The main problem with this slow-moving spy film is that it can't make up its mind whether to aim for the world of James Bond or Michael Caine's Harry Palmer movies. Stephen Boyd's spy, a relaxed genial man-about-town figure in the style of Roger Moore and his immediate associate, a rather shabby civil servant operating from an empty office, played by Michael Redgrave, seem to belong in two separate films. And 'Q' would certainly look down his nose at the home-made bomb his counterpart, played by Geoffrey Bayldon, comes up with here.
The usually reliable Val Guest has to take most of the blame, both for the uneven direction and contribution to a script that has pretensions to being taken seriously at times, but is nowhere strong enough to be. As he had just been worked into the ground shaping, with some success, the chaos that was CASINO ROYALE, he was probably a little jaded with the genre. He also wastes excellent character actors Jeremy Kemp and Leo McKern, though the latter does make an impression against the odds. The revelations at the finale lack any impact. In fact a much bleaker ending had been filmed, with Camilla Sparv's Toni being thrown into the river and drowned, her stunt-double being none other than the future star of saucy seventies' comedies, Sue Longhurst.
I quite enjoyed the 1960's ambiance, including the relationship between Boyd and the alluring Sparv, set against the glamorous background of Kitzbuhel ski resort. Much of it is quite engaging, but ultimately neither exciting nor memorable.
