Upperseven, l'uomo da uccidere (1966)

User Rating:

3.8/10   

Director:

Alberto De Martino

Writer:

Alberto De Martino (writer)

Release Date:

24 February 1966 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Crime | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Spy | Number In Title

Cast

Paul Hubschmid	...	Paul Finney, the Upperseven
Karin Dor	...	Helen Farheit
Vivi Bach	...	Birgit
Nando Gazzolo	...	Kobras
Rosalba Neri	...	Pauline
Guido Lollobrigida	...	Santos
Tom Felleghy	...	Gibbons / Sir Richard M.
Tullio Altamura	...	Bank director
Bruno Scipioni	...	'M' (as Bruno Smith)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mario Maffei	...	Duke Robin
Evi Rigano

Also Known As:

Der Mann mit den 1000 Masken (West Germany)
The Man of a Thousand Masks (International: English title)
The Spy with Ten Faces (USA)
Upperseven, the Man to Kill

Runtime:

West Germany:103 min

Country:

Italy | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:16

Company:

European Inc.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Operation: Secret Agents, Spies & Thighs (2007) (V)

The man with the 1000

This German/Italian spinoff of the 60ie's James Bond-wave shows another trial to find another smart agent as Connery performed it. Paul Hubschmid does his job as "Super Seven" quite smartly, a bit too smart sometimes, but as an secret agent man quite acceptable. In the movies from that time you'll never miss the masks made of some "special" or "secret" material, and you'll find them here as well - we encounter only 5 or 6 of them although the title promises a 1000 masks. The trick of changing someones identity is done ...hm... as usual (Mission Impossible-like). The problem was the quite typical face and profile of Hubschmid, which makes the identity changes a bit implausible (like Jean Marais as Fantomas, where all Marais-parts look quite the same).

Apart, there are some other things you never miss at that time: first, a song - here with some childish lyrics and catastrophal dubbing; second, a villain who works for an asiatic enimy; third, some explosions in the final showdown; fourth, some fist fighting; fifth, some well known or exotic cities; sixth: Karin Dor. This movie is quite consumable (apart of some "atomic center" scenes which indeed were shot in some engineering hall). The part I most enjoyed was the chase in the area of Rome, where Hubschmid's motorbike gets off the road; he comments that with a brief "Scheiss!" (which is in the German version). I never heard such a convinced "Scheiss!" again!