The Venetian Affair (1966)

Made during the height of Bond-mania, The Venetian Affair (1966) was another attempt to cash in on the success of the franchise.  Taking as its source a recent novel from Helen McInness, a writer of popular spy thrillers since the 1940s, and starring an actor from a then popular TV Bond cash in, The Man From Uncle (which has a 007 connection in that Ian Fleming was originally meant to be involved and that the main character took his surname from a minor character in Goldfinger), The Venetian Affair would seem to have all the ingredients to be a success.  Yet today it is virtually forgotten, while Bond marches on.  (Likewise, while Ian Fleming's novels still enjoy some popularity, Helen McInness' canon of work, much admired and read at the time of their publication, now seem to have been forgotten).  What the producers of The Venetian Affair seem not to have realised was that the Bond formula was more than just having a popular star actor, lots of attractive women, foreign locations and a few explosions and chases.  It also involved striking and instantly recognisable production design, a supporting cast of memorable character actors, excellent cinematography, a good script with witty dialogue and, perhaps most importantly, careful direction, as successfully co-ordinating all of the elements into a coherent whole was no easy task.

While The Venetian Affair boasts some recognisable faces in its supporting cast - Boris Karloff and Ed Asner, for instance - it isn't up to the calibre of those in the Bond series.  Also, star Robert Vaughn, although known for being Napoleon Solo on TV wasn't an actor really associated with action roles or, indeed, playing heroes - Solo was something of an aberration as he mostly seemed to be cast as shady politicians and outright villains.  The direction is left to Jerry Thorpe, a producer and director who mainly worked in television and the film is noted for being somewhat flat and pedestrian.  Points of interest include that the plot hinges on a suicide bombing, something that wasn't that common at the time of the film's release.  Moreover, the fact that the main character is a washed up ex-spy now working as a journalist, suggests that perhaps both source novel and script were originally drawing some inspiration from Len Deighton's novels (the first two film adaptations of which had recently been released), rather than those of Ian Fleming.  Whatever the intent, the trailer is clearly pitching The Venetian Affair as some kind of Bond-style action espionage film.  Whatever the producers' intent, the film has, historically speaking, fallen by the wayside, becoming very difficult to actually see, (I only vaguely remember it from seventies TV outings).  Indeed, it is nowadays easier to see most of the various cheap Italian produced Bond knock offs from the sixties.