This is the first of only two Bond movies ever produced outside of Eon Productions. It’s meant to be parody-style action comedy. It starts off looking quite unwatchable, but it’s nice to see John Le Mesurier make an early appearance (this movie was released 1 year before the first episode of Dad’s Army where Mesurier plays Sergeant Wilson very well). Unfortunately he only has a fleeting minor role here.
The humour remains pretty dead for at least the first quarter an hour. The actors all have dry personalities and aren’t at all funny for my taste, so I have to call this an unwatchable movie – I fast forwarded a bit and it didn’t seem to improve. The genre is nothing like other James Bond movies – it’s more like an old Carry On film minus the funny actors. The storyline is related to James Bond but only so far as satire goes. I wouldn’t list this movie in with other Bond movies because it has a completely different genre and its ‘comedy’ is so poor. There’s no cross-over appeal, for action hero movie junkies – even those who like fresh action comedies will find this movie terrible dull and a waste of time.
David Niven plays the Bond character in this movie, but it’s nothing like the James Bond we know & love – he just plays a Carry On style fool minus the comedy value, which makes it a pointless drama for my taste.
Other key cast members include famous names like Peter Sellers and Woody Allen, as well as Swiss actress Ursula Andress – the main Bond girl from the first genuine Bond movie, Dr No.