Euro-Spy movies made during the James Bond craze. They all are not as great as the original but all have "something" unique to offer. Baraka X-13 is no exception. There is lots to see here as our Hero tries to solve a crime of industrial intrigue. It is just plain FUN to watch.

In the wake of James Bond' s unprecedented success in the field of the spy thriller,Maurice Cloche ,like so many others,jumped on the bandwagon,he who began his career in....1937.In -to put it mildly - an uneven filmography ,he made some estimable works such as "Le Petit Chose" and his admirable "Monsieur Vincent" ;the late fifties found him lost in a world of pimps , prostitutes and gangsters.

"X13" is his second spy thriller ,after his Coplan (1964) and before his "Vicomte " (1966).

The hero,Serge Vadile " X13 " was renamed X77 (X double 7,to look like you-know-who) and "Baraka pour" became "orders to kill" ,which sounds like " license to kill";besides,the action often takes place in a clinic ,with bandages galore,a la "thunderball".All this to try and crack the commercial coconut of the international market.

Although full of implausibilities (after being flogged till he bleeds,X13 makes short work of three opponents ),this spy flick is probably the most pleasant of the trilogy :its principal ,Gérard Barray ,was a very talented actor,handsome and dynamic,with a good sense of humor;like his director ,he had to retrain into the spy thrillers,after having been a sword hero in swashbucklers;Sylva Koscina is a nurse many a patient would like to have ,but her part is decorative ;she even says towards the end "I'm bored " after the secret agent has told him for the umpteenth time "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes ....".

This is a far-fetched story which revolves around the key to a professor code ;the only (relatively ) original idea is Ingrid 's role (Agnes Spaak),Vadile's collaborator ,who falls for a man and continues to love him even when she learns he is an enemy.

The original title means " X13 got lucky"

Baraka X-77 is a neglected but worthy spy flick, overlooked due to Bond mania. Fans of the genre should readily take to handsome Gerard Barray as he works to foil an international plot. Unlike the Bond films, this one is a bit more believable as it relies less on fantastic gadgetry and special effects. The agility and endurance, as well as the charm of Barray's character are the main ingredients which he has in abundance. The sinister deliberate arrangement of the initial passenger plane crash effectively opens the film on an intense, dark note. The action and pace never let up and there are some unforgettable sequences such as Barray fighting a blonde female spy dressed in a nightgown who is expert enough in judo type combat to take him down several times and throw him around the room before she's bested. There are several brutal killings and a memorable, heavy-duty torture and flogging scene of Barray. The main fault of the film is the awful inappropriate music which accompanies much of the action resulting in an unfortunate, rather silly Keystone Kops tone. The cutting is frequently maladroit, with transitions jerky rather than fluid. But in spite of these flaws Baraka X-77 is thoroughly entertaining and will win the dashing continental Barray many new fans who don't already know him or his work.

Gerard Barray must protect a scientist and his new invention. The invention is another super fuel that will `advance the exploration of space by ten years' and the plot devolves to stopping the bad guys from blowing up a factory where the invention is being worked on.

Barrray is actually quite good in the role of a secret agent. He has the qualities required to seamlessly blend humor and determination and his dark good looks are softened by an impish gleam in his eye. He previously played a spy in Gibraltar (64). His love interest here is Manya played by the lovely Sylva Koscina who graced several other spy pictures as well. Here she plays a nurse who falls for Barray and joins him not only in bed but on several adventurous episodes. The more of her the better.

The bulk of the Georges Garvarentz score consists of an annoying zither theme but there is one nice jazz tune played on a radio. So, overall this is an enjoyable film even if has been made nonsensical by the dubbing into English.

This film begins with a man planting a canister of knockout gas on a passenger airplane in flight and after retrieving some scientific papers from a highly regarded rocket scientist parachuting out just before the aircraft crashes into a nearby mountain. Concerned about the possibility that the scientist's papers may have been compromised the French send "Agent X-77 Serge Vadile" (Gerard Barray) to the crash site to investigate. Surprisingly enough, however, is that the scientist in question just happens to be one of only two survivors of the crash and as a result measures are immediately taken to ensure security in the local hospital at all costs. And this becomes even more important due to the fact that his papers were encoded and only he knows how decipher it. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a rather routine EuroSpy film which suffered from extremely annoying music between scenes along with poor editing which gave the film a rather choppy feel throughout. On that note, about the only item of interest was the presence of Sylva Koscina (as the nurse named "Mania") who was absolutely breathtaking. Even so, it wasn't enough to overcome the faults just mentioned and for that reason I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly below average.