Superseven Calling Cairo (1965)

Rosalba Neri and Fabienne Dali, 31 January 2017

A Russian agent has stolen a new radioactive metal. For reasons known only to him (and for plot purposes), the metal has been hidden in plain sight in the shape of a camera lens. Before the agent can get the metal out of Egypt, however, the camera with the special lens is sold to an unsuspecting tourist. Special agent Martin Stevens (Roger Browne) is put on the case and asked to recover the metal before it can fall into the wrong hands. 

I've seen Superseven Calling Cairo called everything from above- average to average to below-average. For me, it's easily an above- average Eurospy effort. It has a lot of the hallmarks I look for in a good spy film – locations (Egypt, Switzerland, and Italy), beautiful women (Rosalba Neri and Fabienne Dali), a suitably ruthless baddie (an ex-Nazi played by Massimo Serato), henchmen, gun play, car chases, fights, explosions, etc. The various locations and the above average cast do help hide some of the film's shortcomings. Chief among them is an obvious budge limitation when it comes to big, Bond-style set-pieces. It's hard to do anything overly elaborate on the budget Umberto Lenzi was working with on Superseven Calling Cairo. Still, it's a fun enough romp across Europe that moves at a nice pace and never feels like it overstays its welcome. I'd be happy if all Eurospy films were this enjoyable.

If I have one big complaint it's with the lead, Roger Browne. I've never found him a very exciting actor. And he's not helped here with some poorly written dialogue and bad dubbing. I could see someone like Ken Clarke making this one a real winner.

7/10