Paramount. Director Basil Dearden; Producer Michael Relph, Basil Dearden; Writer Michael Relph, Wolf Mankiewicz; Camera Geoffrey Unsworth Editor Teddy Darvas; Music Ron Grainer Art Michael Relph
Oliver Reed
Diana Rigg
Telly Savalas
Curt Jurgens
Philippe Noiret
Warren Mitchell
That dry, wry humor that flavors such British films as Kind Hearts and Coronets is again apparent to a degree in The Assassination Bureau Limited. In less skillful hands its premise of a 1906 international homicide organisation might have been dime-a-dozen stuff. Fused with the capable talents of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden picture emerges as a somewhat unusual and clever comedy after an over-leisurely opening.
Producers have made handsome use of both extraordinarily fine interiors and interesting exteriors in London, Paris, Zurich, Vienna and Venice, which give added zest to yarn's unfoldment. Plotline, based on an idea from Jack London and Robert Fish's book is escapist fare throughout.
As a comedy thriller, film stands high, if the spectator isn't too meticulous about expository details, particulary the whys and wherefores of a determined young femme reporter (Diana Rigg) who decides that a strange outbreak of highly professional, apparently motiveless killings, must be the work of a single organization.
Entire cast play their respective roles broadly and each gives a good account of himself. Curt Jurgens as a German general, also a Bureau member, and Annabella Incontrera, as the wife of the Italian member of the Bureau, are outstanding.
(Color) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1969. Running time: 106 MIN.
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