User Reviews

Starts strong with a fight. And we see many more fights during the film. Which balances the slow pace of the whole movie. We won't see the black box at all, it's just being talked about. A professor also appears - could he not? - It's not at all clear what his role is, what his research consists of, but as in many other films of the same genre, he's the father of the woman the main hero falls in love with, agent John Grant, played by Craig Hill. Which Craig Hill, in real life was married to Teresa Gimpera, which is Floriane, the woman in this film. The same Craig Hill, sometime before, was Rock Hudson's boyfriend.

The plot for The Black Box Affair is pretty simple - Agent Johnny Grant (Craig Hill) and sidekick Pablo (Luis Marin) are assigned the mission of finding the black box from a downed airplane before it can fall into enemy hands. Why? I honestly couldn't tell you. All I know is they have to find the box.

While I say I'm a Eurospy fan, what I'm learning about myself is that I'm a fan of GOOD Eurospy films. I prefer an entertaining Eurospy with something exciting, something kitchy, something different, or something totally ridiculous. I like films like Special Mission Lady Chaplin or Dick Smart 2.007 or Our Man in Marrakesh - you know, something good. Acting, budgets, dubbing, and most everything else plays second fiddle for me as long as it's entertaining. Unfortunately, I found little entertainment in The Black Box Affair. It's dull, dry, lifeless, and difficult to get through.

There are so many issues I have with this movie that I would write about, but I'll start with the plot - it's a disaster. A large portion of the film consists of little more than our heroes, Grant and Pablo, running, driving, or flying from one location to the next for no real reason that I could ascertain. They seem to be in one fight after the next with either the Russians or the Chinese. Why? Again, I'm not sure other than they're all trying to find the box. None of it makes much sense and that fact really hurts the overall movie. There's nothing I could sink my teeth into and care about. Hill and Marin aren't very good either. Hill makes for one of the most uninteresting leads I've seen recently and Marin's attempts at comic relief are just plain old horrid. His ventriloquism schtick gets old before he does it the first time. Agent Grant also happens to be about as stupid an agent as I've seen in a Eurospy film. He takes forever figuring out who's double-crossing him. The solution all but slaps you in the face it's so obvious. Honestly, I could write for days on the many problems I had with The Black Box Affair, but I've got better ways to spend my time.

Inferior and run-of-the-mill Italian/Spanish Euro-spy film dealing with an undercover agent and his adventures, misfortunes , dangerous investigations and sexy romances. Below average Spanish/Italian Euro-spy co-production with a diverse cast made up of actors from different countries. An airplane crashes in Spain. The Russian as well as the Chinese government take care of the events because on board there was a "black box", as our secret agent has to recover an essential device, very powerful for the purposes of nuclear power. Visiting the estate of an old friend, retired secret agent John Grant (Hill) is set upon by two men posing as gardeners, who he dispatches after some brutal combat. He crashes into the house, ready for anything and gun blazing, but it's all a test set by General MacGregor (George Rigaud) and his ex-boss Mister X (Herbert Montureano) to see if he can still cut it after two years out of harness. Despite passing the ordeal with flying colours, Hill refuses the offer of a new assignment. However, when they explain that the Russian team in play is led by Fabian (Rolf Tasna), he changes his mind. He has vowed to kill the red agent, who he believes was responsible for the death of his wife. Hill arrives in San Magdalena with old partner Pablo (Luis Marin) to attempt to seize to recover an essential device, the very powerful for nuclear power purposes and it's not long before they are tangling with the opposition. Rather than interrogate three captured agents at gunpoint, our superspy throws his weapon away as he fancies a bit of the old hand-to-hand. Later, he meets hotel switchboard operator Myriam (Rossella Bergamonti) in his room uninvited. However, she's searching his room rather than using the shower, which is a definite red flag. In the restaurant, he finds himself seated at a table beside fashion guru Mamoiselle Floriane (Teresa Gimpera). As she's dining alone too, the inevitable happens, and the pair hook up. As Hill's investigation proceeds, he begins to suspect that the black box was removed from the plane during refuelling at the airport in Vienna. It also seems that Tasna and his Kremlin boys are at a loss regarding its whereabouts and subsequently villain Chinese agents (George Wang) also show up trying to smack down our favorite agent.

It is indistinguishable from many other titles at the same style. It barely provides the minimum entertainment required in these cases , concerning a pair of agents: Craig Hill and Luís Marín who are caught up in the chain of events and eventually a troupe of Russian and Chinese become involved into their paths. It results to be a mediocre Euro-spy movie, a very popular sub-genre in the 80s, the use of strange artifacts and gimmicks were also frequent, many of them used to liquidate contenders. However, here the intrigue developed is very silly and unbelievable, dealing with Russian and American agents and double-agents, spy leaders , traitorous agents, a kidnapped scientist, and anything else.

Typical spy movie although mostly set on poor scenaries and with a few girls who want to make our hero fall in love and deceive him in order to seize the black box containing the precious and dangerous device for the whole world. Routine movie about the European spy subgenre , an usual genre during the sixties, not taking any situation seriously and with short budget which doesn't allow director to mount spectacular set pieces, the reason for its mediocrity , along with other cash-strapped companions at the era. An Eurospy that never fully commits to either humour or a dark edge but packs elements of both and integrates them with simple and average results. There are some action scenes but mostly fights, some shootouts and adding a sympathetic toy car controlled to explode at the nasty headquarter.

Ordinary performaces without many recognizable top-notch stars, only Craig Hill , a B- American actor giving a so-so acting , as he married Spanish Teresa Gimpera and lived in Spain . Since then performing several Italian/Spanish films . As The American moved to Spain/Italy during the 60's to star in spaghetti westerns , adventure , and thrillers. He previously played in Hollywood secondary roles in known films as All about Eva (1950), Detective story (1951) , Black Shield (1954) and Whirlybirds (1957). He emigrated to Italy attempting to get fame and fortune similar to Clint Eastwood. From there, Hill began acting in thrillers , later moving onto the Western genre , where he found his niche . As Craig Hill played a lot of Spaghetti , his first Western was ¨Hands of a Gunfighter" or ¨Ocaso De Un Pistolero¨ , he went on playing : "Seven Pistols for a Massacre" , "Rick and John¨ , ¨Conquerors of the West¨ , ¨Bounty hunter¨ , "I Want Him Dead" , "Fifteen Scaffolds for the Killer" , "Three Crosses of Death" , ¨Bury Them Deep¨, "I want him dead¨, and ¨The Crows Will Dig Your Grave" or "Los Cuervos Cavarán Tú Fosa". While Teresa Gimpera debuted in the title role of the little-known but well-regarded comic book spy adventure 'Fata/Morgana' (1966) and went on to further espionage adventures with Ray Danton in Jess Franco's 'Lucky the Inscrutable/Lucky, el intrépido/Agente Speciale L. K.' (1967) and Bruno Corbucci's comedy 'Spia spione' (1967). Many film projects followed, including some avant-garde work, comedy, horror and a role in Alfonso Brescia's Giallo 'Naked Girl Murdered in the Park/Ragazza tutta nuda assassinata nel parco' (1973). Her marriage having disintegrated many years before, Gimpera met Hill again in the 1980s, and the two married a few years later, remaining together for 24 years until his death.

It contains lively and evocative score by Gianni Ferrio. As well as atmospheric cinematography by Francisco Sánchez , shot on various locations in Lake Garda, Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Verona, Veneto, Italia, Viena, Austria and other Spanish Mediterranean localities. The motion picture was middlingly directed by Marcello Ciorciolini and withno originality. Rating: 4.5/10. Very mediocre and so-so Euro-spy movie.

BLACK BOX AFFAIR, a mid-60s European spy film starring American actor Craig Hill (who has continued to work successfully in Europe for over 30 years), should satisfy any fan of low-budget Eurospy genre films. It starts off with a wild montage that could be out of GLEN OR GLENDA or ROCKET ATTACK USA, moves on to a credit sequence featuring a catchy europop-lounge title song, and then before the plot begins to kick in, Craig Hill is attacked by TWO different sets of bad-guys! The whole film does not proceed at this breakneck pace, but there is some beautiful location shooting, a good amount of action, a pretty female lead in Teresa Gimpera, and as a hero the versatile Craig Hill more than holds his own. The Black Box of the title is only partially explained, and little effort is put into giving the characters much individuality, but if you ask those kind of questions, you wouldn't like this type of by-the-numbers spy film anyway. If you collect this sort of thing, you'll want BLACK BOX AFFAIR, and Craig Hill--who is excellent in all kinds of roles, both in his US and his later European career--gives the role the kind of authority and manliness it needs. One a four star scale, I'd give this a solid two-and-a-half, compared to other films in the genre.