Agent 38-24-36

Language : French

 

Year of release : 1964

 

Run time : 1h44min

 

Genre : Comedy / Action / Adventure

 

Cast : Brigitte Bardot, Anthony Perkins

 

 

On its original title, 'Une ravissante idiote' translating as 'The ravishing idiot', the French-Italian production was translated as 'Agent 38-24-36' in the US.

 

Harry,by his real name Nicolai Sergheevici Maukouline, is fired from his job because he always arrives in the afternoon. He is offered a job as a spy for the Russian government.

 

Penelope is a seamstress, who tried her luck as a model for a brief while, but due to telling clients about the poor quality of the clothes, she was sent in the back again.

 

They are both a bit clumsy,to say the least.

 

Harry gets the job to pose as a vacuum cleaner seller, to enter the house of important men working for NATO to steal the documents about military mobilization. Problem is, he is not one of those men who always know what to say or do, but he manages...to make a mess,that is!

 

He finally gets the courage to ask Penny out, and when a police officer asks for their papers, he finds out Penny is in the communist party,so they have more than being clumsy and silly,in common.

 

Harry's communist bosses want receipts or him dead, as they heard of the mess he made on his first mission, but he tells them his girlfriend works for the wife of the man in charge of the NATO file.

 

His boss pretends to be a detective to find more about Harry's fiance, and he's pleased upon hearing she is stupid and communist.

 

Harry and Penny might be stupid, but the wife of the man working for NATO,is even more stupid, telling her female friends and Penny, the password to the safe, and showing them where it is!

 

His boss tells Penny that they need what's in the safe to restore Harry's father's honor, asking her to help. After hearing she'll help them, his boss tells him she'll end up in jail,as after she'll help them, she's gonna take the fall for it.

 

Harry breaks up with her, as he loves her and doesn't want her to go to jail,and tries to throw himself in the Thames,but is stopped by a priest. The priest turns out to be working for the opposition.

 

From here on, Henry tries to get Penny to stop helping him, while she tries to help him clear his father's name.

 

The acting was fine. The leads were a pretty couple.

 

The soundtrack didn't bother me, so I guess it was Ok for the era.

 

The movie is edited on fast forward when people walk, for the funny effect,like in the 'Laurel and Hardy' series of the silent films era.

I liked the interior design and the women's fashion .

 

You can watch the full movie here,the subtitles are not that good, but it's all we've got, and they are in many languages (from what I could see, they are as bad in English as they are in Romanian) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnLvQz--Eig&t=43s&ab_channel=CultCinemaClassics

 

Rating : Worth a watch !