Following an attempted burglary at the home of financier Steve Mordaunt, his assistant and trouble shooter Bob Westlake, (Hugh McDermott), and his wife Susie, (Honor Blackman) investigate. The mysterious behaviour of Mordaunt's lover Rosemary Delgado (Jane Hylton), a former mistress of a major fraudster, leads them to an extremist group desperate to obtain the writings of one Achmed, a 14th Century seer, which are included in a consignment of rare and valuable books which the financier is importing, and from which they intend to incite a revolution across the Middle East...
This plays like an early version of an episode of one of those crime/adventure/espionage series that flourished on British television in the sixties and early seventies. The plot could form the basis of an Avengers adventure with Cathy Gale, but here Honor Blackman is given little to do apart from looking as glorious and delectable as ever, not least on the occasion when she emerges from a swimming pool. She's later taken hostage by some of the motley gang of villains, and though threatening to kick leading thug Ferdy Mayne "in the teeth", while apologising for the "unladylike expression", that's about all her character is allowed to do in the situation. The striking Jane Hylton does what she can in the under-written part of the scheming Rosemary, and it's left unexplained how she knew more about the nature of some of the books than her wealthy lover did himself. Hugh McDermott is fine as the lead.
There are one or two examples of unusual casting. Basil Dignam, who almost always played army officers and other professional men is self-effacing chauffeur Currie, and Hugh Moxey struggles to conceal his plummy tones as the street wise Tom Cookson, the somewhat unlikely "uncrowned king of the Soho underworld". All good entertainment though.
For a film with a 'MacGuffin' about Middle-eastern unrest it seems slightly ironic when a headline on McDermott's newspaper inadvertently reveals that it was shot in the aftermath of the Suez crisis.
This plays like an early version of an episode of one of those crime/adventure/espionage series that flourished on British television in the sixties and early seventies. The plot could form the basis of an Avengers adventure with Cathy Gale, but here Honor Blackman is given little to do apart from looking as glorious and delectable as ever, not least on the occasion when she emerges from a swimming pool. She's later taken hostage by some of the motley gang of villains, and though threatening to kick leading thug Ferdy Mayne "in the teeth", while apologising for the "unladylike expression", that's about all her character is allowed to do in the situation. The striking Jane Hylton does what she can in the under-written part of the scheming Rosemary, and it's left unexplained how she knew more about the nature of some of the books than her wealthy lover did himself. Hugh McDermott is fine as the lead.
There are one or two examples of unusual casting. Basil Dignam, who almost always played army officers and other professional men is self-effacing chauffeur Currie, and Hugh Moxey struggles to conceal his plummy tones as the street wise Tom Cookson, the somewhat unlikely "uncrowned king of the Soho underworld". All good entertainment though.
For a film with a 'MacGuffin' about Middle-eastern unrest it seems slightly ironic when a headline on McDermott's newspaper inadvertently reveals that it was shot in the aftermath of the Suez crisis.