From Hong Kong, With Love (1975)

An incredibly obscure - in the English speaking world, at least - Bond spoof, From Hong Kong, With Love, was one of a number of films from the era featuring French comedy music act Les Charlots.   Like many such acts, this quartet is pretty much unknown outside of France - it is the curse of comedy that it doesn't travel well, tending to be firmly rooted in the culture of its origin.  It is also notoriously difficult for comedy to transcend language barriers.  The film's scenario echoes that of many Bond spoofs - 1967's Casino Royale, for instance - with the real 007 being indisposed in some way and an unsuitable substitute forced to step into the breach instead.  In this case, Bond is shot dead in the opening gun-barrel sequence, so that when the Queen of England is kidnapped, MI6, deprived of its top man, turns to its French eequivalent for a replacement.  They send a quartet of incompetent agents in the form of Les Charlots.  (Interestingly, the real Bond being killed off before the action starts was also the scenario of an early, discarded, draft of the Casino Royale script, written by Ben Hecht).  Much hilarity ensues.

In common with Italian Bond spoof OK Connery!, From Hong Kong, With Love features several familiar faces from the official Bond series, most notably Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell.  While in the earlier Italian film, although more or less playing their regular Bond roles, these two had different character names, here they are presented, in a blatant piece of copyright infringement, as M and Miss Moneypenny.  Also appearing in the film is Clifton James, who had played Sheriff JW Pepper in Live and Let Die and Man With the Golden Gun.  As can be seen from the trailer, while ostensibly a Bond spoof, From Hong Kong, With Love descends into being a more freewheeling satire on the times, with an appearance from a Richard Nixon impersonator and Mickey Rooney as a song and dance performing villain.  The impressive looking car stunt on the banks of the Seine actually predates a similar sequence in View to a Kill by ten years and was orchestrated by the same stunt team, led by Remy Julienne.  Finally, in another Bond connection lies in the name of the director:  Yvan Chiffre.  Le Chiffre, of course, being the villain of Casino Royale, itself originally filmed as a spoof, before the serious Daniel Craig version.