W. Somerest Maugham by way of Charles Bennett begins with a funeral for a man who isn't dead so he can be posted on a top secret mission by his boss 'R', i.e. the film version of You Only Live Twice. Starts in absolutely the right mood, with a one-armed man struggling with an empty coffin; then our hero Ashenden (John Gielgud. What? John Gielgud?) finds he is 'married' (the film version of Live and Let Die) to Madeleine Carroll (occasionally wooden) and accompanied by womanising killer 'The General' Peter Lorre. Classic touches include long-range murder, a significant jacket button, and a chocolate factory in which secret correspondence is hidden (leading to a suspenseful scene in silent mode).
Love the ultra-cynical climax in which R arranges to have our undercover heroes bombed on a train rather than risk letting the enemy (Robert Young) get away.
Bernard Knowles on camera, Charles Frend editing.
Story is somewhat overwhelmed by characters' morality problems, lacks the 'bounce' typical of the period. Hitchcock (in Truffaut): "the hero has an assignment.. but the job is distasteful.. Because it's a negative purpose the film is static - it doesn't move forward." (Gielgud is rather good though.)
I guess the reason Lorre is bumped off in a somewhat lapsadaisical (actually, lackadaisical) manner is because the killer in those days wasn't allowed to be seen to get away with it...
ITV Studios version on DVD suffers from sound problems. Sound problems, I said.
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