special mission lady chaplin - mission bloody mar

If you’re looking for a classic Bond fix, Dorado films has your number: 077.

With any new Bond films put on the backburner thanks to MGM’s financial woes, now’s the perfect time to catch up with Bond’s brother-from-another-mother: Dick Malloy, the CIA’s answer to Britain’s super-suave secret agent. He has a license to kill, punch, slap and make love to anyone that stands in his way. And as played by the burly Hollywood cast-off Ken Clark, you might just find yourself rooting for Agent 077 despite his hand-me-down villains, gadgets and overly dramatic theme songs.

Copyrights be damned, these Italian co-productions lift everything that works in the Bond franchise and tweak it just enough to stay out of court. In Mission Bloody Mary, Malloy is on the trail of a new superweapon hijacked from the US and about to hit the blackmarket courtesy of the mysterious “Black Lily.” Joining him on the job is an attractive female operative (Helga Linne) who may or may not be in his corner.

Mission Bloody Mary may not have all of Bond’s bells-and-whistles but it keeps plugging away. Flaming death traps, rooftop shoot-outs and a vicious hand-to-hand battle on a train that’s as good as anything in From Russia With Love, what the film lacks in resources is makes up for in sheer bravado.

The same can be said of the next Dick Malloy adventure. In fact, Special Mission Lady Chaplin is so well-directed it could easily fit in with any Connery-era Bond…and even tops some of the lesser entries in the series (License to Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies, and most of Roger Moore’s output). And this time around, there’s even an authentic Bond girl in the mix: Daniela Bianchi (From Russia With Love).

A dog tag from a sailor aboard the sunken nuclear sub U.S.S. Thresher is Malloy’s first clue in the pursuit of stolen Polaris missiles hijacked by one Kobre Zoltan (one of the best supervillain names in history). But even more deadly is Kobre’s second-in-command, Lady Chaplin (Bianchi) who starts off the film dressed up like a nun who promptly guns down a trio of rival spies.

Lady Chaplin is still working with borrowed elements, but director Alberto De Martino recycles them with such flair they’re almost new again. A clever sequence where explosive material is woven into fashion show fabrics stands out as the sort of clever, suspenseful twist that you just wouldn’t expect from a movie that should have simply been a quick cash grab.

Dorado Films presents each film in its original 16:9 aspect ratio and while the prints are a bit “experienced” there’s nothing to distract from your enjoyment. Extras are limited to trailers and biographies of the relevant stars.