There is an air of Dostyevsky over this grim account off a premeditated murder that goes wrong - the demonstration of the innocents, the murderer's agonies, the case of the casualties, the atmosphere of the very simple almost shabby quarters next to the cemetery - the realism is expressive, utterly sincere, totally convincing and shattering in its complexity of human dilemmas. It starts almost like a comedy with cheerful music, and the initiation of the agent selected for the job is very good-humored with James Robertson Justice actually adding some thick comedy to it, while it gradually almost stealthily becomes more and more sinister. Paul Massie makes the performance of his life as the reluctant murderer, flanked by Irene Worth who matches him perfectly, and even Lilian Gish as his mother, while Eddie Albert makes the most important male supporting part, spotting the weakness of the human factor in the enterprise from the beginning but without anticipating any possible consequences. There is great sensitivity and psychology in this film, and the problems it poses are timeless and will ever remain actual. Compared to this, all the 007 agent films appear as nurseries of childishness.
Review of Orders to Kill
