'' Licensed to Love and Kill'' is a 1979 imitation

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film starring

Gareth Hunt Alan Leonard Hunt (7 February 1942 – 14 March 2007), known as Gareth Hunt, was a British actor best remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and Mike Gambit in '' The New Avengers''. Early life Alan Leon ...

as British

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

Charles Bind. It was directed and written by

Lindsay Shonteff Lindsay Craig Shonteff (5 November 1935 – 11 March 2006) was a Canadian born film director, film producer and screenwriter who achieved fame for low-budget films produced in the United Kingdom. Biography Lindsay Shonteff was born in Toronto ...

and produced by his wife Elizabeth Gray. The film had the working title ''An Orchid for No. 1''; it was released on VHS under the title ''The Man from S.E.X.''.

Plot

Secret Agent Charles Bind is called in to investigate the disappearance of Lord Dangerfield, a British diplomat. The trail leads Bind to Dangefield's daughter Carlotta Muff-Dangerfield who is called "Lotta Muff", an ambitious American Senator named Lucifer Orchid, and Bind's counterpart in the forces of evil, Ultra One.

Cast

... Charles Bind *

Nick Tate Nicholas John Tate (born 18 June 1942) is an Australian actor popularly known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction television series '' Space: 1999'', and James Hamilton in the 1980s Australian soap opera '' Sons an ...

... Jensen Fury *Fiona Curzon ... Carlotta Muff-Dangerfield *

Geoffrey Keen Geoffrey Keen (21 August 1916 – 3 November 2005) was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the ''James Bond'' films. Biography Early lif ...

... Stockwell *

Gary Hope Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Uni ...

... Senator Lucifer Orchid *

Don Fellows Don Fellows (December 2, 1922 – October 21, 2007) was an American actor known for his roles in British theater and television. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Fellows served in the United States Merchant Marine ...

... Vice-president *

John Arnatt John Edwin Arnatt (9 May 1917 – 21 December 1999) was a British actor. Early life and education John Arnatt was born in Petrograd, Russia on 9 May 1917. His parents were Francis and Ethel Marion (née Jephcott) Arnatt. He attended Epworth ...

... Merlin *

Toby Robins Toby Robins (March 13, 1931 – March 21, 1986) was a Canadian actress of film, stage and television. Robins starred in hundreds of radio and stage productions in Canada from the late 1940s through the 1960s, working with such performers as Jan ...

... Scarlet Star *

Imogen Hassall Imogen Hassall (25 August 1942 – 16 November 1980) was an English actress who appeared in 33 films during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Named after Shakespeare's ''Cymbeline'' heroine, she was born in Woking, Surrey, to a financially comf ...

... Miss Martin *

John Junkin John Francis Junkin (29 January 1930 – 7 March 2006) was an English actor and scriptwriter who had a long career in radio, television and film, specialising in comedy. Early life Born in Ealing, Middlesex, the son of a policeman, he and h ...

... Helicopter mechanic *

Me Me Lai Me Me Lai (born 3 November 1951), sometimes billed as Me Me Lay or Meme Lay, is a Burmese-British actress and television host who worked mainly in British and Italian films, most notably in the horror genre. Life She was born on the night of 3 ...

... Female Madam Wang *

Noel Johnson Noel Frank Johnson (28 December 1916 – 1 October 1999) was an English actor. He was the voice of special agent Dick Barton on BBC Radio and Dan Dare on Radio Luxembourg. Life Johnson was born 28 December 1916 in Birmingham, England and at ...

... Lord Dangerfield *

Anna Bergman Anna Bergman (born 5 May 1948) is a Swedish former actress. She is the daughter of film and theatre director Ingmar Bergman and choreographer-director Ellen Lundström, sister to Eva, Jan, and Mats Bergman (twin); and half-sister to Daniel B ...

... Hotel receptionist *

Eiji Kusuhara Eiji is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Eiji can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *, "prosperity, peace" *, "great, peace" *, "great, second" *, "eternity, next" The name can also be written in ...

... Male Madam Wang * Doug Robinson ... Giant *

Deep Roy Gurdeep Roy (born Mohinder Purba; 1 December 1957), known professionally as Deep Roy, is a Kenyan-British actor, puppeteer, and stuntman. At tall, he has often been cast as diminutive characters, such as Teeny Weeny in ''The NeverEnding Story' ...

... Midget

Aspects of production

During the production of Henson and Shonteff's previous Charles Bind film '' No. 1 of the Secret Service'', a sequel was announced entitled ''An Orchid for No. 1'' Though initially signed to Shonteff for three films, Nicky Henson was signed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Henson was replaced by

who was well known for his role as secret agent Mike Gambit in ‘’ The New Avengers".

repeated his role as Bind's M type superior Rockwell. The original Rockwell from the Tom Adams

Charles Vine ''Licensed to Kill'' is an Eastmancolor 1965 superspy imitation James Bond film starring Tom Adams as British secret agent Charles Vine. It was directed and co-written by Lindsay Shonteff. Producer Joseph E. Levine picked it up for American an ...

films was played by

who returned to Shonteff's series playing Merlin, the Q type character who issues Bind his secret weapons. Fiona Curzon who plays the female lead had a smaller different role in the previous ''No 1. of the Secret Service''. Gary Hope had a role as an Army officer in the first Vine film '' Licensed to Kill''.

Soundtrack

Simon Bell wrote the music and

Doreen Chanter Doreen Chanter is a British singer best known as a member of the Chanter Sisters, and for her work as a backing vocalist and session vocalist, primarily during the 1970s and 1980s. Chanter Sisters Chanter started as a member of a group called ...

composed and performed the theme song, ''Love is a Fine Thing''.

Reception

Alan Burton in ''Historical Dictionary of British Spy Fiction'', which cites that "the cycle of spy films began to lose steam in the 1970s", and mentions ''Licensed to Love and Kill'' and its preceding film ''No. 1 of the Secret Service'' as "the odd picture

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

turned up in the cinema schedules", refers to both films as "crude parodies".

References

External links

* {{Lindsay Shonteff 1979 films British parody films 1970s spy comedy films 1970s parody films Films directed by Lindsay Shonteff British spy comedy films Parody films based on James Bond films 1979 comedy films 1970s English-language films