Frederick Stafford's main contribution to the spy genre is his leading role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Topaz". A few years earlier, he played the French James Bond, OSS 117, twice. In between those two films, he also made the more obscure "Agent 505 - The Trap Door Falls In Beirut" - so is this film a buried treasure? Not quite. It's rather unremarkable on the whole. But there are some moments that stand out: the customary nightclub number does not involve singing or dancing, but a blindfolded woman shooting light bulbs! A man hangs from the bottom of a flying helicopter - almost 30 years before Jackie Chan did something similar in "Police Story III". And the villain's demise is pretty bloody. Stafford is a capable lead and Geneviève Cluny is cute. But the film is still only average. ** out of 4.
Review of Agent 505 - Todesfalle Beirut
