THE BLACK BOX AFFAIR

Craig Hill

THE BLACK BOX AFFAIR (aka Il mondo trema/1966). Director: James Harris (Marcello Ciorciolini). 

Johnny Grant (Craig Hill of You Have to Run Fast) is a spy who retired when his wife was murdered, but former boss Mr. X (Herbert Montureano) and his old partner, Pablo (Luis Marin), need him back in the game. Various agents have gathered to try to recover a "black box" from an aircraft that crashed. This does not refer to the black boxes you generally find in airplanes, but to a mysterious device with unusual properties that Russian and Chinese agents want to get their hands on. Johnny decides to join in when he learns that his arch-enemy Fabian (Rolf Tasna), who was responsible for his wife's death, is also up to his old tricks. 

Hill with Rossella Bergamonti

Johnny and Pablo bounce around and eventually wind up in Vienna, where there is some action at the amusement park (which later figured in the James Bond movie The Living Daylights). Johnny dallies with several ladies: the drug-addicted Ambra (Moa Tahi); the duplicitous Myriam (Rossella Bergamonti); and the lovely Madame Florian (Teresa Gimpera), who may also have her own secrets. The movie has plenty of lively fistfights, especially at the opening, and Hill makes a splendid spy. The villains try to kill Johnny by blowing up an entire airliner, but he hardly seems concerned about this, and is making jokes with Pablo not much later. Twenty-four years after appearing together in this film Hill and Gimpera were married. 

Verdict: Slugfests are not enough to make a great movie, but Hill is effective and this at least holds the attention. **1/2.