Atout coeur à Tokyo pour O.S.S. 117 (1966)
Directed by Michel Boisrond

Film Review

Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 was the fourth of the popular OSS 117 films made in France in the 1960s, and the one that most shamelessly goes out of its way to imitate the even more popular James Bond movies of the period.  Benefiting from an increased budget and script-writing input from Terence Young (the director of three of the first Bond movies), this is more Bond à la française than another routine OSS 117 run-around. Indeed, it is only the lack of a strong lead actor and more imaginative plot that prevents it from being a truly satisfying Gallic alternative to 007's film exploits.

What plot there is basically consists of limp comicbook interludes that just about manage to join together the endless sequence of full-throttle fight scenes.  (There's scarcely a set in the film that isn't completely wrecked before it is finished with.)  Admittedly, the same could equally be said of the Bond films, but at least these had more believable villains and a few unexpected twists and turns.  Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117, by contrast, is pedestrian and formulaic to a fault, and it is only the surprisingly good production values that prevent it from being as woefully inadequate as the other four entries in the series.

Sumptuously filmed in glorious colour and dramatic widescreen, and making full use of its exotic Oriental location, the film has a scale and lushness that you would rarely find in French thrillers of this era.  For some reason, producer André Hunebelle decided not to direct this OSS 117 installment himself and instead handed over that task to Michel Boisrond, who was hardly known as an action film director.  Boisrond's main forte had been lightweight comedies, such as the ones he had made with Brigitte Bardot - Cette sacrée gamine (1955), Voulez-vous danser avec moi? (1959), etc.  On his most challenging assignment yet, Agent Boisrond acquits himself reasonably well - indeed his direction surpasses Hunebelle's work on the other OSS 117 films by some margin.

Atout coeur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 looks impressive and, despite its lack of original content and any clear direction of travel, it zips along at a satisfying pace.  However, it has one obvious, hard to avoid shortcoming, which is the miscasting of Frederick Stafford in the role of French special agent OSS 117.  This was Stafford's second outing in the role (after Furia à Bahia pour OSS 117 (1965), his first ever screen role), and once again the Austrian actor fails to look like anything more than just an exceedingly poor imitation of Sean Connery (badly dubbed in the French version).

A successful sportsman in his youth, Stafford is well-equipped to deal with the action sequences, but his lack of experience and ability as an actor prevent him from making much of an impact elsewhere.  His stiff-limbed, expressionless performance makes him the most wooden of action heroes, and you wonder what on Earth induced Alfred Hitchcock to cast him in the lead role for his later thriller Topaz (1969).  Marina Vlady's pseudo-Bond girl is far more likely to grab your attention, even if her role in the proceedings is mainly to service OSS 117's over-active libido.  On the acting front, Henri Serre does most to earn his pay cheque - he makes a smooth and deadly villain, even if it is a massive comedown from his best known role in François Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1962).

Film Synopsis

An American military base in the Pacific is blown up after the United States government refuses to accede to a ransom demand by a mysterious terrorist organisation.  Fearing that similar attacks may be imminent, the French secret service sends its best agent, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, alias OSS 117, to Tokyo to investigate.  Here, Bonisseur strikes up a rapport with Eva Wilson, an employee at the American Embassy who was forced into giving away the base's transmission code to save her own skin.  Suspecting that Eva may be in league with the terrorists, Bonisseur insists on passing himself off as her husband.  When Eva's real husband shows up unexpectedly he is not what he seems and a dangerous tussle with Japan's criminal underworld quickly ensues...