Review for Our Man in Marrakesh

‘Our Man in Marrakesh’ is a spy-spoof starring the always wonderful Tony Randall, ably supported by some of Britain’s foremost comedic actors; Wilfred Hyde-White, John Le Mesurier, and Terry Thomas. Herbert Lom makes the perfect villain and a youthful Klaus Kinski brings adds a sinister air as Lom’s ice cold henchman. The final ingredient, glamour and romance, is ably provided by the beautiful Austrian actress Santer Berger at the very height of her powers. So what’s not to like?

Well, probably the highly convoluted plot for starters. It’s actually quite difficult to put your finger on why but the whole thing ends up failing to ever quite ignite and the net result feels a bit limp all round.

While in Morocco, supposed American oil company rep Andrew Jessel (Randall) unwittingly becomes tangled in a web of high intrigue and murder. It all starts with his arrival at his hotel where a dead body with a knife in its back falls from his wardrobe. Almost immediately a beautiful girl, Kyra Stanovy (Senta Berger), turns up and says it’s her room and her fiancé, though she doesn't seem too upset about it.


It seems that almost every member of the entourage that arrived with Randall’s character could be a courier carrying top secret documents which Moroccan hood Mr. Casimir (Herbert Lom) prepared to pay two million dollars for.


Cue lots of strange shenanigans and farcical ‘mistaken identity’ gags including the mistaken switching of identical brief-cases. There are some laughs along the way (Terry Thomas is fabulous as always though isn’t introduced until the final 20 minutes, pretty much saving the day, in the film and in terms of lifting it from its lag). There’s also improbable romance as bungling Randall gets it on Berger whilst hiding out in the Moroccan hills.


The location stuff is great though there are several occasions where good location material is mixed with studio shot material with some of the least convincing keying ever seen in cinema, but generally it’s a nice looking film with lots of colour and sunshine.

The film was titled ‘Bang! Bang! You're Dead!’ in the US which somehow seems more fitting than the exotic ‘Our Man in Marrakesh’. Written by Producer Harry Alan Towers (under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck), it seems as if that may be the source of the problem here because what lets the film down is its script. There are too few gags and too little excitement and the film’s narrative feels clunky and lazily predictable.


The DVD comes with a trailer (don’t watch until you’ve seen the film!), and image gallery and, as is often the case with Network releases, a PDF of some promotional material – always good to have!


Sometimes a film has all the right ingredients to make you think you’re in for a real treat – and then slightly lets you down. ‘Our Man in Marrakesh’ is such a film. It’s certainly moderately entertaining and perfectly acceptable. It’s just that with such a sterling cast and the prospects of lots of laughs and excitement, it fails to deliver to its full potential. ‘Could have done better’ is a good summation. Having said that, seeing as the kind folks at Network have gone to all the effort of putting this out the least you can do is give it a look yourself. It’s certainly a worthwhile curio.