Summary
This 1975 spy drama by well-established director Vladimír Čech reflects the regime’s dream of the Czechoslovak intelligence services’ dominance over their slow-witted adversaries from the CIA and West Germany. The story’s protagonist is a communist double agent, Petr Halva, who outwardly acts as a Czech immigrant who is the deputy director of a West Berlin company, Tanass. Tanass is in fact a front for US intelligence, which was infiltrated by Halva 10 years previously when he posed as an apparently reliable agent. However, the seasoned Halva is taken by surprise when his pretended romantic feelings for the beautiful Gitta – played by Ida Rapaičová – gradually become real… Akce v Istanbulu (Operation in Action) is rather inept depictions of the sweet and decadent life on the other side of the Iron Curtain are balanced by a high-calibre cast. Radovan Lukavský performed the lead role in this film adaptation of a book by popular pro-regime author Ivan Gariš, who also penned the film’s screenplay.
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