A Cold War satire in the vein of The Mouse That Roared - in a tiny European country, whose UN vote is being fought over (should have been something more tangible, like the rights for a missile base), the daughter of the US ambassador romances the son of the Russian ambassador. She is played by Sandra Dee and he by John Gavin, both of whom were under contract to Universal, who distributed - but the actual star is Peter Ustinov, who also wrote, produced, directed and wrote the original play.
Ustinov's performance is, as always, excellent and his script has some bright, if occasionally over obvious lines. (It's cute how no one can find the country on the map and forget it exists.) His direction is pedestrian, lacking charm and pace - it's a leaden film, which feels as though it gets slower the longer it goes for.
Dee isn't as likeable as I normally found her - maybe due to the fact her character's so passive. The fact Gavin plays a Russian means his limitations are protected but he's not very interesting either. There's shenanigans involving Ustinov acting as cupid for these two but their romance isn't involving, the two of them are clearly stupid. Despite the fact it was shot in Italy there's not even compensating pretty pictures of Europe, which is inexcusable - the action is dark and murky, DOP Robert Krasker still too much in Third Man mode.
This should be a bright fun little picture but after a while it just became annoying, silly and dull.
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