1967 tagged posts

Posted in EUROSPY

ARGOMAN THE FANTASTIC SUPERMAN (1967)

Come rubare la corona d’Inghilterra (original title)

1967 Italy
Direction: Sergio Grieco (as Terence Hathaway)
Actors: Roger Browne, Dominique Boschero, Eduardo Fajardo

Relaxing in his oceanside mansion after his latest adventure in China, Sir Reginald Hoover (Roger Browne) is interrupted from his leisure activities by a crime fit for Argoman himself. However, Sir Reginald IS Argoman, so who is behind this masterful theft of the Crown of St. Edward from the Tower of London? Argoman is practically invincible with powers beyond the grasp and scope of mortal man. However, has he met his match in Jenabell (Dominique Boschero), the self-styled Queen of the World? She uses her knowledge of his one weakness to gain the upper hand early and mankind holds their breath as these two match wits in their chess match. One part spy flick and one part superhero movie, this film has to be seen. With so much 60’s charm that it will leave you grinning and groaning while wishing you were Argoman

ARGOMAN THE FANTASTIC SUPERMAN (1967) TRAILER

ARGOMAN THE FANTASTIC SUPERMAN (1967) FULL MOVIE

ARGOMAN THE FANTASTIC SUPERMAN (1967) POSTERS

Music: Piero Umiliani
Cinematography: Tino Santoni
Edited by: Renato Cinquini
Art Direction: Alberto Boccianti
Set Decoration: Claudio Cinini
Costume Design: Gaia Romanini
Production companies: Fida Cinematografica
Running time: 93 minutes

Posted in USA | UK SPY MOVIES

THE AMBUSHERS (1967)

Emboscada a Matt Helm (Spain)
Matt Helm traqué (France)
Emboscada a Matt Helm (Mexico)

1967 USA
Direction: Henry Levin
Actors: Dean Martin, Senta Berger, Janice Rule

Helm is sent to the ICE (Intelligence and Counter Espionage) Training Headquarters to uncover a traitor in the organisation. Whilst there he meets ICE agent Sheila Sommers, the pilot of the saucer who has been recovered from a Central American jungle with no memory of what happened to the saucer she flew. Due to the electo-magnetic power of the saucer, only a woman is able to fly it, males of the species are killed by the energy.

Helm had worked with Sommers on an assignment where the two had posed as man and wife. When Sommers meets Helm, her memory comes back. Mac, the head of ICE, decides to send Helm and Sommers posing again as his wife undercover as a photographer doing a story on the Montezuma Beer Brewery, whose advertising jingle is the same tune as the anthem of Ortega’s political movement.

Along the way, they must deal with Ortega’s henchmen, Francesca Madeiros (an operative for Big O, Helm’s main nemesis), who poses as a model and seduces Helm, an assassin named Nassim, plus a tough thug named Rocco.

Matt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He is a U.S. government counter-agent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers.

The films used the name Matt Helm, his cover identity, plus book titles and some very loose plot elements, but otherwise the series bore no resemblance at all to the character, atmosphere, or themes of Hamilton’s original books, nor to the hard-edged action of Bond. One reason was the attitude of the filmmakers that the only way to compete with the Bond films was to parody them.

The Dean Martin version of Helm, created by screenwriter Saul, served as a significant inspiration for Mike Myers’s comic character Austin Powers and many references can be seen. Most significantly, both are fashion photographers as their cover jobs.

THE AMBUSHERS (1967) FULL MOVIE

Music: Hugo Montenegro
Cinematography: Edward Colman, Burnett Guffey
Edited by: Harold F. Kress
Art Direction: Joseph C. Wright
Set Direction: Richard Spero
Costume Design: Oleg Cassini
Production companies:

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)
• Meadway-Claude Productions Company

Running time: 102 minutes

Posted in EUROSPY

KOMMISSAR X – DEATH TRIP (1967)

Kommissar X – Drei grüne Hunde (original title)

Death Trip (UK dubbed title) (USA DVD title)
Kill Me Gently (USA dubbed version)
Soft Kill (USA bootleg title)
Comisario X y los tres perros verdes (Spain)
Commissaire X: Halte au L.S.D. (France)

1967 West Germany | Italy | France | Lebanon | Hungary
Direction: Rudolf Zehetgruber, Gianfranco Parolini
Actors: Tony Kendall, Brad Harris, Olga Schoberová

New York Police Department Captain Rowland travels to Istanbul to bring a shipment of LSD to be used by the American armed forces stationed in Turkey for undisclosed purposes. When the shipment is stolen by a local and ancient criminal organisation known as “the Green Hounds”, Rowland teams up with private eye Joe Walker to recover the shipment.

“Kommissar X” is a private detective named Joe Louis Walker (from a series of German crime fiction books) who was a counterpart of the German crime fiction FBI Special Agent Jerry Cotton. Between 1965 and 1971 seven Kommissar X films were made with Tony Kendall as the laid back swinging New York City private eye Joe Walker balanced against the serious muscular New York City Police Captain Tom Rowland played by Brad Harris.

With the international success of the films of Ian Fleming’s James Bond and the German Jerry Cotton (played by George Nader) series, seven Kommissar X films were made. These films were not only released internationally but became a staple of American television movies in the mid-1960s when American stations sought colour films to show.

1965: Kommissar X – Jagd auf Unbekannt – Hunt for the Unknown | Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill
1966: Kommissar X – In den Klauen des goldenen Drachen – Operation Far East
1967: Kommissar X – Drei gelbe Katzen – Three Yellow Cats
1967: Kommissar X – Drei grüne Hunde – Death Trip
1968: Kommissar X – Drei blaue Panther (de) – Three Blue Panthers
1969: Kommissar X – Drei goldene Schlangen – Three Golden Serpents
1971: Kommissar X – jagt die roten Tiger – FBI: Operation Pakistan

KOMMISSAR X – DEATH TRIP (1967) FULL MOVIE

Music: Francesco De Masi
Cinematography: Angelo Lotti
Edited by: Edmond Lozzi
Art Direction: Daniel Gilbert, Niko Matul
Production companies:

• Parnass Film
• Cinesecolo
• Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP)
• Kassar Film (in collaboration with)
• Hungarofilm (in collaboration with)
• Film Ventures International (FVI) (uncredited)
• Park Lane Films (uncredited)

Running time: 93 minutes

Posted in EUROSPY

Matchless

Mission Top Secret (USA dubbed version)
Sin rival (Spain)
Mission T.S. (France)

1967 Italy
Direction: A Alberto Lattuada
Actors: Patrick O’Neal, Ira von Fürstenberg, Donald Pleasence

A secret agent possesses a ring that makes him invisible for a short time, once every 10 hours. He is in pursuit of an evil criminal mastermind but, at the same time, must evade an enemy agent who also wants the ring.

MATCHLESS was based on a story by Ermanno Donati who is probably better known to fans of Italian horror and cult films as the producer of LUST OF THE VAMPIRE (1956), THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK (1962), THE WACKY WORLD Of JAMES TONT (1965) and MAFIA (1968). Dontai seemed to gravitate towards unusual genre films with a distinct style so it’s not too surprising that he ended his career working for the controversial director Tito Brass on projects like DEADLY SWEET (1967) and SALON KITTY (1975). MATCHLESS was Donati’s third and last script credit but he seemed to have a knack for writing funny spy spoofs.

Fans of the Flint films as well as’60s spy comedy’s like the original CASINO ROYALE (1967) and Dr. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE (1967) should find the film appealing.

Music: Gino Marinuzzi Jr., Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni
Cinematography: Alessandro D’Eva
Edited by: Franco Fraticelli
Art Direction: Vincenzo Del Prato (as Enzo Del Prato)
Set Decoration: Gisella Longo
Costume Design: Forquet, Cesare Rovatti, Piero Tosi
Production companies: Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica
Running time: 104 minutes (USA)

Posted in EUROSPY

THE BLONDE FROM PEKING (1967)

La blonde de Pékin (original title)

La bionda di Pechino (Italy)
Die Blonde von Peking (West Germany)
La rubia de Pekín (Spain)

1967 France | Italy | West Germany
Direction: Nicolas Gessner
Actors: Claudio Brook, Mireille Darc, Françoise Brion

A CIA man (Edward G. Robinson) poses an actor (Claudio Brook) as the husband of an amnesiac (Mireille Darc), all for Chinese missile data and a jewel.

THE BLONDE FROM PEKING (1967) TRAILER

THE BLONDE FROM PEKING (1967) POSTERS

Music: François de Roubaix
Cinematography: Claude Lecomte
Edited by: Jean-Michel Gautier
Art Direction: Georges Petitot
Set Decoration: Fernand Bernardi
Production companies: Clesi Cinematografica (co-production), Hanns Eckelkamp Filmproduktion (co-production), Les Films Copernic (co-production)
Running time: 87 minutes

Posted in EUROSPY

OPERATION KID BROTHER (1967)

OK Connery (original title)

Operation Kid Brother
Kid Brother
Divided Evil

1967 Italy
Direction: Alberto De Martino
Actors: Neil Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi

The evil crime syndicate Thanatos is bent on taking over the world, using a magnetic wave generator that will cause all metal-based machinery to grind to a halt. However, the well-known British secret agent normally assigned to such tasks isn’t available, so they engage his civilian brother, Neil, to help. Neil, played by Neil Connery, is a world-class plastic surgeon, hypnotist, and lip-reader, which turn out to be precisely the skills required for thwarting Thanatos.

OPERATION KID BROTHER (1967) TRAILER

OPERATION KID BROTHER (1967) ALTERNATIVE POSTER

Music: Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai
Cinematography: Giovanni Bergamini (as Gianni Bergamini)
Edited by: Otello Colangeli
Art Direction: Franco Fontana
Set Decoration: Adolfo Cofiño (as Adolfo Cofino), Massimo Tavazzi
Costume Design: Gaia Romanini
Production companies: Produzione D.S. (Dario Sabatello)
Running time: 104 minutes

Posted in USA | UK SPY MOVIES

MAROC 7 (1967)

1967 United Kingdom
Direction: Gerry O’Hara
Actors: Gene Barry, Elsa Martinelli, Leslie Phillips

Louise Henderson is the editor of a respected fashion magazine, but she has a hidden career as mastermind of a ring of thieves. With their professional operation as a front, Louise uses one of her models, Claudia, and a photographer, Raymond Lowe, to steal precious artifacts and jewels.

Law enforcement agencies have their suspicions about her, so secret agent Simon Grant is assigned the case. He pretends to be a safecracker to infiltrate Louise’s gang, traveling to Morocco, where she intends to switch an imitation Arabian medallion for a priceless real one.

Grant is given cooperation in Morocco by a chief of police, Barrada, and a woman named Michelle Craig who is the chief’s top aide. Things go wrong when Grant needs to kill Lowe, who has discovered his true identity.

The theft goes on as planned, at least until Claudia is shot. To the surprise of cops and robbers alike, the precious medallion is stolen by the one person none of them suspected, Michelle, who escapes.

MAROC 7 (1967) TRAILER

MAROC 7 (1967) POSTERS

Music: Kenneth V. Jones
Cinematography: Kenneth Talbot
Edited by: John Jympson
Art Direction: Seamus Flannery, Terry Pritchard
Set Decoration: Peta Button
Costume Design: Elsa Martinelli
Production companies: Cyclone
Running time: 91 minutes

Posted in EUROSPY

DESTINATION: ISTANBUL 68 (1967)

Occhio per occhio, dente per dente (original title)

Destino: Estambul 68
Agente Z-55, misión Coleman (Spain alternative title)
La cave aux tortures (France alternative title)

1967 Italy | Spain
Direction: Miguel Iglesias
Actors: Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Giuliano Raffaelli, Léa Nanni

A flood of counterfeit dollars flooded the global market and is creating alarm in governments around the world. Jeff, a dynamic young journalist is commissioned by the director of his newspaper, to investigate a very strange case: find out the whereabouts of his friend, Professor Norton, who’s mysteriously disappeared.

DESTINATION: ISTANBUL 68 (1967) PREVIEW CLIP

Music: Franco Pisano, Ennio Morricone (uncredited)
Cinematography: FGiuseppe La Torre (as Joseph L. Tower)
Edited by: Teresa Alcocer (as T. Alcocer)
Production Design: Juan Alberto Soler
Art Direction: Juan Alberto Soler (as J. Albert Soler)
Set Decoration: Carlo Gervasi (as Charles Jerwis)
Production companies: Balcázar Producciones Cinematográficas, Cinematografica Associati (CI.AS.)
Running time: 88 minutes

Posted in EUROSPY

TIFFANY MEMORANDUM (1967)

Charada Internacional (original title)

Il mistero dell’ombra (Italy)
Charada internacional (Spain)
Coup de force à Berlin (France)

1967 Italy | France
Direction: Sergio Grieco (as Terence Hathaway)
Actors: Ken Clark, Irina Demick, Luigi Vannucchi

Dick Hallan, a journalist for the Herald-Tribune gets mixed up in international politics through a series of incredible coincidences and is finally coerced by the CIA (not really) to follow the intrigue to its unremarkable end.

TIFFANY MEMORANDUM (1967) TRAILER

TIFFANY MEMORANDUM (1967) FULL MOVIE

TIFFANY MEMORANDUM (1967) POSTERS

Music: Riz Ortolani
Cinematography: Stelvio Massi
Edited by: Renato Cinquini
Art Direction: Alberto Boccianti
Costume Design: Mario Giorsi
Production companies: Fida Cinematografica, Les Productions Jacques Roitfeld
Running time: 85 minutes

Posted in EUROSPY

DANGER!! DEATH RAY (1967)

Il raggio infernale (original title)

Danger!! Death Ray (USA)
Nest of Spies (USA)
Death Ray (USA)
Le Rayon Infernal (France)

1967 Italy
Direction: Gianfranco Baldanello (as Frank G. Carroll)
Actors: Gordon Scott, Delfi Mauro, Nello Pazzafini

Scientist Jean Karl Michael invents a death ray which, according to him, is for “peaceful purposes”. He arranges to demonstrate the ray to a group of European NATO representatives. As he is demonstrating it, a group of enemy agents disguised as NATO officials steals the death ray, kidnap the scientist, and escape by car under the cover of night.

Following a pursuit and gun battle, they escape by helicopter which lands on a submarine and is discarded as the submarine submerges. When Agent Bart Fargo was about to go on vacation, he is given the assignment, by his boss, of retrieving the death ray and saving the scientist. He travels to Barcelona on a lead to find an evil organization that may be behind this. Rooting out a nest of spies in an ever-enclosing trail, Fargo meets a lady when he hides in her house from the opposition and befriends an enemy agent who later helps him to stop the evil organization.

DANGER!! DEATH RAY (1967) FULL MOVIE

DANGER!! DEATHRAY (1967) SOUNDTRACK EXCERPT: GIANNI FERRIO

DANGER!! DEATH RAY (1967) POSTERS

Music: Gianni Ferrio (as James Anderson)
Cinematography: Manuel Hernández Sanjuán (as Frank Humphreys)
Edited by: Gaby Peñalba (as Edwin McLeod)
Production Design: María Jauregui
Set Decoration: Luis Argüello (as Joseph Vincent), Arrigo Equini (as Joseph Vincent)
Costume Design: Maria Luisa Panaro (as Mary Louise Boyle)
Production companies: Leda Films Productions S.L., Meteor Film S.r.l.
Running time: 93 minutes