This Canadian film, titled ASSIGNMENT KGB for its American video release, is shot in Toronto and written, directed, and edited by Peter McCubbin, and must abide an extremely slim budget, but additionally is pocked with an awkwardly written scenario, flagrant instances of poor continuity, erratic sound quality and mixing, a lack of logic, direction that demonstrates consistent difficulty with organization of set ups and blocking and, in spite of some plucky efforts from a largely inexperienced cast, production values must be perceived as being nearly non-existent. Librarian Anne Quill (Carol Poirier) is distressed by ongoing, explicit dreams of childhood, and it is eventually disclosed to her that she is in reality Anna, a Russian, her dreams being in effect precise memories of training as a juvenile KGB agent, seeded later to a family in England from whence, following a fire that has taken her family and much of her memory, the girl has wended her way to Canada where, after 17 years, she is being called back to fulfill her espionage responsibilities by Toronto-based Soviet bureaucrats. The action is maladroitly paced, Soviet embassy officials speak in Canadian accents, flashbacks manifest sharp incongruities, and flaws of logic are rampant; this, of course, is designed as a melodramatic espionage tale, and most works within that genre are expected to eschew reality, but this affair is simply too inane; acting honours go to Claudette Roach, playing a U.S.S.R. operative in her first credited feature.
