The Spy with a Cold Nose

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The Spy with a Cold Nose
The Spy with a Cold Nose FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Daniel Petrie
Written by Ray Galton
Alan Simpson
Produced by Joseph E. Levine
Leonard Lightstone
Starring Laurence Harvey
Daliah Lavi
Lionel Jeffries
Pickles (dog)
Cinematography Kenneth Higgins
Edited byJack Slade
Music by Riz Ortolani
Production
company
Associated London Films
Distributed by Paramount British Pictures (UK)
AVCO Embassy Pictures (US)
Release date
  • 19 December 1966 (1966-12-19)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Spy with a Cold Nose is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Laurence Harvey, Daliah Lavi, Lionel Jeffries, Denholm Elliott, and Colin Blakely. [1] It was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Contents

Premise

A dog has a covert listening device implanted before being presented as a gift to the Russian leader. Spies recruit a veterinarian to retrieve the transmitter before the Russians find it.

Cast

Production

Exterior locations included: Royal Garden Hotel, Moor Park Golf Club, Castle Howard, London Zoo, Richmond, London; Newington Causeway; Elephant and Castle; and 29 Danehurst Gardens. [2] The signs read The Francis Trevellyan [ sic ] Animal Foundation and The Ark, at Eileen House, since demolished. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Broad, thoroughly British farce, developed along totally predictable lines but partly saved by a script which at least has the virtue of keeping things on the move, and by a zany and superbly timed performance from Lionel Jeffries. There is good support from Colin Blakely as the dog-loving Russian Premier and from Eric Portman as the British Ambassador who holds private meetings in a sound-proof glass bowl. The dogs have thankfully little to say for themselves." [7]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Ace sitcom writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson here offer their contribution to the spy boom that was dominating popular cinema in the 1960s. Their sub-Bondian farce stars Laurence Harvey and fine comedy actor Lionel Jeffries in a story of Cold War espionage which features a bulldog with a listening bug grafted to its insides for spying on the Russians. The script was held up as a model of its type but the genius of the words lost a little something in translation, but much mirth remains." [8]

Film critic Leslie Halliwell said: "Rather painful, overacted and overwritten farce full of obvious jokes masquarading as satire." [9]

Accolades

The film was nominated for the 1967 Golden Globe Awards in the Best English-Language Foreign Film category, and Lionel Jeffries in the Best Performance in a Comedy or Musical category. [10]

References

  1. ↑ "The Spy with a Cold Nose". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 Monkey, Silver. "The Spy with a Cold Nose". Reel Streets. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  3. ↑ "EILEEN HSE / NEOBRAND / PEABODY". Southwark Notes - whose regeneration?. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2025. After a saga lasting nearly five years, Boris Johnson has resolved to grant planning permission for the construction of a 41-storey tower on the site of Eileen House in Newington Causeway, Elephant & Castle
  4. ↑ "Eileen House, Elephant & Castle" (PDF). Greater London Authority . 16 April 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2025. planning report PDU/1100a/01 16 April 2009 Eileen House, Elephant & Castle in the London Borough of Southwark planning application no. 09/AP/0343
  5. ↑ "Ministry of Sound tower block plans approved by mayor". BBC News . 7 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Lent's league days". The Guardian . 17 March 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
  7. ↑ "The Spy with a Cold Nose". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 34 (396): 79. 1 January 1967. ProQuest   1305838555.
  8. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 870. ISBN   9780992936440.
  9. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 953. ISBN   0586088946.
  10. ↑ "The Spy With A Cold Nose". BAFTA. Retrieved 6 February 2024.


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