Another British spy spoof made on the back of the success of
the first two James Bond films Dr No
(1962) and From Russia with Love
(1963) was the Rank Organisations Hot Enough for June released in 1964
and produced by Betty E Box and directed by Ralph Thomas. The film starred Dirk
Bogarde who reverted back to his matinee idol image so loved by Rank.
As well as Bogarde this comedy thriller starred Robert Morley
and in her English film debut Yugoslavian actress Sylva Koscina who went on to
play Danica in the Yugoslavian partisan film Battle
of Neretva (1969) and incidentally was considered for the role of
Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love.
Based on the 1960 novel The
Night of Wenceslas by Lionel Davidson, Bogarde plays the unemployed writer
Nicolas Whistler[1] who
when he turns up at the Labour exchange is sent for an interview as a trainee
executive at a glass company. Prior to this we witness Roger Allsop (John Le
Mesurier) handing in the belongings of a deceased agent code name 007 and at a
meeting with his superior Colonel Cunliffe (Morley) he discusses the need to
send someone behind the Iron Curtain to collect some “secret” information.
There’s a knock on the door and in walks Nicolas Whistler ready for his
interview for the executive job he knows he is not at all suitable for! When Cunliffe finds out that his interviewee
can speak Czech he offers him £40 per week plus expenses if he will go to
Prague and collect some data. The naïve Whistler believes he is collecting
information for a new type of safety glass. Still unaware of his real purpose
even when he discovers that his driver and guide is the beautiful uniformed
Communist Vlasta (Koscina). But his
suspicions grow when he suddenly realises that his life could be in
danger?
Another of these British movies made at Pinewood, where if
your of a certain age will recognise some very familiar character actors
including Leo McKern as the Communist intelligence officer, with John Standing,
Derek Nimmo and John Junkin in smaller roles. Not well received by the reviewers
at the time of release including the Daily Worker’s critic who wrote an open
letter to Betty Box accusing her of stirring up the ‘Cold War’! A return to a somewhat
witty and bright role for Bogarde after winning a BAFTA for Best Actor in The
Servant (1963) as the sinister Hugo Barrett, and
although a little lightweight, an enjoyable movie all the same. The film was
cut by twenty minutes and retitled Agent
8¾ for the US release.
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