Thursday, March 15, 2012

The End of Agent W4C (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)
The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Comedy
Director: Václav Vorlícek
Starring: Jan Kacer, Kveta Fialová, Jirí Sovák
Language: Czech
Duration: 87 min.
Rating: 7.4  

Summary:
Agent W4C is a superspy sent to Prague to uncover a top secret microfilm hidden in a salt shaker.

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)


The End of Agent W4C is a film directed by Václav Vorlícek, based on a story by Oldrich Danek. His followup to Who Wants to Kill Jessie?, it's a funny parody of James Bond and other secret agent films of the time.

Jan Kacer stars as Cyril Juan Borguette, Agent W4C. The secret agent extraordinaire who is sent to Prague, hilariously referred to as an undisclosed European city, armed with a high tech alarm clock in order to locate a microfilm that is stashed in a salt shaker. Every other spy agency knows of this plan and have assigned their own agents to tail W4C and get to the salt shaker before he does.

The Czech spy service enlists lowly accountant Mr. Foustka (Jirí Sovák) to follow W4C, and he along with his trusty dog, stumble around without a clue but always end up in the right place at the right time, rather like a Czech Inspector Clouseau, unknowingly causing untold havoc in his wake.

It's ridiculously funny at times, the swimming pool scene is a riot, but it is also a tad slow and repetitive, particularly one overlong sequence in a hotel bar. Nevertheless, it managed to hold my attention all the way through, and provided an interesting take on the spy genre that is seldom seen. Worth seeing if only to check out the point of view from the other side of the Iron Curtain.

Bonjour Tristesse

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

The End of Agent W4C • Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvím psa pana Foustky (1967)

6 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

Sounds like my cup of tea, a little comedy and slapstick...

d_4 said...

It sounds decent until you mention the slowness. I guess it's worth a try but I'm not sure how it'll end with me.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

It's got just the right amount of it

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I think my own tolerance for slapstick is lower than most, so you may have a different experience.

Lisa Thatcher said...

Oh wow!!  My email is playing up so somehow I missed this post!  This looks GREAT!!!  It's going on my list right away.  I hadn't even heard of this film.  Thank you so much!

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah it's quite fun, I hope you can find it.

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