Review of The Blonde from Peking

This dreary Cold War adventure with tongue-in-cheek results in a misfire, despite interesting credentials: novel author James Hadley Chase (I hadn't quite realized just how many of his work has been adapted for the screen, particularly from the 50s through the 70s, albeit mostly French-made programmers…such as this one), screenwriter Marc Behm (The Beatles' HELP! [1965]), director Gessner (THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE [1976]), composer Francois de Roubaix (LE SAMOURAI [1967], DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS [1971]), cast (a couple of lovely Godard alumni – Mireille Darc and Giorgia Moll, Bunuel regular Claudio Brook – here making an unsuitable leading man – and, of course, Edward G. Robinson – who's wasted). While occasionally sexy and featuring colorful locations, it's neither very thrilling nor very funny – though being, mercifully, short enough to be palatable.

The only other film of Gessner's that I've watched is the similarly international though superior 12+1 (1969) – based on the same source material as Mel Brooks' THE TWELVE CHAIRS (1970) and for which an equally eclectic cast had been assembled, including Sharon Tate (in her last role) and Orson Welles.