THE VENETIAN AFFAIR

Robert Vaughn and Karl Boehm

THE VENETIAN AFFAIR (1966). Director: Jerry Thorpe.

In Venice a nuclear disarmament conference is shattered by an explosion that causes many deaths. It is later determined that the now-dead U.S. representative was the one who brought the bomb in -- but why? Dr. Vaugiroud (Boris Karloff of Before I Hang), who has been experimenting with a mind-control drug, may have the answer. Former CIA man Bill Fenner (Robert Vaughn) is sent to Venice by his boss at a wire service, where he encounters his ex-boss Frank "Rosey" Rosenfeld (Ed Asner), old friend Mike Ballard (Roger C. Carmel), Bill's ex-wife Sandra (Elke Sommer of Ten Little Indians), who is some kind of double agent, and the sinister Robert Wahl (Karl Boehm), who wants to get Sandra in his clutches. 

where's Illya when you need him?

Despite some interesting elements, Venetian Affair is too low-key -- a bit dull, in fact -- to keep the viewer's interest for long. Not every spy movie has to be James Bond or The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (in which Vaughn starred) but the quieter spy movies still have to have some suspense, a sense of dread and urgency, and this does not. The performances are all on target, although Vaughn never seems quite real, and when a drug makes him recoil in terror from a tiny mouse, you expect him to call for Illya. Others in the cast include Felicia Farr, Luciana Paluzzi, Fabrizio Mioni, Wesley Lau from Perry Mason, and Joe De Santis. There are some scenic views of beautiful Venice, but not nearly enough of them. 

Verdict: Watch U.N.C.L.E. instead. Audiences probably thought this was a theatrical version of that show anyway, which it isn't. **1/4.