I watched Our Man Flint recently and really enjoyed it and here we have the archetypal sequel: what it lacks in freshness and originality it tries to compensate for by lowering the bar. The acting is hammier, the gags are more obvious, the storyline is more outré and the whole thing is dumbed down to ensure the broadest possible appeal. And it is enjoyable, just a little regrettable.
One of my favourite things about the Flint films are the inventiveness of the writers in coming up with Flint's abilities. The best that we get here is when he is writing a dolphin dictionary- a feat which enables him to speak to a dolphin and gain its assistance in penetrating the enemy lair. It is almost as if the concept is funny enough without the extra effort which made the first so special- the gadgets from last time (especially the hearing equipment in the shirt) are missed here and although the 73 function lighter- 74 if you include lighting a cigarette- survives its usefulness is downplayed.
Even James Coburn seems to have lowered his aims with this one, he played the first film straight- as all the best comedy is- but here he starts mugging for the camera. It's a real shame as Flint on the one hand and Harry Palmer on the other provided a really strong counterpoint to the Bond films and, in the absence of Coburn's comic alternative, they were able to become ludicrous self-parodies themselves.
Another regrettable disappearance is the antagonism between Flint and Lee J. Cobb's Lloyd Cramden. Their spiky relationship in the first film was an interesting layer to the film however Cramden, who had found Flint's abilities no compensation for his disdain for authority last time out, simply fawns over Flint this time. The only interesting thing Cobb has to do this time is to wear a dress and shave off his moustache. A waste.
The storyline takes Flint to Death Valley, Moscow, the Virgin Islands and Outer Space (Bond would be 13 years behind him) but the sets are unconvincing and the whole thing has the naff cheapness of a budget sequel. You can see the series heading down the Escape From The Planet of the Apes route and perhaps it's for the best that this film wasn't followed up. The closing sequences see a battalion of nubile girls attacking a military colony on a flotilla of pedaloes- like the Dunkirk evacuation filmed by Russ Meyer- and the leaders of the female-only organisation who were trying for world domination conceding that it's best to let men run the show. Outdated that surely, even in 1967!
And so this is a disappointing sequel and the death knell of a series not yet out of infancy. Entertaining, campy but crap. 3/10. Mind you it was at least prescient- if only more Americans had shared Flint's disdain for the notion of an actor as President.
