In 1944, two American spies (Charlton Heston , Harry Guardino) , disguising as priests , infiltrate German occupied Rome to relay information to HQ but can only communicate via pigeons due to the imposed radio silence . Set behind enemy lines , in order to communicate German movements to the Allies they use pigeons to send messages to an Allied general (Brian Donlevy) , while romancing local girls (Elsa Martinelli, Gabriella Pallotta) where they are based. Things go wrong when the family dad accidentally feeds the pigeons to his family for Easter Dinner. At Last! A Motion Picture That Delivers Fun!."Ben-Hur" Caught without His Chariot! .Fly - don't walk - to enjoy the brightest comedy idea since the invention of two sexes!.It's scandalous! It's spicy! And it has the year's sauciest cast. He is a military-type pigeon, now a sitting duck. He came to make war - and she threw in the towel!.This is a wolf who said "No more love in a pigeon coop."
WW2 light comedy of Charlton Heston as a spy captain , while he grows more and more in love with the daughter of the family he stays with , well played by beautiful Elsa Martinelli . The picture is pretty entertaining and amusing , the film contains funny scenes , a brief intrigue about Nazis , partisans and spies by using carrier pigeons fitted with messages and various chuckles with lots of fun . Humanity and humor are high in the priorities of the director Shavelson who shows a considerable talent recapturing enjoyable situations . Cast is frankly good , the always great Heston , ¨Chuck¨, Harry Guardino , two gorgeous latin girls : Gabriella Pallotta , Elsa Martinelli , the veteran Brian Donlevy , Rudolph Anders as the typical Nazi , Arthur Shields , among others . Special mention for the unknown actor Salvatore Baccaloni at his last film playing a very kind and sympathetic daddy.
This agreeable movie is really marred by a worn-out photography due to
film copy is tarnished and lousy , being extremely necessary a perfect remastering . In fact , there are lots of Roman sightseeing , spectacularly photographed by cameraman Daniel L. Fapp . The motion picture was professionally written and directed by Melville Shavelson but it results to be a minor vehicle for the great Heston. Shavelson's movies have a special penchant for recapturing a particular atmosphere , many of this films are about real people but they remain muted in impact . A notorious screenwriter , Bob Hope -whom Shavelson had originally wanted for the lead- and Danny Kaye features Shavelson's pictures when he became filmmaker and his films with them are the most successful such as ¨The seven tittle Foys¨ , Beau James¨, ¨On the Double¨ and ¨Five pennies¨ . Shavelson's later pictures were made for TV and mostly biographies as ¨The great Houdini¨ , ¨Ike¨, ¨Ike : the war years¨, and ¨The legend of Valentino¨ which remains the best work on the subject to date . Two of the best films turned out to be ¨¨Cast a giant shadow¨ , an epic movie with all-star-cast dealing with the birth of Israel and ¨Yours , mine and ours¨ his biggest hit . Rating : 6/10. The flick will appeal to Charlton Heston fans.
