Every profession, including apparently the spy business too, has a support staff, and this is a film about decoders, and this deals with spy Dirk Bogarde who has a team of women decoding for him, and that brings Susannah York into his life. There is a shell of a spy plot here, but you really have to dig to find it, and basically, the film is so dull at times that it's easy to get distracted and forget where the caper issues of the movie are. Joining Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York in this are Sir John Gielgud, Lili Palmer and Nigel Davenport, and they really don't get a lot to do. York, as the love interest, seems to have a love and hate for Bogarde, but when he puts her to use in his newest case, it's definitely more love simply because he's showing her value.
Outside of the location footage which is gorgeous, the real star of this is the Jerry Goldsmith musical score and that mod 60's atmosphere that when used properly brings on unintentional laughs based on the fashions and other trends of the time. I would rate this film one star less if it wasn't for that because I really had no interest in the plot as it was being developed and there's very little interest in the leading characters for me as well. It's obvious that they didn't put much thought into the script, and the direction is rather bland. I also found there was little to no action which made the film creep along at a snail's pace. Definitely not one of the better caper films of the height of that era.
Outside of the location footage which is gorgeous, the real star of this is the Jerry Goldsmith musical score and that mod 60's atmosphere that when used properly brings on unintentional laughs based on the fashions and other trends of the time. I would rate this film one star less if it wasn't for that because I really had no interest in the plot as it was being developed and there's very little interest in the leading characters for me as well. It's obvious that they didn't put much thought into the script, and the direction is rather bland. I also found there was little to no action which made the film creep along at a snail's pace. Definitely not one of the better caper films of the height of that era.