This film by Sheldon Reynolds is not a bad thriller. It has the advantage of Joan Hackett as the female lead. Two years before she had made a big impression in Sidney Lumet's THE GROUP and here she is, aged 29, being a charming love interest for the tough investigator Patrick O'Neal in a high-octane thriller set mostly in Switzerland. Vicious people keep killing non-vicious people, something called 'the way of the world'. Herbert Lom is a real bad guy who orders people to be assassinated with the insouciance of somewhat flicking ash from a cigar. Poor Peter van Eyck does not last long. Oskar Homolka is a Swiss police chief who bides his time. John Gielgud plays the ultimate king of the baddies, ensconced in a palatial mansion high in the Alps, enjoying the view and behaving with perfect manners. It is all entertaining stuff.
Review of Assignment to Kill
