''The Assassination Bureau Limited'' (also known as ''The Assassination Bureau'' in the United States) is a 1969 British

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, ani ...

, produced by Michael Relph, directed by

Basil Dearden Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director. Early life and career Dearden was born at 5, Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and his wife, Fl ...

, and starring

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in ''On H ...

Telly Savalas Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas (January 21, 1922 – January 22, 1994) was an American actor and singer whose career spanned four decades. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, he is perhaps best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on th ...

, and

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in '' Des Teufels Gene ...

. It was released in the U.S. by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and is based on

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

's unfinished novel, '' The Assassination Bureau, Ltd'', posthumously published in 1963. Unlike the novel, which is set in the United States, the film is set in Europe. ''The Assassination Bureau Limited'' was the penultimate film of

Plot

In London, in 1908, aspiring journalist and women's rights campaigner Sonia Winter (

) uncovers an organisation that specialises in killing for money, the Assassination Bureau Limited. To bring about its destruction, she commissions the assassination of the bureau's own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (

) for £20,000 after being bankrolled by her employer, Lord Bostwick. Far from being outraged or angry, Dragomiloff is amused and delighted and decides to turn the situation to his own advantage. The guiding principle of his bureau, founded by his father, has always been that there was a moral reason why their victims should be killed; these have included despots and tyrants. More recently, though, his elder colleagues have tended to kill more for financial gain than for moral reasons. Dragomiloff, therefore, decides to accept the commission of his own death and challenge the other board members: Kill him or he will kill them! He meets Miss Winter at the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens, London, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic R ...

and with her in tow, Dragomiloff sets off on a tour of

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

Europe, challenging and systematically purging the bureau's senior members. Their first stop is Paris where Dragomiloff disguises himself as Le Comte and goes to a brothel. Miss Winters materialises and they hide in a laundry room. The staff outside put a gas pipe into the room, but there is a police raid. They escape down the laundry chute, but leave a booby trap that blows the room up when the door is eventually smashed in, killing Lucoville. Miss Winters is arrested while Dragomiloff sneaks off. She catches him on a train to Zurich, but Popescu also appears, disguised as a train waiter serving cognac and cigars. He pulls a gun, but Dragomiloff sprays him with fiery brandy, lit by the cigar, burning his face and he jumps off the train and dies. In Zurich the bank manager Weiss pulls a gun on a suspicious-looking customer and throws his bag into the street, thinking it is a bomb. The angry customer leaves, and while Weiss is distracted, Dragomiloff hides a real bomb that kills Weiss. Next, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

the couple watch a military parade. A man behind them pulls a pistol, but he is trying to assassinate the Archduke watching the parade from a balcony opposite. Dragomiloff disdainfully remarks to Miss Winters that had "The Assassination Bureau" undertaken this "assignment", the Archduke would not remain alive. In Venice Bureau member Cesare Spado dies after being poisoned by his wife; with the help of her lover Angelo she tries to poison Dragomiloff and have Baron Muntzof kill Miss Winters. Dragomiloff not only survives the attempt on his life, but kills both Angelo and Muntzof and rescues Miss Winters. Eleanora Spado tries to blackmail the Assassination Bureau for money by using her knowledge of its existence; the Bureau's response is to have General Pinck kill her with his

Luger pistol The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just Luger or Luger P08 is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 ...

. Little do they realise that this is a plot by Miss Winter's sponsor, newspaper publisher Lord Bostwick (

), to take over the bureau, as Bostwick is the bureau's vice-chairman and is bitter for having been passed over in favour of the founder's son. Bostwick and the other surviving members of the Bureau plan to get rich quick by the "biggest killing" of them all, namely buying stocks in arms companies and then propelling Europe into a

world war A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

. Their plan is to assassinate all the European heads of state. They attend a secret peace conference where the kings, emperors, and prime ministers of Europe are trying to avoid a possible war over the assassination of a

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

prince who had accidentally been killed by a bomb intended for Dragomiloff. Dragomiloff and Miss Winter uncover the plot, which is to drop a large aerial bomb from a hijacked

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

airship directly onto the castle in

Ruthenia Ruthenia or , uk, Рутенія, translit=Rutenia or uk, Русь, translit=Rus, label=none, pl, Ruś, be, Рутэнія, Русь, russian: Рутения, Русь is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin as one of several terms ...

where the peace conference is being held. Dragomiloff steals aboard the airship and destroys the bomb, while disposing of Lord Bostwick and the remaining members of his board of directors. He exploits General Pinck's one weakness, a sword

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and ...

challenge to the death. He is hailed as a hero and later decorated by the heads of state that he has saved. It is implied that Dragomiloff may now wed Miss Winter, since he has been redeemed by his actions.

Cast

Original novel

The film was based on the Jack London novel, ''The Assassination Bureau''. London purchased a storyline from

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

in 1910 and used it as the basis of two short stories and a novel. He was two-thirds of the way through finishing the novel (having written 40,000 words) when he died in 1916. The novel was later completed by Robert L. Fish and finally published in 1963. The ''New York Times'' called it "delightfully ridiculous".

Development

Film rights were bought and in May 1966.

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

announced that

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

would star in the film. Lancaster, however, pulled out and film rights reverted to Paramount, where it was made by the team of

and Michael Relph; it was their 25th film together.

Filming

Filming took place in April 1968. Michael Flint of Paramount later said the film wound up costing a lot of money "because it was decided that it must be a locomotive", namely, a sort of film which "would really carry weight with exhibitors and eventually television networks buying batches of our films, by virtue of stars or production value". He added that in the case of ''Assassination Bureau'' "we laboured under the delusion that this could be ensured by spending more on 'production value'". By February 1969, the film had not been released. According to Diana Rigg, "the film company is stuck with the rather awkward - for America - title and hasn't made up its mind what to do".Will Diana Ever Get Together? By MARK SHIVAS. New York Times 2 Feb 1969: D19.

Home video

This film was issued on LaserDisc in the mid-1990s. It was also released on VHS at the same time and later on Region 1 DVD.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Assassination Bureau, The 1969 films 1960s action films 1960s black comedy films 1960s thriller films British action films British black comedy films British thriller films 1960s English-language films Films about assassinations Films based on American novels Films based on works by Jack London Films directed by Basil Dearden Films set in the 1900s Films set in London Films set in Venice Paramount Pictures films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films scored by Ron Grainer Films with screenplays by Michael Relph Films with screenplays by Wolf Mankowitz 1969 comedy films 1969 drama films 1960s British films