OPERATION ABDUCTION (1958)
aka RAPT AU DEUXIEME BUREAU
Article 2087 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-2-2006
Posting Date: 4-30-2007
Directed by Jean Stelli
Featuring Frank Villard, Danielle Godet, Dalida

A secret government bureau decides to protect a rocket scientist from abduction by faking his own kidnapping. They then send out an agent to locate a criminal organization known to be after the scientist.

The fantastic content in this spy thriller is that the scientist was working on technology to make interplanetary travel a reality. That’s it. When the fantastic content in a movie exists solely to provide a reason for various parties to fight over it, I refer to that content as the Gizmo Maguffin; movies with these elements usually are of little interest to science fiction fans, and are very marginal. This one is especially marginal, as we never see the scientist working on anything (in fact, he barely appears in the movie) and it’s totally focused on the criminals, the secret service agents, and various involved parties. On its own terms, I found it passable but confusing, and badly dubbed (and panned-and-scanned) to boot. This one is not essential viewing.