“Code Name: Jaguar” (1965) is a good euro-spy picture, smoothly done, in good color and widescreen, well-paced, amusing at times, well-acted, and with some nice set pieces and production values. The dialog in this film is sharp and witty, adding a great deal.
The Russians have not only penetrated an American naval operations base in Spain, but they have a hidden advanced communications network that telecasts their observations to Moscow. Ray Danton is brought in to help the military break Moscow’s spy network. His assistant in Spain is the pert and feisty Pasquale Petit. On the opposition side, he soon runs into Helga Sommerfeld who throws herself at him. Can he resist? Petit and Sommerfeld exchange funny barbs. Wolfgang Preiss takes a break from German roles to play a U.S. naval officer.
Because there is a Russian mole in the base, Danton’s movements are tracked right away. He’s lured into a gravel pit where bulldozers pursue his car. Later he takes the offensive and boldly slips aboard a Russian trawler to find out its communication equipment. The Russians equally boldly find a way to send a patrol into the base to regain their documents.
Danton made an attractive leading man and a more than capable actor with a fine voice. His early films, which are the ones I’m familiar with, are always watchable for him alone and they’re still fresh. I’m thinking of “The George Raft Story” and “The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond”. He did a lot of TV work and migrated into directing.
“Code Name: Jaguar” retains its entertainment value today, and Danton’s contribution should not be taken for granted. Neither should the work of Pasquale Petit and Helga Sommerfeld.
