The Intelligence Men
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The Intelligence Men (U.S. title: Spylarks) is a 1965 British comedy film directed by Robert Asher and starring Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. It is subtitled M.I.5 plus 2 equals 0 and was written by Dick Hills, Sid Green, and Peter Blackmore. The film marked the big-screen debut of the popular television comedians.
Plot
Eric, working in his London coffee bar, serves black coffee to a sinister man who tries to get him to remember a tune, but Eric is tone-deaf. Ernie Sage enters and Eric asks him to identify the tune, with little success. Sage eventually realises the tune may relate to a Russian trade delegation visit and an assassination plot by an organisation called SCHLECHT, a parody of SPECTRE. Sage reports to Military Intelligence, where he is only an office-boy, and they agree that Eric, having heard the tune, must lead them to the plot's centre.
Eric poses as the deceased British agent Major Cavendish, who had infiltrated SCHLECHT. After comic interludes, the tune is identified and the action moves to a performance of Swan Lake, where the Russian ballerina Madame Petrovna is in danger. Eric, masquerading as a Russian with a Scottish accent, and Ernie, in Egyptian costumes, become mixed up in the Dance of the Little Swans. The villain is unmasked and all ends happily.
Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin called the film an exceptionally unfunny comedy, criticising a formal dinner party scene as mishandled by the director. Kine Weekly described it as a funny film and a good comedy attraction for all classes. The Radio Times Guide to Films gave it 2/5 stars, noting that the script failed to marry the comedians' television characteristics with the spy spoof.
Critic Leslie Halliwell awarded no stars, calling it an inept and embarrassing big-screen debut. Despite mixed reviews, the film was one of the 12 most popular movies at the British box office in 1965. According to Stewart, it was not a success in America but made a profit, leading to two further Morecambe and Wise films.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Intelligence Men (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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