Residencia para espías

One of the two movies Jess Franco made with singer/actor Eddie Constantine (the other being Las Cartas Boca Arriba). Constantine was an American (of Russian descent) who became in star in a series of French (!) hard boiled thrillers, based on novels by British (!) author Peter Cheyney. In the mid-sixties his career seemed over, but Jean-Luc Godard gave him a new lifeline by casting him for the art house sf-movie Alphaville (1965).

In this spy thriller Constantine is a secret agent called Dan Layton, sent to Istanbul to find out who's selling secret information to the Russians. He's received by the local CIA commander Pendleton, who turns out to be a middle-aged woman leading a training school for young female spies. Also travelling to Istanbul is the future Madame Layton, who doesn't trust her Danny (for all the good reasons) with all these beautiful young ladies.

Constantine looks far too old to portray a master spy who's irresistible to women of all ages, but he's helped by Franco's tongue-in-cheek approach (often verging on parody). However, the movie turns to a more serious tone in the final 20-25 minutes and it's in these minutes that it works best - at least as a thriller. The film has an odd fifties look,  but the leering sex and levels of violence are typical signs of the sixties (don't get excited, rated by today's standards it's the equivalent of a PG). Dana Lorys was sometimes called the woman with the sexiest back in the film business, and it's a nice detail that this back will finally lead Constantine to the mastermind behind the spy activities.

Some scenes were shot in Istanbul (and they look good), but most of it was filmed in Spain, in the region of Alicante. Patty Shepard briefly appears as one of the girls in the residence. For years this has been a nearly impossible-to-find Jess Franco movie; in 2005 a Spanish DVD was released, but it has mediocre video quality (the source was obviously VHS) and only Spanish audio. The film was shown at a Jess Franco retrospect in Italy, shortly after his death, so maybe we'll have a better release in the near future. If you can't find a copy, I wouldn't be too worried: the movie's mildly entertaining, but no more than watchable nonsense. 

Aanraders in overeenkomstige genres, volgens Boobytrap:
- A Lonely Place to Die (thriller / avontuur : 7)
- Topaz (thriller / avontuur : 6.5)
- House of Cards (thriller / avontuur : 6)
- Caravan to Vaccarès (Le Passager) (avontuur / thriller : 6.5)
- La Femme Infidèle (The Unfaithful Wife) (thriller / drama : 8)

Hoe beoordeelt Boobytrap categorie thriller eigenlijk? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Hoe beoordeelt Boobytrap categorie avontuur eigenlijk? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10