Waste of time

Absolutely brilliant

The acting in this movie is really good.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Dennis (Mark Burns), a British agent of some sort, is on "the island" (Malta but it's not named) to carry out an undercover investigation of two crooked casino owners. The suspicion is that they get guests who run up gambling debts to become the sort of smuggler Customs won't suspect. Dennis runs up a debt in the hope he'll be induced into the racket. The film opens with the murder of one of owners by Francesca (Patsy Ann Noble), a femme very fatale indeed, and her lover Joe (Shaun Curry ), who want all the ill-gotten gains for themselves. The other owner, Malo, is found dead just after he'd given Dennis an advance in return for his passport. The local police naturally suspect Dennis. The thing is Malo was found in a locked room, seven floors up with no sign of the murder weapon. The solution to this locked-room mystery is about as good as this film gets. Priscilla (Wanda Ventham) is sent out from the UK to help Dennis while posing as his fiancé. So far, so good. But that's as good as it gets. We get to see sunny skies and sparkling seas, we get to see another of Joe's girls topless in a scene that seems to be included because they'd an actress who'd go topless back in 1966 or maybe to get a 1960's X rating, we get to see the good girl and the bad girl in their bikinis, and - not much else. The film is padded out to barely feature length with Anita Harris singing a song, multiple sequences of our hero darting down side streets trying to dodge the most visible police tail in history and of our villainess swimming underwater. Cut out the padding and the topless scene and you'd have had a good hour-long episode of a Sixties TV series.

Just a 1960's movie, with plenty of colour, action, cars, fashions (love the shirts guys), a soundtrack with bongos, killings, drug smuggling, secret agents, cheesy lines and girls in bikinis. What's not to like? The 1960's was when they could now make cheap movies in colour, and the censorship laws were slowly being eroded, and this unashamedly cashes in on it, but not overdone. Filmed in Malta (I understand) with much water involved. Patsy Ann Noble is looking good here as well as Wanda Ventham, who reveals all (the hussy). She also happens to be Benedict Cumberbatch's (born 10 years later) mother. Other reviewers explain the plot adequately, and called it a second rate spy drama, and maybe that is why I like it. Frivolous fun, and if that's what you like, then watch it and enjoy. If you want a deep convoluted plot with tip top direction and acting then stay away. It's down to personal choice here.

So what do you expect from a movie with a title like this? A deadly femme fatale who kills repeatedly and without remorse? You'll get that....but only twice, at the start and at the end of the film. Patsy Ann Noble is perfectly cast, and she is equaled, if not surpassed, in the hotness department by the two other female cast members, Wanda Ventham as the good girl and Caron Gardner as a ditzy conquest for the bad guy; this film comes from the era where the thick, strong, curvy, healthy look was the "in" look for women. But the story, after setting up an intriguing locked-room mystery, meanders, the underwater scenes are - as usual - boring, and there is FAR too much screen time given to an old drunk character, who turns out to be of no consequence to boot - was this actor a friend of the producers or something? This film would have been better without him. ** out of 4.

This movie has got it all: stunning photography, excellent (character) actors, bikinis, superb underwater-scenes......and: a great musical score! Although the story could have been more exciting this off-beat pearl of 60s UK-crime is definitely worth an 8 out of 10.