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Anarchy reigns as Diana Rigg and Oliver Reed go head to head in a blackly comic caper that plays out against the colorful backdrop of Europe on the cusp of World War One.

London, 1908. When feisty journalist and women's rights campaigner Sonia Winter (Diana Rigg) uncovers the headquarters of the Assassination Bureau Limited, a clandestine enterprise that has existed for decades by bumping off the rich and powerful - but only if there's a good moral reason for it - she sets on a path of putting an end to its activities. Bankrolled by her press baron boss, Lord Bostwick (Telly Savalas), she commissions the organisation to undertake the assassination of its very own chairman, Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed). Being the gentleman that he is, Dragomiloff responds to the assignment with glee, challenging his fellow board members to complete the contract. Only they'll have to catch him first...

The Assassination Bureau is based on an unfinished novel by Jack London published posthumously in 1963. Shot in glorious Technicolor by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001: A Space Odyssey), this penultimate work from the esteemed directing-producing team of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph (Sapphire, Victim) is a rip-roaring slice of Edwardian-set action-adventure fashioned with the same Swinging-Sixties blend of irony, stylishness and humour as The Avengers and the James Bond films.

Media

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Bonus Materials

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original lossless English mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with authors Sean Hogan and Kim Newman
• Right Film, Wrong Time, a 30-minute appreciation by critic, broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet
• Original trailer
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork choices
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Katherine McLaughlin and a set of six reproduction lobby cards from the original release

Sales Points

• Based on a novel by Jack London (Call of the Wild) from a story by Nobel Prize-winner Sinclair Lewis (Babbit) completed by Robert L. Fish (Bullitt, The Fugitive) and adapted by Wolf Mankowitz (Casino Royale)
• One of the last and most successful films of acclaimed British director Basil Deardon (Dead of Night, The League of Gentlemen)
• The film that launched Diana Rigg (Emma Peel of TV's The Avengers) to international stardom
• A steampunk spy adventure for fans of Penny Dreadful, Kingsman, and Charade - Mary Poppins meets Monsieur Verdoux

Press Quotes

Fused with the capable talents of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden picture emerges as a somewhat unusual and clever comedy. Handsome use of both extraordinarily fine interiors and interesting exteriors in London, Paris, Zurich, Vienna and Venice, which give added zest

     —Variety

High spirited comedy in well-appointed period settings... a black comedy of bombs and bloodless murders, carried out by well mannered characters in genteel settings

     —Cinema Essentials

The Assassination Bureau has style

     —Vincent Canby, The New York Times

The Assassination Bureau has a lot going for it... talent both in front of and behind the camera

     —JEFFREY KAUFFMAN, Blu-ray.com

The Assassination Bureau is a clever action-adventure film sure to endear itself to any fan.

     —ADAM KAUTZER, The Movie Isle