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	\| name = Hot Enough for June		\| name = Hot Enough for June
	\| image = Hotenough.jpg		\| image = Hotenough.jpg
	\| caption = ~~Original [[film poster]] by Renato Fratini~~		\| caption =
	\| starring = [[Dirk Bogarde]]<br>[[Sylva Koscina]]<br>[[Robert Morley]]<br>[[Leo McKern]]		\| starring = [[Dirk Bogarde]]<br>[[Sylva Koscina]]<br>[[Robert Morley]]<br>[[Leo McKern]]
	\| director = [[Ralph Thomas]]		\| director = [[Ralph Thomas]]
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	[[Category:Parody films based on James Bond films]]		[[Category:Parody films based on James Bond films]]
			[[Category:British comedy films]]

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	~~{{EngvarB\|date=September 2013}}~~
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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Hot Enough for June		\| name = Hot Enough for June

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Removing from Category:1960s British films using Cat-a-lot

2022-09-04T17:22:05Z

Removing from Category:1960s British films using Cat-a-lot

New page

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Hot Enough for June
| image = Hotenough.jpg
| caption = Original [[film poster]] by Renato Fratini
| starring = [[Dirk Bogarde]]<br>[[Sylva Koscina]]<br>[[Robert Morley]]<br>[[Leo McKern]]
| director = [[Ralph Thomas]]
| producer = [[Betty E. Box]]
| screenplay = [[Lukas Heller]]
| based_on = {{Based on|''[[The Night of Wenceslas]]''|[[Lionel Davidson]]}}
| music = [[Angelo Lavagnino]]
| cinematography = [[Ernest Steward]]
| editing = [[Alfred Roome]]
| studio = [[Rank Organisation]]
| distributor = [[Rank Film Distributors]] (UK)<br>[[Walter Reade|Central Distributing]] (US)
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1964|3|10|UK|1965|10|13|US}}
| runtime = 98 min.
| country = United Kingdom
}}
'''''Hot Enough for June''''' is a 1964 British [[spy film|spy]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Ralph Thomas]], and starring [[Dirk Bogarde]] with [[Sylva Koscina]] in her English film debut,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://koscina.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sylva1082.htm |title=Sylva Koscina's Interview |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414211553/http://koscina.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sylva1082.htm |archive-date=14 April 2008 }}</ref> [[Robert Morley]] and [[Leo McKern]]. It is based on the 1960 novel ''[[The Night of Wenceslas]]'' by [[Lionel Davidson]]. The film was cut by twenty minutes and retitled '''''Agent {{frac|8|3|4}}''''' for the US release by the American distributor [[Walter Reade|Central Distributing]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/agent-8-3-4-v83315/overview |title=Agent 8 3/4 (1963) |author=Hal Erickson |website=[[AllRovi]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130116201711/http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/agent-8-3-4-v83315/overview |archive-date=16 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Part of a trend of spy films in the wake of the success of the James Bond series, its [[art director]] was [[Syd Cain]], who had the same job on the first two Bond films. Koscina herself had been considered for the role of [[Tatiana Romanova]] in ''[[From Russia with Love (film)|From Russia with Love]]''.

==Plot==
Roger Allsop ([[John Le Mesurier]]) turns over some belongings to a clerk, who stows them in a drawer marked [[007]] before turning the identifying card over to read "deceased". Allsop and his superior, Colonel Cunliffe (Robert Morley), then discuss the necessity to send someone to pick up something behind the [[Iron Curtain]].

Unemployed British writer Nicholas Whistler (Dirk Bogarde) is sent by the employment exchange to be interviewed by Cunliffe, supposedly for a job as a trainee executive for a glass company. Cunliffe discovers Whistler speaks [[Czech language|Czech]], and offers him an exorbitant salary, plus expenses.

Whistler is given puzzling instructions to meet someone who will respond to his remark, "Hot enough for June", by stating he should have been there in September, before being sent that very day to [[Prague]] on a "business" trip. On his arrival, he is assigned a beautiful driver and guide, Vlasta (Sylva Koscina). She drives him to inspect a glass factory, where he finally discovers the washroom attendant is his man. However, he has to come back another day to make contact without arousing suspicion.

That night, he takes Vlasta to dinner. Unbeknownst to him, she is an agent of the secret police. The communists know (though he himself does not yet realise it) that he is actually working for British intelligence, and keep him under surveillance. He and Vlasta spend the next day together as well. They are attracted to each other, and she invites him to stay the night at her surprisingly luxurious home.

When Whistler revisits the factory, the attendant gives him a piece of paper and informs him that he is a spy. Vlasta arranges to meet him secretly that night; she warns him to return to England immediately. However, when he returns to the hotel, Simenova (Leo McKern), the head of the secret police, is waiting. He presents Whistler with a stark choice: sign a confession or suffer a fatal accidental fall. Whistler manages to escape.

Evading a manhunt, he turns to the only person who might be willing to help him: Vlasta. When he reaches her house in the morning, however, he is shocked to find her seeing her father, Simenova, off to work. After Simenova leaves, Whistler confronts Vlasta. She offers to help him reach the British embassy, despite a cordon of communist agents. To demonstrate his good faith, he burns the slip of paper so that neither side can have it. Her plan almost succeeds, but by sheer bad luck, Simenova is leaving the embassy as Whistler approaches and recognises him, forcing him to flee once more. Finally, he reaches the embassy by knocking out a milkman and taking his place.

Cunliffe informs him that he is being exchanged for a spy the British have caught. At the airport, he is pleasantly surprised to find that Vlasta has been assigned to the trade mission in London and is departing on the same airliner.

==Cast==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Dirk Bogarde]] as Nicholas Whistler
* [[Sylva Koscina]] as Vlasta Simenova
* [[Robert Morley]] as Colonel Cunliffe
* [[Leo McKern]] as Simenova
* [[Roger Delgado]] as Josef
* [[Derek Fowlds]] as Sun Bathing Man
* Amanda Grinling as Cunliffe's secretary
* [[Noel Harrison]] as Johnnie
* Philo Hauser as Vlcek
* [[John Junkin]] as Clerk in opening scene
* [[Gertan Klauber]] as Technician in the Czech glass factory
* [[John Le Mesurier]] as Roger Allsop
* [[Jill Melford]] as Lorna
* [[Derek Nimmo]] as Fred
* [[Richard Pasco]] as Plakov
* [[Eric Pohlmann]] as Galushka
* [[Alan Tilvern]] as Simenova's assistant
* [[Richard Vernon]] as Roddinghead
* [[Brook Williams]] as Leon
* [[Norman Bird]] as Employment exchange clerk (uncredited)
* [[Frank Finlay]] as British Embassy porter (uncredited)
* [[William Mervyn]] as Passenger on the plane (uncredited)
* [[Tiberio Mitri]] as the Milkman (uncredited)
* [[George Pravda]] as Pravelko (uncredited)
* [[John Standing]] as Men's Room attendant/British agent (uncredited)
{{div col end}}

==Production==
Film rights to Lionel Davidson's novel were originally bought by American producer [[Hal Wallis]], who wanted to make the film with [[Laurence Harvey]]. However, Wallis and Harvey had a falling out and the rights went instead to [[Rank Organisation|Rank]] and producer [[Betty E. Box]].<ref>Box p 227</ref>

[[Dirk Bogarde]] was cast in the lead. However he then decided he did not want to, as he had just made ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'' (1963). Box and director Ralph Thomas were not unduly concerned as they did not feel Bogarde was ideal casting anyway, and approached [[Tom Courtenay]] instead. Courtney agreed, but then Bogarde changed his mind again after his manager told him he needed the money.<ref>Bogarde p 229-230</ref>

Shooting took place in [[Padua]], representing Prague.<ref>Box, Betty Evelyn ''Lifting the Lid: The Autobiography of Film Producer, Betty Box, OBE'' Book Guild 2000 p 227-237</ref>

Ralph Thomas later said he made the film "because I thought the script was quite funny and I loved working with Dirk. It was still during the period when he was doing those sort of roles very well."<ref>''Collected Interviews: Voices from Twentieth-century Cinema'' by Wheeler W. Dixon, SIU Press, 2001 p112</ref>

==Reception==
Howard Thompson of ''[[The New York Times]]'' was unimpressed, calling it "a slick, bland shuffling of drollery and suspense, not especially new, at least by now, nor really funny."<ref name=NYT>{{cite news |title='Agent 8 3/4' and 'Underworld Informers' Shown Together |author=Howard Thompson |newspaper=The New York Times |date=14 October 1965 |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0CE3D61E30E23ABC4C52DFB667838E679EDE}}</ref> He singled out one performance for praise: "Most of the real fun comes from the mouth of Robert Morley ..."<ref name=NYT/>

''Kinematograph Weekly'' called the film a "money maker" at the British box office for 1964.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/details/KineWeekly2985/page/n8/mode/1up?q=%22john+guillermin%22|magazine=Kinematograph Weekly|first=Bill|last=Altria|title=British Films Romp Home - Fill First Five Places|date=17 Dec 1964|page=9}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0059282}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|agent_8_34}}

{{Ralph Thomas}}

[[Category:1964 films]]
[[Category:British spy comedy films]]
[[Category:Cold War spy films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s spy comedy films]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ralph Thomas]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films set in Prague]]
[[Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios]]
[[Category:Films shot in Italy]]
[[Category:Films scored by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino]]
[[Category:1964 comedy films]]
[[Category:Parody films based on James Bond films]]

Hot Enough for June - Revision history

Kurt at 22:37, 23 January 2023

Kurt at 17:11, 23 January 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Removing from Category:1960s British films using Cat-a-lot