FX 18 (1964)
aka Agent secret FX 18
Article 2942 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-28-2009
Posting Date: 9-3-2009
Directed by Maurice Cloche
Featuring Ken Clark, Jany Clair, Jacques Dacqmine
Country: France / Italy / Spain

Secret agent FX 18 is sent out with his team to capture a Russian spy and find out how he’s transmitting information to the Russians.

This is one of the earliest movies in the Spyghetti genre, and though it doesn’t have much of a reputation, I found it entertaining enough in that low-budget ersatz-Bond way. The use of music in this one is rather interesting, with one fight scene underscored by a baroque classical piece that is quite amusing, and there are other moments as well where the music hints that this is not to be taken too seriously. The secret agent here, though obviously the leader, works as part of a team, which makes him come across as less of a one-man operation than James Bond does. The violence on the part of the good guys seems a bit more brutal than is usually found, with the heroes occasionally acting as you would usually expect villains to do in other movies. The structure is a bit odd; the first thirty minutes are quite confusing, as a bunch of characters are thrown our way without any chance of getting used to them; FX 18 doesn’t appear until almost a third of the movie is over, and only then are we given the real threads of the plot. The fantastic content is slight; one of the prizes in the struggle is a special satellite transmitter that gives the movie a little science fiction content. All in all, I found this one not bad for this type of movie.