Fathom (1967)

Director: Leslie H. Martinson

Writers: Lorenzo Semple Jr., Larry Forrester

Composer: John Dankworth

Starring: Anthony Franciosa, Raquel Welch, Ronald Fraser, Richard Briers, Greta Chi, Tom Adams, Elizabeth Ercy, Ann Lancaster, Tutte Lemkow, Reg Lye, Clive Revill

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The world's most uncovered undercover agent!

Plot: In Southern Spain with a U.S. team, skydiver Fathom Harvill is approached by a Scottish colonel working for a top-secret Western agency. He's after a vital lost atomic device, and wants her to parachute into a house occupied by some Red Chinese agents to help get the thing back. Apart from all this there is a predatory continental doctor on his yacht to take account of. Fathom soon realizes nothing is what it seems to be, but can she fathom the truth out?

My rating: 4/10

Will I Watch it again?  No.

I'll say this much, no one looks as sexy packing a parachute as Raquel Welch.  That's how the film opens and it's all downhill from there.  Really downhill.  Like Ms. Welch, the scenery is pretty.  I can't blame anyone on this picture for making it.  Getting to hang out in Spain and make some money isn't a bad gig.   This movie has a huge problem and that it's dull as dirt.  I was hoping for some fun 60s cheese but this picture just goes on and on and on.  It's one big audition tape for Welch to get a Clairol sponsorship.  Look at me as I fall from a plane and land with perfect hair.  It's remarkable how slow this picture is.  The images move but the story becomes so bland after twenty or so minutes that by the time Fathom gets into her mission, I couldn't care less.  It took three attempts to get through it.  I've had the DVD since 2002.  It's taken me 14 years to get around to watching it.  Woof.  The 20th Century Fox DVD has a great looking anamorphic widescreen print and the only extras you get are the theatrical trailer and the trailers for IN LIKE FLINT, OUR MAN FLINT and MODESTY BLAISE (all widescreen but MB is the only one that's anamorphic).