The Assassination Bureau Limited (released in North America as The Assassination Bureau) is a black comedy Technicolor film made in 1969 based on an unfinished novel, The Assassination Bureau, Ltd by Jack London. It stars Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, and Curt Jürgens and was directed by Basil Dearden. Unlike London's original novel, which is set in the United States, the film is set in Europe.
Plot
In London, during the early 1900s, aspiring journalist and women's rights campaigner Sonia Winter (Diana Rigg) uncovers an organisation that specialises in killing for money, the Assassination Bureau, Limited. To bring about its destruction, she commissions the assassination of the bureau's own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed).
Far from being outraged or angry, Dragomiloff is amused and delighted and decides to put it to his own advantage. The guiding principle of his bureau, founded by his father, has always been that there was a moral reason why their victims should be killed – these have included despots and tyrants. More recently though, his elder colleagues have tended to kill more for financial gain than for moral reasons. Dragomiloff, therefore, decides to accept the commission of his own death and challenge the other board members: Kill him or he will kill them.
With Miss Winter in tow, Dragomiloff sets off on a tour of Edwardian Europe, challenging and systematically purging the bureau's senior members. Little do they realise that this is a plot by Miss Winter's sponsor, newspaper publisher Lord Bostwick (Telly Savalas), to take over the bureau and plunge Europe into war — Bostwick is the bureau's vice-chairman and is bitter for having been passed over in favour of the founder's son.
Bostwick and the other members of the Bureau plan to get rich quick by the "biggest killing" of them all — buying stocks in arms factories and then propelling Europe into war by assassinating all the heads of state of Europe while they attend a secret peace conference.
Dragomiloff and Miss Winter uncover the plot — dropping a bomb from a Zeppelin airship on to the castle in Ruthenia where the kings, emperors and presidents of Europe are trying to avoid a possible war caused by the death of a Balkan prince who was killed by a bomb intended for Dragomiloff.
Dragomiloff steals aboard the airship and destroys it, killing the remaining members of his board of directors. He is then decorated by the heads of state he has saved. It is implied that Dragomiloff may wed Miss Winter as well.
Cast
Main cast
Oliver Reed as Ivan Dragomiloff
Diana Rigg as Sonya Winter
Telly Savalas as Lord Bostwick
Curd Jürgens as General von Pinck
Philippe Noiret as Monsieur Lucoville
Warren Mitchell as Herr Weiss
Beryl Reid as Madame Otero
Clive Revill as Cesare Spado
Kenneth Griffith as Monsieur Popescu
Vernon Dobtcheff as Baron Muntzof
Annabella Incontrera as Eleanora Spado
Jess Conrad as Angelo
George Coulouris as Swiss Peasant
Supporting cast
Ralph Michael as Editor
Katherine Kath as Mme. Lucoville
Eugene Deckers as 'La Belle Amie' desk clerk
Olaf Pooley as Swiss Cashier
George Murcell as Zeppelin pilot
Michael Wolf as Zeppelin officer
Gordon Sterne as Corporal
Peter Bowles as Jealous lover at 'La Belle Amie'
William Kendall as M. Marivaux at 'La Belle Amie'
Jeremy Lloyd as English Officer
Roger Delgado as Bureau Member
Maurice Browning as Bureau Member
Clive Cazes as Bureau Member
Gerik Schjelderup as sBureau Member
Milton Reid as Elevator victim Leonardi
Frank Thornton as Elevator victim
Maggie Wright as Exquisite girl
Cameo/Uncredited cast
John Abineri as Police Inspector
Jonathan Adams as French President
Patrick Allen as Narrator
Neal Arden as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Sydney Arnold as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Pauline Barker as Nursemaid
Jane Bates as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Victor Beaumont as von Pinck's Aide
Mona Chong as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
John Crocker as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Bill Cummings as Bureau Member
Anthony Dawes as Assistant Editor
Alicia Deane as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Roy Degay as Tsar
Jim Delaney as Undertaker
Carmen Dene as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Dominique Don as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Sally Douglas as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Steve Emerson as Bureau Member
Fred Emney as Elevator Victim
Felix Felton as Beer Cellar Proprietor
Harry Fielder as Soldier
Ray Ford as Bureau Member
Michael Gover as Venice Hotel Manager
Angela Grant as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Peter Graves as Dragomiloff's Butler
Dianne Greaves as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Olive Gregg as Eleanora Spado (voice)
John Hallam as Bureau Member
Maurice Hedley as Military Man at Lowe's
John G. Heller as von Pinck's Aide
Arthur Hewlett as Counterman at Lowe's
Hubert Hill as Kaiser
Katharine Holden as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Stephen Huba] as Bureau Member
Malcolm Johns as Piero
Elizabeth Knight as Nursemaid
Nita Lorraine as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Philip Madoc as Officer
Terence Maidment as Bureau Member
Michael Mellinger as Venice Police Sergeant
Georgina Moon as Nursemaid
Jim O'Brady as Henchman
Robert Rietty as Police Officer with Eleanora
Kevin Stoney as Blind Beggar
Dermot Tuohy as Archduke Ferdinand
Colin Vancao]as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Sue Vaughan as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Desmond Walter-Ellis as Equerry
Chris Webb as Undertaker
Sheree Winton as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Karen Young as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Raymond Young as Police Officer with Sonya
Video releases
This film has been released both as a VHS video and as a Region 1 DVD.
Plot
In London, during the early 1900s, aspiring journalist and women's rights campaigner Sonia Winter (Diana Rigg) uncovers an organisation that specialises in killing for money, the Assassination Bureau, Limited. To bring about its destruction, she commissions the assassination of the bureau's own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed).
Far from being outraged or angry, Dragomiloff is amused and delighted and decides to put it to his own advantage. The guiding principle of his bureau, founded by his father, has always been that there was a moral reason why their victims should be killed – these have included despots and tyrants. More recently though, his elder colleagues have tended to kill more for financial gain than for moral reasons. Dragomiloff, therefore, decides to accept the commission of his own death and challenge the other board members: Kill him or he will kill them.
With Miss Winter in tow, Dragomiloff sets off on a tour of Edwardian Europe, challenging and systematically purging the bureau's senior members. Little do they realise that this is a plot by Miss Winter's sponsor, newspaper publisher Lord Bostwick (Telly Savalas), to take over the bureau and plunge Europe into war — Bostwick is the bureau's vice-chairman and is bitter for having been passed over in favour of the founder's son.
Bostwick and the other members of the Bureau plan to get rich quick by the "biggest killing" of them all — buying stocks in arms factories and then propelling Europe into war by assassinating all the heads of state of Europe while they attend a secret peace conference.
Dragomiloff and Miss Winter uncover the plot — dropping a bomb from a Zeppelin airship on to the castle in Ruthenia where the kings, emperors and presidents of Europe are trying to avoid a possible war caused by the death of a Balkan prince who was killed by a bomb intended for Dragomiloff.
Dragomiloff steals aboard the airship and destroys it, killing the remaining members of his board of directors. He is then decorated by the heads of state he has saved. It is implied that Dragomiloff may wed Miss Winter as well.
Cast
Main cast
Oliver Reed as Ivan Dragomiloff
Diana Rigg as Sonya Winter
Telly Savalas as Lord Bostwick
Curd Jürgens as General von Pinck
Philippe Noiret as Monsieur Lucoville
Warren Mitchell as Herr Weiss
Beryl Reid as Madame Otero
Clive Revill as Cesare Spado
Kenneth Griffith as Monsieur Popescu
Vernon Dobtcheff as Baron Muntzof
Annabella Incontrera as Eleanora Spado
Jess Conrad as Angelo
George Coulouris as Swiss Peasant
Supporting cast
Ralph Michael as Editor
Katherine Kath as Mme. Lucoville
Eugene Deckers as 'La Belle Amie' desk clerk
Olaf Pooley as Swiss Cashier
George Murcell as Zeppelin pilot
Michael Wolf as Zeppelin officer
Gordon Sterne as Corporal
Peter Bowles as Jealous lover at 'La Belle Amie'
William Kendall as M. Marivaux at 'La Belle Amie'
Jeremy Lloyd as English Officer
Roger Delgado as Bureau Member
Maurice Browning as Bureau Member
Clive Cazes as Bureau Member
Gerik Schjelderup as sBureau Member
Milton Reid as Elevator victim Leonardi
Frank Thornton as Elevator victim
Maggie Wright as Exquisite girl
Cameo/Uncredited cast
John Abineri as Police Inspector
Jonathan Adams as French President
Patrick Allen as Narrator
Neal Arden as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Sydney Arnold as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Pauline Barker as Nursemaid
Jane Bates as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Victor Beaumont as von Pinck's Aide
Mona Chong as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
John Crocker as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Bill Cummings as Bureau Member
Anthony Dawes as Assistant Editor
Alicia Deane as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Roy Degay as Tsar
Jim Delaney as Undertaker
Carmen Dene as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Dominique Don as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Sally Douglas as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Steve Emerson as Bureau Member
Fred Emney as Elevator Victim
Felix Felton as Beer Cellar Proprietor
Harry Fielder as Soldier
Ray Ford as Bureau Member
Michael Gover as Venice Hotel Manager
Angela Grant as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Peter Graves as Dragomiloff's Butler
Dianne Greaves as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Olive Gregg as Eleanora Spado (voice)
John Hallam as Bureau Member
Maurice Hedley as Military Man at Lowe's
John G. Heller as von Pinck's Aide
Arthur Hewlett as Counterman at Lowe's
Hubert Hill as Kaiser
Katharine Holden as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Stephen Huba] as Bureau Member
Malcolm Johns as Piero
Elizabeth Knight as Nursemaid
Nita Lorraine as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Philip Madoc as Officer
Terence Maidment as Bureau Member
Michael Mellinger as Venice Police Sergeant
Georgina Moon as Nursemaid
Jim O'Brady as Henchman
Robert Rietty as Police Officer with Eleanora
Kevin Stoney as Blind Beggar
Dermot Tuohy as Archduke Ferdinand
Colin Vancao]as 'La Belle Amie' Client
Sue Vaughan as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Desmond Walter-Ellis as Equerry
Chris Webb as Undertaker
Sheree Winton as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Karen Young as 'La Belle Amie' Girl
Raymond Young as Police Officer with Sonya
Video releases
This film has been released both as a VHS video and as a Region 1 DVD.
Post a Comment