Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
Directed by Ralph Thomas with a screenplay by Jimmy Sangster this Bond-lite adventure based on H. C. McNeile's 20's and 30's fictional character Bulldog Drummond, although the film's title came from a Rudyard Kipling poem, The Female of the Species.
Although a lot of fun the film isn't played as a comedy as many Bond style productions were at the time, see James Coburn's marvellous Flint movies as a prime example. Indeed Richard Johnson who portrays Drummond plays it totally straight down the line in a portrayal that would have made a fine James Bond. Much of the humour comes in the shapely forms of Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina who play two of the sexiest assassins you'll see and are proven much more deadly than the male. The two are wonderful together. Practically playing a game of one upmanship as they go along murdering the directors of Phoenecian Oil, a company who want to grab oil rights in an fictitious country and eventually the the murder of the country's King.The girls constantly bicker and spar with one another and bring a wicked streak to the production. Of the two, Koscina wins out for me with her mischievous smile and almost innocent attitude to things, including murder.
The film has high production values or at least it appears that way with parts of the film playing out in exotic Mediterranean locales. Also hinting at a decent budget are a fine guest cast including Nigel Green, Suzanna Leigh, Leonard Rossiter and seemingly in a precursor to his role in The Persuaders, Laurence Naismith.
The film is tremendously entertaining. The kills are stylish and innovative and some sequences, including a very bizarre chess game, seem straight out of The Avengers also a devilish henchman played by Milton Reid gives Drummond someone to scrap with meaning the whole thing is surprisingly good but quaint entertainment if a little dated by today's building flattening standards of movie making.
Still, Deadlier than the Male is highly recommended.
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