OSS 117 Is Unleashed (1963)

It’s easy to see why OSS 117 is so often labeled “the French James Bond.” Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, an American from Louisiana of French descent, is a suave secret agent working for the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor to the CIA) whose adventures are filled with espionage, exotic locales, political intrigue, and a steady stream of lady admirers. Yet this comparison obscures the important historical point that French author Jean Bruce introduced OSS 117 to readers in 1949 – four years before Ian Fleming debuted James Bond in Casino Royale. Likewise, the first OSS 117 film adaptation, OSS 117 Is Not Dead (1957), was released five years ahead of Dr. No. Bond may have become the global household name, but one could just as easily argue that 007 is the British 117, and not the other way around.

Bruce’s contribution to the genre was impressively prolific. Before his tragic death in a car accident in 1963, he had written 87 OSS 117 novels. Afterward, his wife Josette Bruce carried the torch, expanding the series with a staggering 143 additional volumes between 1966 and 1985, and later their children added still more entries. An extraordinary literary lineage that helped cement OSS 117 as a long-running book series.

The cinematic side of the series evolved in a similarly generational way. Just as Bond passed from Connery to Lazenby to Moore and beyond, OSS 117 was portrayed by several actors over the years. The earliest films featured Ivan Desny in OSS 117 Is Not Dead (1957), followed by Kerwin Mathews, who took over the role in OSS 117 Is Unleashed (1963) and returned for OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok (1964). Later entries saw Frederick Stafford step in for OSS 117: Mission for a Killer (1965) and OSS 117: Double Agent (1968), while John Gavin and Luc Merenda each carried the mantle in subsequent installments. This rotating cast gives the series another parallel to the Bond films, where a single iconic character is refracted through multiple performers, each bringing a slightly different flavor to the role.

As for OSS 117 Is Unleashed, the film that opens Kino Lorber’s five-movie Blu-ray set, it’s a stylish Eurospy adventure. When an American agent vanishes during a covert scuba-diving mission off the coast of Corsica, the OSS dispatches 117 to uncover what went wrong. His investigation leads him into an underwater conspiracy involving enemy operatives and a covert device, pushing him into a series of confrontations that blend action, drama, and a dash of Cold War paranoia.

For fans of James Bond – or Eurospy cinema more broadly – there’s plenty here to enjoy. A sleek production design, a charismatic lead, hand-to-hand combat, gun fights, beautiful women, secret bases, evil villains, and a glimpse into an analogous spy-film tradition that deserves far more recognition than it typically receives.