Licensed to Love and Kill

Licensed to Love and Kill is a 1979 imitation James Bond film starring Gareth Hunt as British secret agent Charles Bind. It was directed and written by Lindsay Shonteff 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. and Undercover Lover.

Licensed to Love and Kill
Original film poster
Directed byLindsay Shonteff
Written byLindsay Shonteff (as Jeremy Lee Francis)
Produced byElizabeth Gray
StarringGareth Hunt
CinematographyBill Patterson
Edited byGerry Ivanov
Music byLeonard Young
Production
company
Lindsay Shonteff Film Productions
Distributed byFirebird Films
Release date
August 1979 (UK)
Running time
94 minutes
78 minutes (US)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

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

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.[2] Though initially signed to Shonteff for three films, Nicky Henson was signed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Henson was replaced by Gareth Hunt who was well known for his role as secret agent Mike Gambit in The New Avengers.

Geoffrey Keen repeated his role as Bind's M type superior Rockwell. The original Rockwell from the Tom Adams Charles Vine films was played by John Arnatt 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 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 [that] turned up in the cinema schedules", refers to both films as "crude parodies".[3]

References
  1. "Eiji Kusuhara obituary". TheGuardian.com. 27 May 2010.
  2. p. 288 Derry, Charles The Suspense Thriller: Films in the Shadow of Alfred Hitchcock McFarland, 2001
  3. Burton, Alan (2016). Historical Dictionary of British Spy Fiction. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 20. ISBN 9781442255876.
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