I remember seeing a TV ad for this in the 80s and wondering how come I'd never heard of it - a groovy 60s spy film with David Niven. Apparently the first in a proposed series, too. Even today the film isn't particularly well known or remembered.
It's an odd sort of movie. Obviously inspired by the success of the James Bond films (Niven apparently was a front runner to play Bond in Dr No and indeed did play him in Casino Royale), it plays the story completely straight, although the concept seems to lend itself to a spoof: Niven is a doctor talked into doing some intelligence work by John LeMesurier because the Brits lack available talent.
Niven's character is Jason Love, and at times they play him as a fish out of water. But he's not really because he had military and intelligence experience in World War Two, he's quite suave, and he adapts to intelligence work relatively quickly, easily using some gadgets to get out of tight spots, knocking out Nigel Davenport, and being quite cunning. So there's no suspense or humour from the concept of a newbie agent at work.
I never really got a fix on Love - he's meant to be a country GP but Niven doesn't give that sense... he's David Niven, real life war hero and gent. (Someone like Alec Guinness for instance would have seemed more obviously rural GP). He doesn't have many distinguishing characteristics either apart from really liking old cars, which comes in at the beginning of the film then is ignored. He doesn't seem to have any family or friends.
There is some action but not that much - a shoot out here and there. Structure wise the story suffers from the fact it's about preventing an assassination, which Niven does around the 70 minute mark, but then there's this extended coda (or third act) with him captured by the Russians and on a peace plane and they're trying to get information out of him and the Brits are trying to get him down. This bit is too convoluted for a third act and probably would've been better off being it's own movie. (The film feels long at 110 minutes and this last act really really dragged.)
There were lots of things I did enjoy though. The acting was of very high quality across the board, not just the always reliable Niven but also Le Mesurier and solid British character types like Davenport; there are some strong villains like Eric Pohlmann and Francoise Dorleac was a superb girl, gorgeous and mysterious. Location shooting in Beirut adds to the charm, it's got that 60s colour I always enjoy, and there are some solid twists, such as Niven thinking he's being rescued by the Brits only it's the Russians, and the fact the head Russian baddie is the butler.
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