Run-of-the-mil caper movie with usual ingredients : wonderful girls with mini-skirts , pursuits , fights , fantastic gadgets and a complete mess . It deals with various groups of would-be international robbers and spies attempt to rob a valuable scepter from the Ibiza Museum . Then the scepters were changing hands every few minutes through one touristic scenario after another.
This virtually failed film can stand as one of the low-water marks for 1960s comedy with a lot of robbers who want to steal the valuable artifact from the local museum . It has lots of flaws and gaps , as it does tend to get a bit old , but it has big fun , so it cares . More than a parody to Euro-spy rip-off genre , it results to be a caper spoof . In spite of the strange combination of talents of this star-studded cast ensemble , the movie resulted to be a total flop , being the black sheep of the 60's ¨ European Caper¨ family of movies , though displays some diverting sketches . And yet there are some attractive bits within , scenes of bizarre hilarity . A plotless spoof of Caper or hold-up movies with a mismatched cast of thousands and bizarre amusement. In this heist movie there are lots of bonafide scenes , comedy , action , gimmicks , tongue-in-cheek and silly intrigue . What probably reads like a perfectly normal crime movie has in fact turned into an unspectacular but nonetheless funny caper movie, here with an improbable plan with several twists and turns . From the beginning until ending the good mood and humor is continued . The plot is amusing enough and the final has some disconcerting scenes with a really silly confrontation between an old car and a big box or trunk that seem to have a life of its own , and in which Forqué seemed to lose total control of the action. La muerte viaja en baul (Spain) or Baleari operazione Oro (Italy) or Barbouze chérie (France) or Balearic Caper (United States) or Operation Gold belongs to 60's European heist movie whose main representation was ¨Topkapi¨ that created during the 60s and forward an authentic genre . As ¨Topkapi¨ by Jules Dassin , one of the best intrigue/caper movies ever made and perhaps was the initial spark of the so-called Caper Movie and whose robbing has been imitated thousand times in European films as well as American movies . Adding other films as ¨Rififi¨ by Mario Monicelli , ¨Seven Golden Men¨ by Marco Vicario and its sequel ¨Seven Golden Men Strike Again" and of course ¨Grand Slam¨ (1967) by Giuliano Montalvo and ¨Uno scacco tutto matto¨(1968) starred by Edward G. Robinson and George Rigaud . And gorgeous girls in bikinis parading here and there while flirting with the protagonists . Still , the all-star-cast is fun and standing out Mireille Darc and a minor intervention of Daniela Bianchi . As the main enjoyment is to guess who's the beautiful girl appearing here and there , including the following ones : Mireille Darc , Marilù Tolo and Daniela Bianchi , the latter along with Harold Sakata of ¨Goldfinger¨participated in James Bond movies. And a lot of familar Spanish faces , such as osé Luis López Vázquez , Guillermo Marín , Adriano Dominguez , Mercedes Muñoz Sampedro, Rafael Hernández , José Orjas, among others
Adding a catching and agreeable musical leitmotif by composer Benedetto Ghiglia , as well as as colorful cinematography by Cecilio Paniagua . The film was regularly directed by José Maria Forqué with full of nonsense action scenes . Jose Maria Forqué was a craftsman who directed all kinds of genres as Comedy : Un Millon en la Basura, La vil seduccion, Bring a Little loving, Vacaciones para Ivette . Softcore : Beyond Erotica, La Mujer de la Tierra Caliente . Giallo and thrillers : Tarot , In the Eye of the Hurricane, La Legion del Silencio, A devil under the pillow. His greatest succeses were : Embajadores en el Infierno, Amanecer de la Puerta Oscura and the classic comedy : Atraco a las 3. And he also made important TV series as Miguel Servet and Ramon y Cajal. This La muerte viaja en baul (1966) is without hesitation , definitely one of the most underrated ¨Heist¨or ¨Eurospy¨movies that unfortunately has not yet been able to make a triumphant breakthrough , being a mediocre but sympathetic entry in this popular genre developed in the Sixties and Seventies . Rating : 4.5/10 . So-so film , specially appointed for unrule comedy enthusiasts.
