Watch The Venetian Affair For Free

So much average

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Mind-numbingly dull spy movie starring Robert Vaughn. I only watched this for Boris Karloff, who appears in a small role. He's good but not in this enough to matter much. Still, Karloff completists will want to check it out. Everyone else should just avoid it like the plague. It's such a boring, lifeless movie. I thought spy movies were supposed to be fun and full of action and intrigue? Apparently the people behind this didn't get the memo. Vaughn does fine as the lead but the script and direction give him little to work with. Elke Sommer and Felicia Farr provide the pretty. Ed Asner is decent in a supporting role. I fell asleep while watching this. I'm not kidding -- it literally put me to sleep during the scene where Vaughn finds the suitcase while the flute music is playing. When I woke up, I forced myself to rewind to this point and finish the movie. But man, it was a chore to do so. I can't and won't recommend this to anyone looking for a good '60s spy flick. This is the pits.

Two things are noteworthy about The Venetian Affair. One was that Robert Vaughn tried to break out into the big screen like such television contemporaries as James Garner and Steve McQueen without the success that they had. The second was that this was the last film Boris Karloff did that was not related to the horror genre.The film begins with a bang. An American diplomat is given a bomb and it detonates in a disarmament conference in Venice. No one can figure out why, but you can bet the USA does not want to be held responsible when forensics prove it was our guy who was the suicide bomber.Our man in Venice for the CIA Edward Asner sends for former agent Robert Vaughn who is now an alcoholic newspaperman working for a wire service. They suspect his ex-wife Elke Sommer has something to do with it and he's the best at finding her. She's also the reason that he's no longer with the CIA.Boris Karloff plays an elderly man of geopolitical mystery. He knows what's going on, but some sinister folks are controlling him.The Venetian Affair is a pedestrian affair moving at a paint drying pace and Vaughn after being television's urbane Napoleon Solo in The Man From UNCLE never quite got his teeth in this part. Karl Boehm is a good villain and only at the very end do we find out who he is working for. As for the reason why the diplomat did the foul deed, that you watch The Venetian Affair for.

When I saw this film advertised in my satellite listings mag, it merely said, "The Venetian Affair"...'67...starring Robert Vaughn. Hmm, I thought. I believed I'd SEEN all the "U.N.C.L.E." films - "The Helicopter Spies", "To Trap A Spy", "One Of Our Spies Is Missing", etc. And anyway, the "The...Affair" titles are only for the TV episodes from which the "movies" hail.So I began to watch it. The first thing I noticed was that it'd been made in scope. This further puzzled me, as the "U.N.C.L.E." "movies" are all in standard ratio, having been culled from TV.Of course, I now know better. The "Affair" in the title is merely what the producers must at the time have thought was a VERY happy COINCIDENCE, "The Venetian Affair" being the original title of the source novel by Helen MacInnes.But is it also a coincidence that they chose to star Robert Vaughn and a number of lightweight actors in the film? I suspect NOT. In those days, many people went to see a film solely on the strength of the POSTER (which is why the two "Carry On"s that for contractual reasons did not originally bear the Carry On prefix still did well) so they HAD to know that many would assume it was an "U.N.C.L.E." movie.Which means that I'm sure many viewers of this film, both on it's original theatrical release and later (if their TV listings mag only featured the basics) were BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED with it.It might have been better if it had turned out to be a serious and GOOD spy thriller - like "The Naked Runner" (athough those waiting for Sinatra to take off his clothes would have been disappointed too) - but it WASN'T. It was, and still is, SLOW, DREARY and BORING!I mean, after I'd realised it wasn't an "U.N.C.L.E." romp, I was happy to judge it on its own merit - but it doesn't HAVE any!Incidentally, I notice that various listings for this piece have it as coming out in 1957 - including THIS august service - whereas it ACTUALLY came out in the GOLDEN year of 1967. I wonder why?

"The Venetian Affair", based on Helen MacInnes bestseller, is one of the seemingly endless number of James Bond-inspired spy films that flooded cinemas in the mid to late 1960's. Despite a pedestrian script and direction, the film benefits from some great on-location scenery in Venice as well as a talented and eclectic cast. Robert Vaughn plays against type as an alcoholic reporter who is swept into an espionage case with international repercussions. Vaughn delivers the goods with a convincing, world-weary performance that was at odds with his weekly heroics as The Man From UNCLE (despite popular belief, this is not an UNCLE-related film). Karl Boehm is fine as the obligatory charming villain, Roger C. Carmel provides some light moments in the otherwise downbeat script, Boris Karloff has one of his last quality roles, and Thunderball Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi, queen of the '60's spy films, makes a brief but welcome appearance. Only Elke Sommer gums up the works with a typically wooden performance that is little more animated than the stone gargoyles that adorn the ancient Venetian buildings. In summary, an unremarkable, but entertaining film. Rarely seen in recent years, TCM has recently begun telecasting it in a glorious widescreen version. One hopes that a video release will eventually take place.