OSS 117 IS UNLEASHED (1963)

Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a secret agent who goes by OSS 117 and who seems closely modeled on James Bond, was featured in several French movies, mostly made in the 1960s. I reviewed two of them some years ago (PANIC IN BANGKOK and MISSION TO TOKYO), liked them, and promised to watch more soon. Five years later, here I am with another one under my belt. It has been determined by Western world leaders that a new kind of atomic submarine which cannot be detected by usual methods is the best chance at world peace, apparently considered a good deterrent since no country could know how close they might be. But someone is experimenting with a MacGuffin device that can detect the subs and a spy named Roos is on the villain's trail in the coastal town of Bonifacio in Corsica. We see him exploring an underwater grotto when he is speared and killed. The people with Roos at the time, a diving instructor named Renotte and his girlfriend Brigitta (who might have also been having an affair with Roos), claim he died in an accident. OSS 117 is sent to investigate. He latches onto Renotte, who escapes to Nice, and Brigitta, who may or may not be a full-scale baddie; sometimes she's a hindrance to OSS 117, sometimes a help. Mayan, the head villain, is testing the MacGuffin in Corsican grottoes, and soon enough, Renotte is killed, people drink poisoned whisky, and various ruses are pulled off to throw people off the track of who's following whom. There are fisticuffs and a well-staged underwater knife fight leading to a climax involving plenty of gunplay. This is the first of the 1960s films, the only one in black & white, and the first of two which stars American actor Kerwin Mathews. (The character is of French descent but grew up in America.) It's well made and fun without getting too jokey—the more obvious Eurospy satires and parodies would come a little later. Mathews is fine, not quite as charming or butch as Sean Connery was as Bond, but light on his feet, able to defend himself, and flirtatious enough with the ladies. In one scene, he kisses a car rental girl who tells him, "You have a gift for the French tongue." The movie looks good, and the underwater photography is particularly well done. Nadia Sanders (Brigitta) and Henri-Jacques Huet (Renotte) are fine, though the main bad guys are fairly colorless. There is a title song about OSS 117 (sadly, not translated in the subtitles) and a solid jazzy score by Michel Magne. Quite low-key enjoyable. I’m sorry it took me so long to get around to this, but I’ll make a point of getting to the last two in the series soon. Pictured above are Huet and Sanders. [DVD]