The foreign honeymoon of a young couple is rudely interrupted when the groom is dragged away by the secret police. Having returned to the Western side of the Iron Curtain, the wife moves heaven and earth in order to free her spouse. After a while it is proposed to exchange him for a Communist agent eager to return to the East. Things do not turn out as expected...
"Catch me a spy" is a comedy making fun of espionage stories, especially espionage stories about spy exchanges or the Iron Curtain. Although not wholly without interest, it is a fairly tepid affair. There's a good joke or line here and there, but the plot is too slight to sustain a whole movie. Moreover, many of the actors involved seem to perform in different styles or registers. This is especially true of the central Marlène Jobert / Kirk Douglas duo, which is not a match made in cinematic heaven. (Mind you, Jobert is at her most beautiful and elfin here, capable even of transcending a variety of problematic outfits.)
The movie features a brief, and very funny, appearance by French actor Bernard Blier, as a Communist spy with a keen appreciation for the charms of decadent and imperialist capitalism. If only the rest of the movie had been as funny - we'd be talking about a classic masterpiece...
Unlikely to stick in the memory.
"Catch me a spy" is a comedy making fun of espionage stories, especially espionage stories about spy exchanges or the Iron Curtain. Although not wholly without interest, it is a fairly tepid affair. There's a good joke or line here and there, but the plot is too slight to sustain a whole movie. Moreover, many of the actors involved seem to perform in different styles or registers. This is especially true of the central Marlène Jobert / Kirk Douglas duo, which is not a match made in cinematic heaven. (Mind you, Jobert is at her most beautiful and elfin here, capable even of transcending a variety of problematic outfits.)
The movie features a brief, and very funny, appearance by French actor Bernard Blier, as a Communist spy with a keen appreciation for the charms of decadent and imperialist capitalism. If only the rest of the movie had been as funny - we'd be talking about a classic masterpiece...
Unlikely to stick in the memory.