After many dull years in the British Secret Service, insignificant, foolish and bungling MI5 agent Stanley Farquhar (Lionel Jeffries) comes up with a plan to obtain information from behind the Iron Curtain.
His first step is to blackmail eminent Mayfair veterinary surgeon Francis Trevelyan (Laurence Harvey) into performing an operation on a friendly bulldog named Disraeli. The dog – now with a radio transmitter hidden in its body – is then given as a pet by Britain to the Russian Prime Minister (Colin Blakely).
Amazingly, Farquhar’s plan works like a dream and Russian spies are soon being mopped up at an alarming rate. In a panic, the Kremlin sends top agent Princess Natasha Romanova (Daliah Lavi) to combat Farquhar. She fails to seduce Stan, but gets what she wants just the same.
Attempts to buy her off before the Russians and to recover the bulldog and de-bug it lead to utter chaos.
When the dog is suddenly taken ill and has to be sent for veterinary treatment, Trevelyan and Farquhar are sent to Moscow with a decoy bitch, and soon all the dogs for miles are chasing them around the Kremlin.
There is a funny scene in which the British ambassador (Eric Portman) gets trapped inside a giant “goldfish bowl” used for secret talks, but generally, the humour proves a little dog-eared.
To compensate, there is delightful Daliah Lavi, as a beautiful agent, clothed in a pink towel and enough to lift any man’s spirits out of the dog house.
Francis Trevelyan
Laurence Harvey Princess Natasha Romanova
Daliah Lavi Stanley Farquhar
Lionel Jeffries Elsie Farquhar
June Whitfield Wrigley
Eric Sykes British Ambassador
Eric Portman Pond-Jones
Denholm Elliott Russian Prime Minister
Colin Blakely Director of MI5
Robert Flemyng Russian Intelligence Chief
Bernard Archard Man with Aston Martin
Robin Bailey American General
Paul Ford Belly Dancer
Nai Bonet Braithwaite
Michael Trubshawe Butler
Bruce Carstairs Nightclub Hostess
Genevieve Ark Assistant
Glen Mason Ark Nurse
Norma Foster Lady Warburton
Gillian Lewis Mrs Winters
Wanda Ventham Miss Marchbanks
Amy Dalby MI5 Workshop Director
John Forbes-Robertson Disraeli
Adam (Blockbuster)
Director
Daniel Petrie
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Amazingly, Farquhar’s plan works like a dream and Russian spies are soon being mopped up at an alarming rate. In a panic, the Kremlin sends top agent Princess Natasha Romanova (Daliah Lavi) to combat Farquhar. She fails to seduce Stan, but gets what she wants just the same.
