George Peppard is a "down on his luck" Hemingway type of writer living in Paris. He befriends a young boy and ends up as a tutor for the boy whose mother just happens to be gorgeous Inger Stevens who just happens to be a member of a fascist family that just happens to be a part of a large right wing conspiracy to take over Europe and ultimately the United States.
The director is John Guillermin who was a decent enough filmmaker. I guess he was kind of a go to studio guy for projects like King Kong (Jessica Lange version). The Towering Inferno, and one of the better Tarzan films, Tarzan's Greatest Adventure. Guillermin had done a couple of other films with Peppard so it was probably old home week for the two of them.
Back to the film, this is a reasonably entertaining thriller which probably could have used a little more focus in it's writing, the story kind of meanders around. However Guillermin does a good job keeping the action moving along which helps to cover up some really big holes in the story. The on location filming in Paris and Rome also helps. Inger Stevens dressed by Edith Head, is easy on the eyes. Peppard does a reasonably good job as the "Hitchcockian" man on the run hero. This is the usual inoffensive time killer of a film.
Oh yes, Orson Welles is third billed in the cast but he's barely in the film. This was probably another one of his "paycheck films."
The film was written by the team of Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. under assumed names, which is never a good sign. The running time is 105 minutes.
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