Agent 8 3/4 aka: Hot Enough For June (1964)

Agent 8 3/4 I'm psyched about this comedy/thriller from 1964 finally being released on DVD. Dirk Bogarde plays an unemployed writer who inadvertantly gets caught up in international espionage. Released in Britain as HOT ENOUGH FOR JUNE, this delightful adventure has rarely played on TV ( I only saw it once on a PBS station back in the '70's) and I've been looking for it ever since. Hopefully we'll get a good widescreen transfer on the upcoming release!

Just as a postscript to this review, I recieved the DVD yesterday and watched it this evening. Let me tell you, this WIDESCREEN TRANSFER IS FLAWLESS ! Both in visual and audio, this print looks like it's BRAND NEW!!! The colors are GORGEOUS, the sound is CRYSTAL CLEAR and LOUD, so you don't have to crank up your audio. Frankly, I was floored just amazed as the quality restoration they did on this film. And mind you, this is the regular DVD, so I imagine the BLU-RAY is astounding as well!

"Agent 8-3/4" or (AKA: "Hot Enough for June") was a bit of a diversion for its director Ralph Thomas who also brought us the Eurospy films that brought a definite threat to James Bond in the line of a Bulldog Drummond series starring Richard Johnson as the insurance investigator in "Deadlier Than the Male" (also starring Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina) and its lesser sequel "Some Girls Do" (with Daliah Lavi) and also rather stodgy affair, "Nobody Runs Forever" with Christopher Plummer and Rod Taylor. In "Agent 8-3/4" he was wise to cast Dirk Bogarde opposite Sylva Koscina as Bogarde is quite at home in droll British comedy and what it develops into, romantic suspense in Communist Czechoslovakia. It is quite handsomely done in a rather low-key fashion. Robert Morley and Leo McKern are also in the cast, with Morley trying to steal every scene he is in. Noel Harrison has a bit speaking part. VCI Entertainment has brought it to us in a beautiful Blu-ray and also in DVD format from the Rank Organization. The original novel is by Lionel Davidson and the screenplay by Lukas Heller. In beautiful Eastmancolor.

Buy Agent 8 3/4 aka: Hot Enough For June (1964) Now

Superb Quality on Bluray in its original 1.85 WideScreen format.

Dirk Bogarde in a good role,before he became a serious actor.

This and Campbells Kingdom are excellent.

Highly Recommended

Read Best Reviews of Agent 8 3/4 aka: Hot Enough For June (1964) Here

When James Bond came along in 1962's DOCTOR NO, he changed the way audiences enjoyed spy movies and the way that filmmakers made them. The success of the franchise also inspired a slew of imitators and spoofs, and one of the earliest and best has just come to Blu-ray disc courtesy of VCI Entertainment: 1964's AGENT 8 3/4 (a/k/a HOT ENOUGH FOR JUNE), starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylva Koscina.

Nicholas Whistler (Bogarde, MODESTY BLAISE) is an unemployed, Czech-fluent writer living in England, when he is completely unbeknownst to him recruited by British Intelligence for a mission to Prague. He thinks he's on a goodwill visit from a London glass manufacturer, but the Czechoslovakian Secret Police and everyone else knows he's a spy. A female Czech operative, the comely Comrade Simonova (Koscina, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE) is assigned to be his driver and keep an eye on him, but before long, she falls for the handsome, hapless writer. By the time that Whistler finally realizes that he is, indeed a spy, he's trapped in Prague, hunted and pursued by the Secret Police, and only the lovely, conflicted Comrade Simonova can possibly help him.

Deftly directed by Ralph Thomas, AGENT 8 3/4 is a breezy, Cold War-era satire that evokes not only 007, but Hitchcock's espionage thrillers, as well. It's suspenseful and even thrilling at times, but also witty and occasionally farcical which is why a lot of modern viewers might not be able to get a handle on it. The script is clever and sharp, and the cast, which also includes Leo McKern and Robert Morley, is exceptional across the board. Bogarde is amusing and convincing as the somewhat clueless unintentional agent who must rise to the occasion when his support system falls apart, and Koscina is just stunningly gorgeous. The cinematography is beautiful, even when portraying the drab, behind-the-Iron Curtain world of Communist Czechoslovakia. Overall, it's a slick, early-Sixties spy-fi spoof and highly entertaining, if you're in the right mindset.

VCI's new Blu-ray disc appears to be the same high-def transfer used by the UK company, Network, presented in 1.78:1 widescreen 1080p HD. Picture quality is astoundingly good with the exception of one or two brief shots, detail and colors appear to be perfect. VCI offers two audio options: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and an enhanced 5.1 remix. The only extras are a theatrical trailer (under the original British title of HOT ENOUGH FOR JUNE) and a still photo gallery. The title is also available in standard-def DVD.

AGENT 8 3/4 (I have to say, I like the British title much better) is a great slice of sly Cold War pop culture, and a must-see for fans of 60s spy flicks.

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I had never heard of this film despite being quite a Bogarde fan in my youth and still living in the UK when it came out. However, after reading the reviews on Amazon I ordered it and we watched it recently. For a film that is coming up to fifty years old it holds up amazingly well. The humour is quite remarkably current, particularly the sublety of Robert Morley's performance hinting at all sorts of things that never really come out. I particularly enjoyed seeing a lot of my favourite British actors of the latter part of the last century, often in very small roles. I really was not able to recognise several of the actors listed at the beginning of the film and one irritation is that there is no list of who played whom at the end. I did recognise John Standing, though, the acting baronet!

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