christopher-underwood No way is this film as funny as it should be or seemingly as funny as it thinks it is. But it does have charm, some great and colourful location shooting and some very decent performances. From the extended opening as Tom Courtenay makes he way a good length of Portobello Road to the modest and quiet ending, we smile but little more. Nevertheless the film is likeable and a pleasure to watch, Coutenay is excellent, Romy Schneider lovely though underused and James Villiers who must have appeared in every British film of the time does better than usual. There is also a great turn from Leonard Rossiter who almost brings the film to life singlehandedly. Maybe it was the time, maybe it was writers La Frenais and Clement but this film is outrageously languorous and happy to almost stop now and again. Still good fun checking out the locations and Courtenay doesn't put a foot wrong.

aramis-112-804880 Tom Courtney is perfect as Gerald Arthur Otley, from Martin Waddell's series of books about a wannabe antiques dealer who makes what living he can fobbing off small items of stolen merchandise . . . but who always stumbles into involvement with some arm of the British secret service.Otley blunders his way across four hilarious novels by author Waddell, and the movie is a pretty good version of the first, even with those aggravating changes movies always seem obliged to make. In this one the small-time deal in antiques crashes a friend's party and slips a small object d'art into his pocket, not knowing it contains a miniature tape-recorder with a recording a lot of people will kill to possess. Among the changes in the story is a very funny chase sequence when Otley is taking his driving test, with an increasingly desperate driving instructor (James Cossins).For the rest of the cast, Romy Schneider is a lovely Imogen (though the character is called Grace in the book and seems to be designed with Diana Rigg in mind--how perfect she would have been!) James Villiers, Edward Hardwicke, Alan Badel and Leonard Rossiter all lend their usual level of professionalism to the proceedings. Dump the lovely Schneider and you have the makings of a great Shakespeare flick. Not only that, then-child actor Kenneth Cranham has a funny little bit. And Indiana Jones' favorite Nazi, Ronald Lacy has a good but small part as a hypchonriacal hit-man. And the Likely Lads' James Bolam. They've plugged every part with a rising talent. The great Freddie Jones is particularly amusing as the fey leader of a news agency-cum-spy ring. The episodes between Courtney and Jones are the best in the movie.And yet the "Otley" movie as a whole never seems quite as good as the sum of its parts. It's like a series of sketches all featuring Courtney's Otley. There's Otley taking his driving exam. There's Otley humping pig swill on Leonard Rossiter's farm. Part of this is Martin Waddell's fault. His Otley books do read like a series of events held together as a narrative by Otley's wonderfully understated first-person description of the ever deeper holes he finds himself in. Losing the narration for the movie, they have the same problem prevalent with P.G. Wodehouse or Jerome K. Jerome adaptations, in that the narration is often the best part. They also try to cash in on the "swinging London" craze current at the time. Well, frankly, so did Waddell, though for whatever reason he made it clear that, at least to the secret service, Otley himself had far right-wing proclivities (which is good news to right-wing readers like me, who have so few heroes of my ilk in fiction).Still, as with about seventy-five percent of cases, the book is better, though it requires some thought, which movies do not. And for those movie goers who can read, chasing down the scarce OTLEY novel will lead to a worthwhile experience, though its price is steep on the second-hand market.Too bad. I'd have given it 10/10 with Diana Rigg.

JasparLamarCrabb A dry-humored spoof starring Tom Courtenay as a not so bright English bloke who finds himself way over his head in espionage after the murder of a friend. Courtenay, who can't even drive a car much less handle a gun, is on the lam from the police, the government and shady spy Romy Schneider. Directed by the efficient Dick Clement and featuring a really fun performance by Courtenay (he's really never been this loose), this nearly forgotten gem is a real buried treasure. Courtenay has terrific chemistry with Schneider and the supporting cast includes kinky Freddie Jones, creepy James Villars and sleazy Alan Badel. There's suspense, a lot of laughs and some great music by Stanley Myers. The gritty cinematography is by Austin Dempster, who also shot the other Courtenay spy film A DANDY IN ASPIC.

CHRISTOPHER HEATH Interesting little gem from the swinging sixties. Tom Courtney plays Otley, a down-on-his-luck antiques dealer in the Portobello Road in this comedy spy thriller.He's kicked out of his digs after he's gone past his sell-by date in terms of the attentions of his randy landlady because he can't pay his way and is forced to go from friend to friend at a party in order to be put up for the night.Otley manages to reel in a favour from one of his friends, but blunders into a spy plot when that friend is murdered in the flat and Otley is forced on the run. Otley has little aptitiude for anything but antiques and even this ability has to be questioned considering his circumstances.The plot meanders continuously and is a little confusing but is of little consequence. We are not meant to focus too much on it, because the film centres on how this hapless bungler manages to squirm free from one episode to another whilst we enjoy the scenery. A high point of the film is when he goes to take his driving test which turns into a car chase with some villains around the backstreets of London.The supporting cast contains some good character actors and includes Leonard Rossiter playing a hitman. Romy Schneider plays the femme fatale, but is curiously underused. An enjoyable 'sub-sub-Bond' adventure if you don't expect too much.