The Assassination Bureau - Revision history

Kurt at 18:52, 18 March 2023

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	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=December 2013}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=December 2013}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited		\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited

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External links

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	* {{tcmdb title\|id=67709}}		* {{tcmdb title\|id=67709}}
	* {{AFI film\|id=22470\|title=The Assassination Bureau}}		* {{AFI film\|id=22470\|title=The Assassination Bureau}}

	~~{{Basil Dearden}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Assassination Bureau, The}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Assassination Bureau, The}}
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	[[Category:1969 drama films]]		[[Category:1969 drama films]]
	[[Category:1960s British films]]		[[Category:1960s British films]]
			[[Category:British crime comedy films]]

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Kurt at 22:26, 17 November 2022

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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited		\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited
	\| image = ~~Assassinationbureau poster~~.~~jpeg~~		\| image = The Assassination Bureau.jpg
	\| caption = U.S. theatrical release poster		\| caption = U.S. theatrical release poster
	\| director = [[Basil Dearden]]		\| director = [[Basil Dearden]]

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Cast

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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited		\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited
	\| image = ~~The Assassination Bureau~~ poster.~~jpg~~		\| image = Assassinationbureau poster.jpeg
	\| caption =		\| caption = U.S. theatrical release poster
	\| director = [[Basil Dearden]]		\| director = [[Basil Dearden]]
	\| writer = [[Michael Relph]]<br />[[Wolf Mankowitz]] (screenplay)		\| writer = [[Michael Relph]]<br />[[Wolf Mankowitz]] (screenplay)
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	==Cast==		==Cast==
	{{cast list\|		{{cast list\|
			* [[Diana Rigg]] as Sonya Winter
	* [[Oliver Reed]] as Ivan Dragomiloff, chairman of the bureau		* [[Oliver Reed]] as Ivan Dragomiloff, chairman of the bureau
	* [[Diana Rigg]] as Sonya Winter
	* [[Telly Savalas]] as Lord Bostwick vice chairman of the bureau		* [[Telly Savalas]] as Lord Bostwick vice chairman of the bureau
	* [[Curd Jürgens]] as General von Pinck the German bureau member		* [[Curd Jürgens]] as General von Pinck the German bureau member
	* [[Philippe Noiret]] as Monsieur Lucoville the French Bureau member		* [[Philippe Noiret]] as Monsieur Lucoville the French Bureau member
	* [[Warren Mitchell]] as Herr Weiss the Swiss bureau member		* [[Warren Mitchell]] as Herr Weiss the Swiss bureau member
	* [[~~Beryl Reid~~]] as ~~Madame Otero~~ the ~~brothel owner~~		* [[Kenneth Griffith]] as Popescu the Romanian bureau member
	* [[Clive Revill]] as Cesare Spado the Italian bureau member		* [[Clive Revill]] as Cesare Spado the Italian bureau member
	* [[Vernon Dobtcheff]] as Baron Muntzof
	* [[Annabella Incontrera]] as Eleanora Spado		* [[Annabella Incontrera]] as Eleanora Spado
	* [[~~Kenneth Griffith~~]] as ~~Popescu the Romanian bureau member~~		* [[Jess Conrad]] as Angelo
	* [[~~Jess Conrad~~]] as ~~Angelo~~		* [[Vernon Dobtcheff]] as Baron Muntzof
	* [[George Coulouris]] as Swiss Peasant		* [[George Coulouris]] as Swiss Peasant
			* [[Beryl Reid]] as Madame Otero the brothel owner
	* [[Katherine Kath]] as Mme. Lucoville		* [[Katherine Kath]] as Mme. Lucoville
	* [[Olaf Pooley]] as Swiss Cashier		* [[Olaf Pooley]] as Swiss Cashier

Kurt at 15:37, 7 October 2022

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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited		\| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited
	\| image = ~~Assassinationbureau~~ poster.~~jpeg~~		\| image = The Assassination Bureau poster.jpg
	\| caption = ~~U.S. theatrical release poster~~		\| caption =
	\| director = [[Basil Dearden]]		\| director = [[Basil Dearden]]
	\| writer = [[Michael Relph]]<br />[[Wolf Mankowitz]] (screenplay)		\| writer = [[Michael Relph]]<br />[[Wolf Mankowitz]] (screenplay)

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1960s British films

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External links: add Category:1960s British films

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Assassination Bureau Limited
| image = Assassinationbureau poster.jpeg
| caption = U.S. theatrical release poster
| director = [[Basil Dearden]]
| writer = [[Michael Relph]] [[Wolf Mankowitz]] (screenplay)
| based_on = {{based on|''[[The Assassination Bureau, Ltd]].'' 1963 novel|[[Jack London]] [[Robert L. Fish]]}}
| producer = Michael Relph
| starring = [[Oliver Reed]] [[Diana Rigg]] [[Telly Savalas]] [[Curd Jürgens]]
| cinematography = [[Geoffrey Unsworth]]
| editing = Teddy Darvas
| music = [[Ron Grainer]]
| distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released = 10 March 1969
| runtime = 110 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}

'''''The Assassination Bureau Limited''''' (also known as '''''The Assassination Bureau''''' in the United States) is a 1969 British [[Technicolor]] [[black comedy]] [[adventure film]], produced by [[Michael Relph]], directed by [[Basil Dearden]], and starring [[Oliver Reed]], [[Diana Rigg]], [[Telly Savalas]], and [[Curd Jürgens]]. It was released in the U.S. by [[Paramount Pictures]] and is based on [[Jack London]]'s unfinished novel, ''[[The Assassination Bureau, Ltd]]'', posthumously published in 1963. Unlike the novel, which is set in the United States, the film is set in Europe.

''The Assassination Bureau Limited'' was the penultimate film of [[Basil Dearden]].<ref>Basil Dearden The Guardian 25 Mar 1971: 5</ref>

==Plot==
In London, in 1908, aspiring journalist and women's rights campaigner Sonia Winter ([[Diana Rigg]]) uncovers an organisation that specialises in killing for money, the Assassination Bureau Limited. To bring about its destruction, she commissions the assassination of the bureau's own chairman, [[Ivan Dragomiloff]] ([[Oliver Reed]]) for £20,000 after being bankrolled by her employer, Lord Bostwick.

Far from being outraged or angry, Dragomiloff is amused and delighted and decides to turn the situation to his own advantage. The guiding principle of his bureau, founded by his father, has always been that there was a moral reason why their victims should be killed; these have included despots and tyrants. More recently, though, his elder colleagues have tended to kill more for financial gain than for moral reasons. Dragomiloff, therefore, decides to accept the commission of his own death and challenge the other board members: Kill him or he will kill them!

He meets Miss Winter at the [[Albert Memorial]] and with her in tow, Dragomiloff sets off on a tour of [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] Europe, challenging and systematically purging the bureau's senior members. Their first stop is Paris where Dragomiloff disguises himself as Le Comte and goes to a brothel. Miss Winters materialises and they hide in a laundry room. The staff outside put a gas pipe into the room, but there is a police raid. They escape down the laundry chute, but leave a booby trap that blows the room up when the door is eventually smashed in, killing Lucoville. Miss Winters is arrested while Dragomiloff sneaks off.

She catches him on a train to [[Zurich]], but Popescu also appears, disguised as a train waiter serving cognac and cigars. He pulls a gun, but Dragomiloff sprays him with fiery brandy, lit by the cigar, burning his face and he jumps off the train and dies. In Zurich the bank manager Weiss pulls a gun on a suspicious-looking customer and throws his bag into the street, thinking it is a bomb. The angry customer leaves, and while Weiss is distracted, Dragomiloff hides a real bomb that kills Weiss.

Next, in [[Vienna]] the couple watch a military parade. A man behind them pulls a pistol, but he is trying to assassinate the Archduke watching the parade from a balcony opposite. Dragomiloff disdainfully remarks to Miss Winters that had "The Assassination Bureau" undertaken this "assignment", the Archduke would not remain alive. In Venice Bureau member Cesare Spado dies after being poisoned by his wife; with the help of her lover Angelo she tries to poison Dragomiloff and have Baron Muntzof kill Miss Winters. Dragomiloff not only survives the attempt on his life, but kills both Angelo and Muntzof and rescues Miss Winters. Eleanora Spado tries to blackmail the Assassination Bureau for money by using her knowledge of its existence; the Bureau's response is to have General Pinck kill her with his [[Luger pistol]].

Little do they realise that this is a plot by Miss Winter's sponsor, newspaper publisher Lord Bostwick ([[Telly Savalas]]), to take over the bureau, as Bostwick is the bureau's vice-chairman and is bitter for having been passed over in favour of the founder's son. Bostwick and the other surviving members of the Bureau plan to get rich quick by the "biggest killing" of them all, namely buying stocks in arms companies and then propelling Europe into a [[World War I|world war]]. Their plan is to assassinate all the European heads of state. They attend a secret peace conference where the kings, emperors, and prime ministers of Europe are trying to avoid a possible war over the assassination of a [[Balkan]] prince who had accidentally been killed by a bomb intended for Dragomiloff.

Dragomiloff and Miss Winter uncover the plot, which is to drop a large aerial bomb from a hijacked [[Zeppelin]] airship directly onto the castle in [[Ruthenia]] where the peace conference is being held. Dragomiloff steals aboard the airship and successfully destroys the bomb, while also disposing of Lord Bostwick and all the remaining members of his board of directors. For example, he exploits General Pinck's one weakness, a sword [[duel]] challenge to the death. He is heralded as a hero and later decorated by the heads of state that he has saved. It is implied that Dragomiloff may now wed Miss Winter, since he has been redeemed by his actions.

==Cast==
{{cast list|
* [[Oliver Reed]] as Ivan Dragomiloff, chairman of the bureau
* [[Diana Rigg]] as Sonya Winter
* [[Telly Savalas]] as Lord Bostwick vice chairman of the bureau
* [[Curd Jürgens]] as General von Pinck the German bureau member
* [[Philippe Noiret]] as Monsieur Lucoville the French Bureau member
* [[Warren Mitchell]] as Herr Weiss the Swiss bureau member
* [[Beryl Reid]] as Madame Otero the brothel owner
* [[Clive Revill]] as Cesare Spado the Italian bureau member
* [[Vernon Dobtcheff]] as Baron Muntzof
* [[Annabella Incontrera]] as Eleanora Spado
* [[Kenneth Griffith]] as Popescu the Romanian bureau member
* [[Jess Conrad]] as Angelo
* [[George Coulouris]] as Swiss Peasant
* [[Katherine Kath]] as Mme. Lucoville
* [[Olaf Pooley]] as Swiss Cashier
* Rudolf Jelinek
* Jiri Lir
* [[Maggie Wright]] as Exquisite Girl
}}

==Original novel==
The film was based on the Jack London novel, ''The Assassination Bureau''. London purchased a storyline from [[Sinclair Lewis]] in 1910 and used it as the basis of two short stories and a novel. He was two-thirds of the way through finishing the novel (having written 40,000 words) when he died in 1916. The novel was later completed by [[Robert L. Fish]] and finally published in 1963.<ref>Books Authors
New York Times 29 Oct 1963: 32.</ref> The ''New York Times'' called it "delightfully ridiculous".<ref>Ethical Killers
By ANTHONY BOUCHER. New York Times 8 Dec 1963: 451.</ref>

==Development==
Film rights were bought and in May 1966. [[United Artists]] announced that [[Burt Lancaster]] would star in the film.<ref>'Assassination Bureau' Dossier: More About Movie Matters
By A.H. WEILER. New York Times 1 May 1966: 133.</ref> Lancaster, however, pulled out and film rights reverted to Paramount, where it was made by the team of [[Basil Dearden]] and [[Michael Relph]]; it was their 25th film together.<ref>The survival bureau
Malcolm, Derek. The Guardian 19 Mar 1969: 8.</ref>

==Filming==
Filming took place in April 1968.<ref>GOOD-BY MRS. PEEL. HELLO, UH. MARY POPPINS?: The transition may be painful for her fans--but let's let Diana Rigg tell it.
Rohrbach, Ed. Chicago Tribune 14 Apr 1968: h48.</ref>

Michael Flint of Paramount later said the film wound up costing a lot of money "because it was decided that it must be a locomotive", namely, a sort of film which "would really carry weight with exhibitors and eventually television networks buying batches of our films, by virtue of stars or production value". He added that in the case of ''Assassination Bureau'' "we laboured under the delusion that this could be ensured by spending more on 'production value'".<ref>Backing Britain
Taylor, John Russell. Sight and Sound; London Vol. 38, Iss. 3, (Summer 1969): 112.</ref>

By February 1969, the film had not been released. According to Diana Rigg, "the film company is stuck with the rather awkward - for America - title and hasn't made up its mind what to do".<ref>Will Diana Ever Get Together?
By MARK SHIVAS. New York Times 2 Feb 1969: D19.</ref>

==Home video==
This film was issued on LaserDisc in the mid-1990s. It was also released on VHS at the same time and later on Region 1 DVD.

==See also==
* [[Assassinations in fiction#Films|Assassinations in fiction]]
* ''[[Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0064045|title=The Assassination Bureau}}
* {{AllMovie title|3111}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=67709}}
* {{AFI film|id=22470|title=The Assassination Bureau}}

{{Basil Dearden}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assassination Bureau, The}}
[[Category:1969 films]]
[[Category:1960s action films]]
[[Category:1960s black comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s thriller films]]
[[Category:British action films]]
[[Category:British black comedy films]]
[[Category:British thriller films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films about assassinations]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Jack London]]
[[Category:Films directed by Basil Dearden]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1900s]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films set in Venice]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ron Grainer]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Michael Relph]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Wolf Mankowitz]]
[[Category:1969 comedy films]]
[[Category:1969 drama films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:30, 17 November 2022
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	==Home video==		==Home video==
	This film was issued on LaserDisc in the mid-1990s. It was also released on VHS at the same time and later on Region 1 DVD.		This film was issued on LaserDisc in the mid-1990s. It was also released on VHS at the same time and later on Region 1 DVD.

	~~==See also==~~
	* [[Assassinations in fiction#Films\|Assassinations in fiction]]
	* ''[[Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows]]''

	==References==		==References==