In the early 1900s, a league of international assassins are sent into turmoil when a reporter (Diana Rigg) hires them to kill their own leader (Oliver Reed). And one of their number (Telly Savalas) has plans to start a war in Europe...
Michael Relph adapted Jack London's story for this period adventure. The film is an opulent, episodic affair, where the action travels around Europe from a brothel in Paris to the canals of Venice. It's all rather arch, rather contrived and has a touch of nastiness to give it an edge.
While Rigg and Reed get by on their natural charm, everyone else is simply playing a caricature; the Bureau themselves don't really convince as expert killers - only Savalas is a genuine threat. It has its moments, like the grand finale on a zeppelin which carries a huge bomb, but it could have been funnier. And the special effects are fairly cheap looking - all the money must have gone on the sets and costumes.
To keep the plot bubbling away, there are plenty of explosions, newsreel footage and some singing. Also worth watching for, in small roles: Frank Thornton, Peter Bowles (quite funny), and Roger Delgado. The music is by Ron Grainer.
Dependable British director who began his film career working on Will Hay comedies like My Learned Friend, then moved onto a range of drama and comedy: a segment of classic horror Dead of Night, important crime film The Blue Lamp, The Smallest Show on Earth, excellent heist story The League of Gentlemen, social issues film Victim, action spectaculars Khartoum and The Assassination Bureau and quirky horror The Man Who Haunted Himself. Sadly, Dearden died in a car crash.
