The Assassination Bureau Limited (Original title)The Assassination Bureau (Alternative title)
Date: 1968 (Copyright)Country: United KingdomDirected by: Basil Dearden
Synopsis: Black comedy. In Edwardian London, determined young reporter Sonya Winter sets out to smash the professional murder business the Assassination Bureau (which kills only those they deem deserving of death), by presenting them with a commission to eliminate their own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff, son of its late founder. Ivan's fellow assassins set about trying to kill him, and he them, as Sonya follows him from one European city to another, dicing with death. Sonya is unaware that her newspaper's owner, Lord Bostwick, is the deputy chairman of the Bureau, hopes to take it over once Ivan is dead and is using her reports to keep tabs on Ivan's movements. Sonya and Ivan begin to fall for each other. In Venice, Ivan successfully fakes his own death, with Sonya's help, and they then try to thwart Bostwick's plan to start a European war by dropping a huge bomb from a zeppelin onto a castle where peace may otherwise be sealed. In case Ivan fails, Sonya attempts to ride to the castle in time to tell them to evacuate it.
Genres: Comedy, Crime
Subjects: Journalists, Political assassinations, Homicide, War
Title: [The Hollywood Reporter - v204 n46 24 Feb 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v36 n424 May 1969 Page: 98
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v36 n424 May 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Films and Filming v15 n8 May 1969 Pages: 40-41
Title: [Films and Filming - v15 n8 May 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Variety 5 Mar 1969 Page: 6
Title: [Variety - 5 Mar 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Kine Weekly n3147 3 Feb 1968 Page: 16
Title: [Kine Weekly - n3147 3 Feb 1968: no known title]Language: English
Description: Prod. notes.
In: The Daily Cinema n9499 20 Mar 1968 Page: 6
Title: [The Daily Cinema - n9499 20 Mar 1968: no known title]Language: English
Description: Prod. notes.
In: The Hollywood Reporter v199 n31 9 Feb 1968 Page: 10
Title: [The Hollywood Reporter - v199 n31 9 Feb 1968: no known title]Language: English
Film, Video or Digital materials held in BFI National Archive(1)
Accessible materials to view(1)
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: CTASound: CombinedLength: 9860 FeetStock date: 1968BFI identifier: C-1497732
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Film materials(1)
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: CTASound: CombinedLength: 9860 FeetStock date: 1968BFI identifier: C-1497732
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Date: 1968 (Copyright)Country: United KingdomDirected by: Basil Dearden
Synopsis: Black comedy. In Edwardian London, determined young reporter Sonya Winter sets out to smash the professional murder business the Assassination Bureau (which kills only those they deem deserving of death), by presenting them with a commission to eliminate their own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff, son of its late founder. Ivan's fellow assassins set about trying to kill him, and he them, as Sonya follows him from one European city to another, dicing with death. Sonya is unaware that her newspaper's owner, Lord Bostwick, is the deputy chairman of the Bureau, hopes to take it over once Ivan is dead and is using her reports to keep tabs on Ivan's movements. Sonya and Ivan begin to fall for each other. In Venice, Ivan successfully fakes his own death, with Sonya's help, and they then try to thwart Bostwick's plan to start a European war by dropping a huge bomb from a zeppelin onto a castle where peace may otherwise be sealed. In case Ivan fails, Sonya attempts to ride to the castle in time to tell them to evacuate it.
Genres: Comedy, Crime
Subjects: Journalists, Political assassinations, Homicide, War
Credits
(71)
Production Company: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Produced by: Michael Relph, Associate Producer: Charles Orme, Production Manager: Barrie Melrose, [Production Accountant]: Charles Wilder, [Assistant Accountant]: Keith Knowles, Malcolm Eldridge, [Accounts Secretary]: Vanessa Howes, [Production Secretary]: Rhonda Grogan, [Production Runner]: Terry Pearce, James Dearden, Assistant Director: John Peverall, [Assistant Director (2nd)]: Terry Marcel, Richard Hoult, Continuity: Sue Dyson, [Casting Director]: Weston Drury Jr, [Casting Secretary]: Jane Dennis, Screenplay by: Michael Relph, Additional Dialogue by: Wolf Mankowitz, Based on the idea from the book by: Jack London, Robert Fish, Director of Photography: Geoffrey Unsworth, Camera Operator: Peter MacDonald, [Focus Puller]: John Campbell, [Assistant Camera]: Cedric James, [Clapper Loader]: George Stephenson, [Supervising Electrician]: Harry Black, [Chargehand Electrician]: John Tythe, [Camera Grip]: Edward Underwood, Stills Cameraman: George Courtney Ward, Special Effects: Les Bowie, Special Effects: Thomas Clark, Editor: Teddy Darvas, [Assistant Editor]: Ian Gardiner, [Assistant Editor (2nd)]: Susan Radcliffe, Designed by: Michael Relph, Art Director: Frank White, Art Director: Roy Smith, Set Dresser: Helen Thomas, [Draughtsman]: Simon Holland, [Draughtsman]: Roger Cain, [Draughtsman]: Gordon Tester, Oliver Streeton, [Junior Draughtsman]: Barbara Simkins, [Scenic Artist]: Ferdinand Bellan, [Property Buyer]: Dennis Griffin, [Chargehand Props]: Wally Hill, [Propman]: Danny Skundric, Tommy McCarroll, Costume Designer: Beatrice Dawson, Wardrobe Supervisor: Rosemary Burrows, John Hilling, Make-up: Harry Frampton, [Make-up Artist]: Phil Leakey, [Make-up Assistant]: Peter Frampton, Hairdresser: Barbara Ritchie, [Hairdresser]: Mibs Parker, Titles Designed by: Robert Ellis, Music by: Ron Grainer, Lyrics by: Hal Shaper, Sound Recordist: Dudley Messenger, Sound Recordist: Ken Barker, John Dennis, [Sound Camera Operator]: Vivian Temple-Smith, [Boom Operator]: Danny Daniel, [Assistant Boom Operator]: John Hayward, Sound Editor: John Poyner, [Publicist]: Ralph Cooper, [Publicity Secretary]: Susan Lee, Studio: Pinewood Studios
Cast
(82)
Oliver Reed (Ivan Dragomiloff), Diana Rigg (Sonya Winter), Telly Savalas (Lord Bostwick), Curt Jurgens (General von Pinck), Philippe Noiret (M Lucoville), Warren Mitchell (Herr Weiss), Beryl Reid (Madame Otero), Clive Revill (Cesare Spado), Vernon Dobtcheff (Baron Muntzov), Annabella Incontrera (Eleanora Spado), Kenneth Griffith (Popescu), Jess Conrad (Angelo), George Coulouris (Swiss peasant), Katherine Kath (Madame Lucoville), Olaf Pooley (Swiss cashier), Fred Emney ([1st victim]), Frank Thornton ([philanderer, 2nd victim]), Milton Reid ([Leonardi, 3rd victim]), Ralph Michael ([editor]), Anthony Dawes ([assistant editor]), Kevin Stoney ([blind beggar]), Maurice Hedley ([military man at Lowe's]), Arthur Hewlett ([counterman at Lowe's]), Peter Graves ([Dragomiloff's butler]), Roger Delgado, Maurice Browning, Clive Gazes, Gerik Schjelderup, Bill Cummings, Ray Ford, Steve Emerson, Stephen Hubay, Terry Maidment, John Hallam ([Bureau member]), Elizabeth Knight, Pauline Barker, Georgina Moon ([nursemaid]), Eugene Deckers (['La Belle Amie' desk clerk]), Dominique Don, Katharine Holden, Sheree Winton, Dianne Greaves, Mona Chong, Carmen Dene, Sally Douglas, Karen Young, Sue Vaughan, Alicia Deane, Jane Bates, Nita Lorraine, Angela Grant (['La Belle Amie' girl]), Sydney Arnold, Neal Arden, Colin Vancao, John Crocker (['La Belle Amie' client]), William Kendall ([M Marivaux at 'La Belle Amie']), Peter Bowles ([jealous lover at 'La Belle Amie']), John Abineri ([police inspector]), John G. Heller, Victor Beaumont ([von Pinck's aide]), Dermot Tuohy ([Archduke Ferdinand]), Felix Felton ([beer cellar proprietor]), Desmond Walter-Ellis, Colin Vancao ([equerry]), Michael Gover ([Venice hotel manager]), Michael Mellinger ([Venice police sergeant]), Raymond Young ([police officer with Sonya]), Robert Rietti ([police officer with Eleanora]), Malcolm Johns ([Piero]), Jim Delaney, Don Rosy, Chris Webb, Joe Santos ([undertaker]), Roy De Gay ([tsar]), John Adams ([French president]), Gordon Sterne ([corporal]), Michael Wolf ([Zeppelin officer]), Hubert Hill ([Kaiser]), George Murcell ([Zeppelin petty officer]), Oliver Tomlin ([Edward VII]), Jeremy Lloyd ([English officer]), Olive Gregg ([voice of Eleanora Spado])
Articles held in BFI Reuben Library
(7)
In: The Hollywood Reporter v204 n46 24 Feb 1969 Page: 3Title: [The Hollywood Reporter - v204 n46 24 Feb 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Monthly Film Bulletin v36 n424 May 1969 Page: 98
Title: [Monthly Film Bulletin - v36 n424 May 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Films and Filming v15 n8 May 1969 Pages: 40-41
Title: [Films and Filming - v15 n8 May 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Variety 5 Mar 1969 Page: 6
Title: [Variety - 5 Mar 1969: no known title]Language: English
In: Kine Weekly n3147 3 Feb 1968 Page: 16
Title: [Kine Weekly - n3147 3 Feb 1968: no known title]Language: English
Description: Prod. notes.
In: The Daily Cinema n9499 20 Mar 1968 Page: 6
Title: [The Daily Cinema - n9499 20 Mar 1968: no known title]Language: English
Description: Prod. notes.
In: The Hollywood Reporter v199 n31 9 Feb 1968 Page: 10
Title: [The Hollywood Reporter - v199 n31 9 Feb 1968: no known title]Language: English
Film, Video or Digital materials held in BFI National Archive(1)
Accessible materials to view(1)
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: CTASound: CombinedLength: 9860 FeetStock date: 1968BFI identifier: C-1497732
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)
Film materials(1)
Description: 35mm Colour PositiveBase: CTASound: CombinedLength: 9860 FeetStock date: 1968BFI identifier: C-1497732
Status: Viewing - Film print can be requested for access (servicing required)