AGENT 505: DEATH TRAP IN BEIRUT (1966)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *sociological*

The most notable aspect of this throwaway Eurospy is in what it does not do. Unlike many other productions of this subgenre, the spy protagonist is not sent chasing after some super-weapon that’s never shown due to the movie’s measly budget. Instead, the titular agent seeks to prevent the city of Beirut from being devastated by a bomb. In the film’s presentation of the bomb, it’s not shown to be any sort of radical new “super-explosive,” which would sway the film toward the category of the marvelous. Now, the composition of the bomb, which involves radioactive mercury for some reason, may be complete nonsense, but the script makes it sound as if the mercury-bomb is a near extrapolation of then-current technology, and that it’s capable of killing 60,000 citizens of 1966 Beirut.

If the film gave the villain—known as “The Sheikh,” and possessed of just four fingers on one hand—any motive for wanting to attack Beirut, I must have missed it. I don’t remember anything akin to a blackmail scheme such as the one in THUNDERBALL, and though the plot sounds not unlike later terrorist schemes of real and reel experience, politics aren’t emphasized either. I’m only giving away a small but pretty obvious twist by revealing that The Sheikh isn’t a real Arab. It’s just a piddling reveal that was probably copied from many previous flicks, long before IRON MAN 3’s “Phony Mandarin” reveal achieved a measure of infamy.

Richard Blake, Agent 505 (Frederick Stafford) sets out to track down the Sheikh, getting into various fights and female involvements on the way. All of these adventures are competent but very low-wattage, and the film sorely lacks the humor of the better Eurospies. On occasion Blake’s opponents use a few other uncanny gimmicks, such as a poisoned phone receiver and a “liquid oxygen” bullet, and these have the effect of spicing the tedium a little. Blake just has one lady in his love-life, so no lessons in the arts of seduction this time round.

Czech-born Stafford, best known to Americans for his role in Hitchcock’s TOPAZ, is like the movie, competent but not exciting. Before 505, director Manfred Kohler wrote and directed TARGET FOR KILLING, which certainly more watchable than this item.