This entertaining throwback to a 1930's type of British thriller, i.e. the stuff Hitchcock and Carol Reed did, has a good cast to recommend it. Malcolm McDowell is the intrepid hero Richard Chantos. While vacationing in France the French Pyrenees he stumbles onto a plot to rob a heiress out of her considerable fortune. With the help of the British foreign office he springs into action.
The heiress is played by one time Disney star Karen Dotrice who today is chiefly remembered as Jane Banks from Mary Poppins. Dotrice is in full damsel in distress mode in this film. The rest of the cast is made up of the usual British supporting players. However the standout performance in this film is from Eileen Atkins one of those distinguished grand dame British performers who show up in films to class the show up. Atkins plays a character called "Vanity Fair." She's a villainous schemer in the grand tradition of over the top evil doers.
The film consists of Richard Chantos matching wits with Vanity Fair in a series of amusing encounters. In this type of story tone is everything, the actors play the whole thing fairly straight and the film clips along at a decent pace. If you like your mystery/adventure stories with a heavy dash of British stiff upper lip stuff you should enjoy this film.
The film was written by Tom Sharpe, the running time is 79 minutes.
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