Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Get the MovieNight app
Add it to your home screen — faster & full screen
Not part of a collection.
She's an eye catcher… He's a spy catcher
A young man travels to Prague to join his new employer, unaware that he is being used as an espionage courier.
CinemaSerf
Nov 11, 2023 · via TMDB
Dirk Bogarde is quite charismatic in this rather daft spy story set at the height of the Cold War. "Whistler" is a struggling writer who is found a job opportunity by the local labour exchange. Arriving at the plush office of glass-maker "Cunliffe" (Robert Morley) and his sidekick "Allsop" (John Le Mesurier) he is dazzled by the enormous £40 per week wage and equally bamboozled that they want to give him such a lucrative job in an industry about which he knows zilch. First assignment is a trip to Communist Czechoslovakia where he is to rendezvous with a fellow glass engineer, and after having exchanged the passwords - hence the film's title - swap books and come straight home. Simple? Well, of course not quite. He has no idea that he is being used by his new boss and that the Czech intelligence service - run by "Simoneva" (Leo McKern) is onto him. That latter man even gets his glamorous daughter "Vlasta" (Sylva Koscina) to drive for the man so they can speedily apprehend him - but, of course, that doesn't quite go to plan either! Finally cottoning on to the nature of his predicament, our hapless "Whistler" has to find a way of making it to the safety of the British embassy before he is found "accidentally having fallen from his luxury hotel window". It's a little bit slapstick and over-scripted, but the assembled cast do add a bit of fun to the leading performance that is maybe more reminiscent of his "Doctor..." films rather than his more substantial roles. That said, fans of British comedy films will recognise just about everyone and it's parody of "James Bond" at times can't go un-noticed. Not great, but worth a watch, I'd say.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Shout! Factory Amazon Channel
Dirk Bogarde
Nicholas Whistler
Sylva Koscina
Vlasta Simoneva
Robert Morley
Col. Cunliffe
Leo McKern
Simoneva
Roger Delgado
Josef
Derek Fowlds
Sun Bathing Man
Eric Pohlmann
Golushha
John Le Mesurier
Roger Allsop
Noel Harrison
Johnnie
Philo Hauser
Vicek
John Junkin
Clerk in Opening Scene
Jill Melford
Lorna
Derek Nimmo
Fred
Richard Vernon
Roddinghead
Brook Williams
Leon
Gertan Klauber
Technician in Czech Glass Factory
Richard Pasco
Plakov
Alan Tilvern
Simenova's Assistant
Norman Bird
Employment Exchange Clerk
Andre Charisse
Waiter
Frank Finlay
British Embassy Porter
Harriet Medin
Hotel Receptionist
William Mervyn
Passenger on Plane
Tiberio Mitri
The Milkman
George Pravda
Pravelko
Robert Rietti
—
John Standing
Men's Room Attendant
Pietro Tordi
Old man at the swimming pool (uncredited)
Ralph Thomas
Director
Earl St. John
Executive Producer
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Original Music Composer
Japanese Doctor Who
Script Cops
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
North by Northwest
Young Frankenstein
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Shrek
Shaun of the Dead
Rushing or Dragging
The Manchurian Candidate
Pickup on South Street
The Hunt for Red October
Seven Days in May
Lord of War
Airplane!
The Gunfighter
Galaxy Quest
WarGames
The Bedford Incident
Dolla Morte
Destination Fury
Script Cops: Cliché Misdemeanor
Spaceballs
Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap!
Matinee
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Bambi Meets Godzilla
Mars Attacks!
Batman
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Head
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Topaz
Kill Buljo
The Whistle Blower
Frankenstein 90
Superlopez
Jane Austen's Mafia!
The Pirate Movie
Zapped!
This Girl for Hire
Totally Awesome
Flesh Gordon
The Purge: The Morning After
The World is Yours
Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders
Stan Helsing
VeggieTales: Tomato Sawyer & Huckleberry Larry's Big River Rescue
Epic Movie
Billion Dollar Spy
My Anti-capitalist Christmas Eve
Boat Person
Boats People
i didn't do anything
The Countess of Greenwich
Untitled
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Shadow of the Thin Man
Hostile Takeover
Sleeper
My Spy
LaRoy, Texas
Much Ado About Nothing
2073
Hot Shots!
The Family Plan 2
Hot Shots! Part Deux
High Anxiety
The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
The Cheap Detective
The Mouse That Roared
Johnny English Strikes Again
Chief of Station
The Errand Boy
Thunderstruck
Batman and Harley Quinn
Black Widow
Real Men
The Silencers
The 355
Gotcha!
Undercover Brother
The Meteor Man
Mar 10, 1964
© 2025-2026 MovieNight. All rights reserved.
Versus
Sign in to play →
Seven Dorms of Death
2015
Preview
1982
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
Versus
Sign in to play →
Seven Dorms of Death
2015
Preview
1982
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
Leaderboard →Playing as a guest — sign in to save your score and rank on the leaderboard.
Movie Trivia
Guess the movie from a clue — tagline, plot, cast and more. Pick from four posters.
What movie experience do you prefer?
What is your favorite movie genre?
We use essential cookies to run MovieNight, plus analytics (Google Analytics) and advertising (Google AdSense) cookies. By continuing to browse, you agree to this — or click No and we won't. See our Terms & Privacy Policy to learn more.