Le spie amano i fiori

Mannix clone Roger Browne returns as Martin Stevens, this time sporting a posh English accent, rather than a gauche American one (only kidding), at least in the dubbed version I watched.

This is the second of Umberto Lenzi's collaborations with Browne ("Last Man To Kill" would be the 3rd) and improves on the first, by having a plot that is a somewhat of a departure from the usual Eurospy template, making it more intriguing.

Roger has just returned from retrieving a stolen McGuffin, but is immediately sent back out to again to murder 3 people, only one of whom is actually guilty of memorising vital information about said McGuffin. Roger initially shows some reluctance to kill apparently innocent men in cold blood, but eventually he gives in and accepts that orders are orders and there is no room for fair play or sentimentality in the spy business.

This got my attention and I was looking forward to seeing how they would handle the moral dilemma of Roger killing an unsuspecting and possibly innocent person in cold blood, however it never comes to that, as it turns out the three men are all professional assassins themselves, and they all seem to be aware that Roger is coming, and try to kill him first. So Roger can claim self-defence and rest easy with clear conscience. On the other hand, after the third near fatal encounter, Roger begins to smell a rat and becomes suspicious that everything is not as he had been led to believe...

Exotic locations visited via the wonders of Stock footage include Madrid (for the initial recovery mission), London (for debrief and reassignment) and Paris (first assassin), before we move on to actual shooting locations, Geneva (second assassin) and Athens (third assassin and the rest of the mission).

There are a colourful assortment of henchmen, including Spaghetti stalwarts such as Fernando Cebrian (with the musketeer beard), Sal Borghese (with the chin dimple) and Claudio Biava (the balding blond). Of the beautiful women, Emma Danieli is engaging and feisty as the photo journalist inadvertently caught up in the espionage machinations, Pilar Clemens is particularly sensual as the "Moneypenny" and Yuko Tani adds the archetypal inscrutable oriental touch. Daniell Vargas and Marino Mase are also effective in their roles.

The same level of technical competence is on display as in the original "Superseven" film, briskly paced, with a good mix of action interspersed with conversation, and with a soundtrack that supports the onscreen action rather than undermining it.

The henchmen in goggles and the strange red light from "Superseven" (that make anyone without the googles pass out), make a second appearance, apropos of nothing. I mean I like the goggles gimmick, as they look creepy, but they just bare no relation or relevance to anything else in either movie.

Roger doesn't have as much luck with the woman as he did on his previous outing though, he actually turns down Pilar, because work comes first, then he runs into another old girlfriend from a previous mission, but she gets knocked off before he can rekindle that relationship, and Chinese agent Yoko also departs, just as she is succumbing to Rogers charms. However he and Emma do get together in the rom-com epilogue and this time there are no interruptions. I'm not sure if the dialogue was actually any better or if it was just the new posh accent that made Roger seem more suave, but the final scene also felt like an improvement on the previous edition.

Above average this time around.

Superseven's second movie-and substantially better than the first . The screenplay remains naive and of comic strip quality but it includes several interesting developments and even unexpected twists .

It must be Yoko Tani,French actor Roland Lesaffre's wife ,who is different from the bimbos who fall for Martin in both episodes .The character is a bit more complex than the others .Unlike Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger",her volt-face is not only explained by the hero's charm:"in my country,we are taught no to behave like you (westerners)"

In the first (and poorer) episode ,there was a good scene : to hide a dead body ,Superseven makes it out to be a waxwork;in this one,Lenzi does a good job,transforming a florist shop into an antique dealer place ;Egypt's landscapes were poorly used in the first effort;here the director takes advantage of Greek landscapes (particularly the Parthénon)even if he introduces the Sirtaki ,a dance which was very trendy in those days in the Wake of "Zorba The Greek"

And now we know why there was the Northeast blackout in 1965 . believe it or not.

The last scene is -relatively-smart.

Secret Agent "Martin Stevens" (Roger Browne) returns this time with an assignment to track down and eliminate three men who have knowledge of a special electronic device which has an enormous amount of power yet to be revealed. His first mission takes him to Paris where he is almost stymied in his efforts by a young blonde woman named "Genevieve Laffont" (Emma Danieli) who unknowingly warns his target of his attack. However, having completed his errand he then ventures to Geneva where, once again, he is almost prevented from carrying out his assignment by the same woman. Having now become extremely suspicious, he then forces Genevieve to accompany him to Athens in order to keep a close eye on her. What he doesn't know is that his movements have been closely monitored and she is now the least of his worries. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was an okay sequel to "SuperSeven Calling Cairo" with a better plot but somewhat hampered by mediocre acting all around. Along with that, several of the action scenes seemed much too scripted cheapened the overall effect. In any case, while this was certainly not a great spy movie by any means, I thought it was adequate for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I don't know what the circumstances were under which Lenzi took the helm of this movie but the fact that he didn't use his own name says something. I'm guessing he did this at the last moment for cash and had no say in the script and even then I'm not sure why he bothered. Yoko Tani is the best thing in this and she has a couple of weak cat fights. That I give this boring so called spy tale anything is down to the way it looked and that we glimpsed several cities and there was the glimpse of a wonderful red convertible at one point. Uncharismatic lead, maybe he thought if he was to appear British, he should appear as bland as possible, who knows? Who even cares and why am I writing about this 90 minutes of wasted time? Just in the remote chance that someone can find and apply that poster!

The pacing is sometimes slow, though the movie is only 93 minutes; but there are some worthwhile points about the film. They include: Roger Browne; suave, and very powerful physically. He's always watchable. Emma Danieli, his Italian co-star. She has a charming and very Italian face! And a striking, 1960's hairstyle. Some of her outfits are also classic 1960's. An Asian actress, Yoko Tani, has a significant role and does a good job.

Also, there is some very good location filming; and look for a most interesting floor show in a nightclub. Not as much action as in some Euro-spy movies, but still entertaining. Just don't expect a fast pace!