JohnHowardReid A bit over-talkative (although some droll humor is artfully concealed in the dialogue) with standard heroics and action brought to more life than it deserves by an especially hardworking cast: David Niven, Francoise Dorleac (her last film! Disappointingly her role is not all that large. She disappears for a long stretch while Niven is partnered by the redoubtable Nigel Davenport). Val Guest's direction too is not as fluent as Wolf Mankowitz's, but it could be the other way around. Both are credited, but who did what has not been officially told to us. As the movie was produced by Guest, my educated guess is that Mankowitz started the movie, but director Guest was unhappy with the rushes, fired Mankowitz and took over the direction himself. It's easy to tell the directors apart as one of them is not as fluent as the other and tends to concentrate and over-do close-ups. Real locations in Beirut, etc. help, but there also some very obvious models and studio scenes, Grant's close-ups of Miss Dorleac are attractive whilst Nascimbene's score is a bit too reliant on mechanical effects to be continually effective.

JinxB I can absolutely not find a DVD or VHS to purchase of "Where the Spies Are". Please tell me where everyone is finding this film???? The reviews show it to be a fascinating time-capsule of 1960's Cold War craziness. The book is noteworthy. There are several different movie posters available which also suggest this was a hilarious film --even if paned by some noteworthy critics. Merely having David Nivin starring in any film should make it a gas.....so please tell me why is the dog-gone film so difficult to locate in cyberspace or real-world retail world??? I have searched Amazon, Netflix, eBay, and virtually every other vintage movie site. And now to add to my frustration, IMDb makes me write a minimum of 10 lines of absolute dribble when all I wanted to post was found in the first two lines. So I will keep adding to this silly comment until the minimum number of lines has been achieved. I need to know what site to visit to find this movie.

davegrenfell A good, Bond like thriller, far removed from the standard 60s spy spoofs. Far more serious than even The Ipcress File, this features some very realistic deaths and torture sequences, and a climactic 'tricking the KGB plane' bit that is really nasty indeed. Niven plays it totally straight, with none of the comedy mannerisms that you feel familiar with from films like Casino Royale. A true gem. Bears comparison with The Spy who Came in From the cold.Niven's character is a doctor who once spied during the war. The British Secret Service are desperate for someone who could justifiably visit Beirut to check on one of their spies who's gone missing (he's been shot) and there happens to be a medical conference there. Niven is a car fanatic, and is bribed with the promise of a very rare Cord Le Baron, which is his dream car. The Cord he drives, incidentally, is very similar to Bond's Bentley Continental, which is probably deliberate.The plane he is due to get from Italy to Beirut blows up, and from then on he's really up against it. A very, very well written, well shot and performed movie, with terrific performances all round.

Troopie I happened across this film whilst channel surfing late at night. At first, I thought it was a parody, a bit like 'Casino Royale' -- which Niven must be a lot more proud of! Sadly, I soon came to the realisation that this was not playing for laughs but wanted to be taken seriously. I will concede that Niven, Davenport & others do their best, but the wooden plot, corny lines & truly terribly dated music ruin any efforts by them. This film came out just a couple of years after "From Russia with Love" & is obviously trying to compete with the Bond series. Sadly, it fails miserably. Watch it if you have trouble sleeping, but only if you tire of watching the paint dry!