OPERATION POKER (1965)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

Here's another Eurospy with a one-shot protagonist essayed by familiar spy-face Roger Browne. The angle that the hero sometimes gets engaged in high-risk poker-games seems like an attempt to channel Ian Fleming and his endless fascination with card-playing. Thankfully the producers of this Italian-Spanish opus never allow games of chance to interfere with the more dangerous games.

Agent Glen Foster has two concerns here. First, he has to deal with a scientist with a Great Marvelous Invention-- for once, not the usual explosive or death-ray, but an X-ray device small enough to fit on a tie-clip. Second, Foster is supposed to protect a Vietnamese envoy, some of whose protectors have already been mysteriously killed. While Foster goes around romancing hot women and getting into some (unusually well choreographed) fights, we see two more agents knocked with uncanny "diabolical devices" such as a gas-bomb hidden in an agent's shower (yes, it's a lady agent) and a remote-controlled boat that runs down a swimmer and explodes all over him. Foster doesn't carry around any special weapons himself, but he does drive a customized car designed to compete with the ejection-seat version of Bond's Aston-Martin from the GOLDFINGER movie. When a bad guy stows away in the back seat of Foster's car, the whole back end of the auto breaks off, consigning the villain to a timely demise.

Two of Foster's femmes are played by well-known Euro-babes Helga Line and Jose Greci. At the end there's a slight reveal with respect to the unknown mastermind, though I can't claim that it's a major surprise-- and the reveal still doesn't palliate the Eurospy genre's sad lack of memorable villains.