This is one of the rare movies that tapped into Julie Andrews' understated sex appeal; she is radiant throughout, with a ripe beauty. Omar Sharif, as a philosophical Russian, also has his moments, but the cast that surrounds them is not as interesting; the story goes every which way and goes on too long, with some excitement only in the last 10 minutes. Don't miss the James Bond - like opening title sequence - designed by Maurice Binder and scored by John Barry! **1/2 out of 4.

The Tamarind Seed has both Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif looking to merge. But merger is going to be impossible because of the Cold War. You see Julie works for someone in the British home office and Omar is a military attaché for the Russians. If they were from allied countries or even one of them from a neutral there would be no problem. But being in the jobs they're in they're under surveillance, even more so when they start dating. Wildest of all is that both are put on the spot to get the other to defect.Sharif and Andrews are the weak links of The Tamarind Seed. Both lack chemistry between them, you don't the feeling that they are truly caught up with each other. The ones to watch here are Dan O'Herlihy, a high level traitor to the United Kingdom and his ambitious wife Sylvia Sims. Both of their roles are spiced with former passion turned to hate. Herlihy is a closet gay man and Sims stays married to him for the sake of position. He's in line for a top level ambassadorship and she wants it for the perks of the position.Those two really make The Tamarind Seed worth watching.

Blake Edwards, better known for his comedies, directs this respectable spy film based on Evelyn Anthony's novel of the same title. July Andrews in on a holiday in Barbados trying to recover from a love affair with a married man. She meets Omar Sharif and she falls in love with him, only to discover that he's an international Russian spy willing to change sides.On the bright side, the story keeps you interested despite the slow pace. It shows that it is possible to make a nice spy film without crazy special effects, nonsense action scenes and going ballistic for the most unsuspected reason. There's a very nice soundtrack by John Barry and a spectacular song sung by Wilma Reading.On the dark side, it has several of the stereotypes of this kind of movies from the 70's, as for example, the Russians spies have a very strong Russian accent: how do they manage to spy and mingle without being noticed? To keep it short, a nice spy movie where for over 108 minutes, not a single gun is shot and not a single blood drop is spilt. It has great climax scene, where suspense is very well built. A rara avis nowadays, where the explosions have to be loud and action has to be unbelievable in the less realistic possible way. By the way, the movie is 119 minutes long and, believe it or not, July Andrews doesn't sing on this film!!

Wish the soundtrack were available on CD, also wish the movie were available on DVD. Not a big Sharif fan, but I have always enjoyed this movie. Really enjoy Anthony Quayle and Julie Andrews is very entertaining.