Italy/Spain Euro-spy movie with ordinary ingredients : adventures, noisy action , fights and various international locations. Secret agent George Steele accepts a mission from the R. I. U., an international organisation interested in Uranium . Large deposits have been discovered in North Africa, but seem to have fallen into the hands of local criminals . Steele investigates but finds matters complicated by the fact that the radium seems to be located near the remains of Atlantis and the lost city is occupied by the descendants of the original population . Along the way , our brave agent is abducted , being strapped inside a trunk and flown in the plane cargo and discovers the supposed city of Atlantis while a Red Chinese has built a secret atomic city at the African desert.
Typical Italian/Spanish spy film dealing with an American secret agent and his adventures , misfortunes , dangerous investigations and sexy romances . Lively and passable at times rendition about European spy subgenre , an usual genre during the sixties , not taking any situation seriously and with a medium budget which allows director Domenico to mount some spectacular set pieces , adding a little more hilarious situations than many of his cash-strapped companions at the era , but resulting in a terribly weak climax . There is also some lame comedy involving smuggling people in baggage trunks on airliners . This ordinarily mediocre spy sub-genre borrows heavily from the OO7 series that at the time starred Sean Connery , such as : Dr No, From Russia with love , Thunderball, and Goldfinger . So-so Euro-spy movie with usual components : pursuits , crashes , struggles , fantastic gadgets , strange artifacts , international conspiracy , explosive women , explosions and thrilling pursuits . But ¨Agent 003 Operation Atlantis¨ mixes the Euro-spy issue with Sci-Fi genre in which a Red Chinese has built a secret atomic city from which they will attempt to invade America. None of it is remotely startling, but it does help to give a measure of scale to the proceedings and at least convey a sense that the stakes are high . This is one of the countless spy-spoofs made in the 1960's and it was obviously made on a fraction of a fraction of the budget of a James Bond spy flick or even a Matt Helm spy-spoof . This is an energetic and enjoyable film apparently filmed all over Spain simulating to be North Africa. Stars the good-looking John Ericson was born in Düsseldorf, Germany , and here playing the role of this week's wannabe James Bond who's a hit with the ladies, though , his smarmy charm and lame pick up lines proving so irresistible that many of the Euro-babes on show . John Ericson had a long but tarnished career . In 1951 appeared on Broadway in the hit drama "Stalag 17" and he even studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City , in fact he was in the same class as Grace Kelly, Jack Palance, Don Murray , Don Rickles and was engaged to Anne Bancroft in the early 1950s before his first marriage . And he starred some US productions , such as : House of the Dead (1978) Bedknobs and broomsticks (1971), Dog day at Black Rock (1955) and The Money Jungle (1967) ; of course , he emigrated to Italy to get fame and fortune , playing usual genres at the time (Spaghetti and Peplum) , such as : 7 for Pancho Villa , Io Semiramide . It was probably the pinnacle of his career , but many guest slots followed over the next quarter century on popular network shows , such as : 'The Streets of San Francisco', 'Bonanza' , ' Las Vegas' , 'The Fugitive' , 'Ironside' , 'The Virginian' , 'SWAT' , 'Knight Rider' , 'Invaders' , 'FBI' , and 'The A Team'. Here German-born Ericson has collected a whole bevy of voluptuous Euro-beauties like Berna Rock , Manolita Barroso , Erika Blanc and Cristina Gaioni. He puts them in sexy, scanty costumes and gives them all fast-paced flirtation and/or seduction scenes with the valiant agent . Being a Spain/Italian co-production shows up actors from these countries : Spain as Beni Deus , José Manuel Martín , Maria Granada , and Italy as Mino Doro, Tullio Altamura , Luigi Tosi , and the indispensable Franco Ressel.
It contains an attractive score, as well as a colorful and evocative cinematography by cameraman Francisco Sánchez , shot in Rome and Almeria that bears remarkable resemblance to North Africa where sets the action . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Domenico Paolella, as it has some gaps and failures . It includes various roles arrive and depart regularly with no regard to logic or the plot, many scenes are suddenly chopped short leaving wild flaws in logic and some principals change sides for seemingly no reason at all . Domenico was a director and writer, known for filming all kind of genres such as Nunexploitation : ¨The nun and the devil¨, ¨Unholy Convent¨ , Peplum : ¨Maciste Nell'inferno Di Gengis Khan¨, ¨Il Gladiatore Che Sfidò L'Impero¨ , ¨Golia Conquista Di Bagdad¨ , ¨Ercole Contro Tiranni , ¨Maciste against Mongols¨, among others . Rating : 4.5/10 , very mediocre Euro-spy movie .
