This is based on an unfinished novel by the immortal Jack London, The novel was finished by Robert L Fish. Micheal Relph wrote the delightful screenplay & Basil Reardon directed.Both the writer & director were 2 of the best.We now come to the cast & what a cast.Oliver Reed,this was his second major role,his first major role was the murderous Bill Sykes in Oliver-- 1968's best film..Diana Rigg who had just finished her long run as Emma Peel in The Avengers.This film is a satiric comic look at Europe right before the start of World War 1.Giving excellent support to our stars are Curt Jergens,Telly Sevallas,Philipe Noiret & Beryl Reed among others.At times it may be a bit silly,BUT the director was able to bring the proper focus back easily. In 1969, when I first saw this may rating may have been lower,BUT compared to the junk today, this is an excellent film.It is not to be take seriously, sit back & enjoy the shenanigan's.Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 points (out of 100) IMDb 9 (out of 10)

The film is done with a loopy goofy comic style very akin to live theatre with winking and mugging to the camera to make sure that the audience gets the conceit beneath the story. There is a nice moment when the Madame of a brothel welcomes Dragomiloff in disguise as a new client when she says "You'll be one of our best known unknown visitors". It is the ideas at work to center the film that gives it its appeal but this doesn't really allow a movie like this to succeed, which is probably why the producers applied such an artificial style. The flow of ideas is likely to leave the average viewer a little fuzzy-minded (I found myself losing consciousness from time to time), but the payoff is a well-done comic finale in a zeppelin, and a happy ending with love triumphing over all.This is one of the feature productions Diana Rigg did after her successful run as Emma Peel on the very popular British TV show "The Avengers", although it is not one of her best. Rigg is still funny in episodes of Ricky Gervais's "Extras" and her tongue-in-cheek performance of the leather clad secret agent on British TV is probably what everyone remembers her best for. Rigg was not the best dramatic actress and her best roles are stagy character types like Edwina Lionheart in Theater of Blood, and as Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper.

A menacing zeppelin hovers over a castle where the heads of Europe have gathered. There going to be killed in a plot thought up by Telly Savalas, a member of the organization for which the film is named. The film comes off as a comedy adventure with Diana Rigg as a reporter and Oliver Reed as the leader of the Bureau. She is sent by her boss, Savalas, (fairly complex part for him both as her boss and as an assassin himself). This is the assassination that is going to push Europe into the conflagration known as World War I. Interesting material for a comedy. It is directed by Basil Dearden, a director whose films are hard to come by, but likely worth trying to find.

If the awestruck viewer of this lovely, spacious-looking and delightful satire can get past the multiple locales, the elaborate and often-sumptuous style and the sheer colorfulness of the goings-on, there is a solid and interesting plot line under propping the entire gorgeous edifice. Behind the overwhelming "stylishness" that first greets the eyes, and it is a wonderfully varied and colorful production, Jack London's fascinating story of the "assassination bureau" has been updated by writer Robert L. Fish to be an "ethical" idea gone wrong. The basic premise is that the pragmatic and cynical end of the 19th Century with its pseudo-Christian thug-like monarchs, dynasts and empire-builders was unjust to individual victims. because this situation led some to wish the worst offenders removed from their tyrannies and interferences, Ivan Dragomilov's father created the Assassination Baureau, Ltd. However, an instrument designed to remove the worst offending baddies from an imperfect world has now become a murder-for-hire problem. Enter Diana Rigg, who finds out how to hire the Bureau to take a contract on--Ivan Dragomilov, played intelligently by Oliver reed. He accepts the contract, recognizing what his father's "noble instrument" has been allowed to become. The remainder of the film's scenes then feature a long and fascinatingly funny duel between Rigg and Oliver and the bureau's chiefs, against whom Reed has declared war. These stalwarts include stalwarts such as the great Curt Jurgens in Germany, Cilve Revill in Italy, Telly Savals in London and others in Paris and elsewhere. Sweeping scenes such as the French bordello scenes, the German Restaurant duel, the hilarious Italian caper, the flaming-lighter escape on the train trick and others lead to the climactic race to save London from Savalas's explosive plot. The lovely mounting of the production is highlighted by Basil Dearden's wonderful ability with actors, blocking, and camera-work, Art Director Michael Relph's award-level contributions, magnificent costumes luminous lighting and many other achievements. Many other actors including Beryl Reed, Philippe Noiret and pretty Annabella Incontrera contributed; Ron Grainer's music is a great asset also. But I believe what sets this satirical thriller apart is its realistic ethical dimension; the fact that the Age of Empire was an age of evil governments and unethical pretensions by state tsars has not even now been recognized. This long and intensely-diverting film is a beautiful-polished needle that pricks a much-needed hole in the gasbag of public-interest-tyranny's post modernistic pretensions. It is a film that deserves to be laughed with, applauded and considered carefully for its positive sense-of-life and all-around sparkling wit, dialogue and spirit of adventurous fun.