Cinema: Espionod

Where the Spies Are, true to formula, dares the challenge of trying to keep its tongue in James Bond’s cheek. The setting is Beirut this time, and the man of the Are is David Niven, droll indeed as a middle-aged physician and reckless driver. Photoflash rings, trick fountain pens and the transistor in his lower left molar rather embarrass him. Bribed by British intelligence (running short of certified spies, understandably) with the promise of a Cord Le Baron, Niven flies off to run interference for an oil sheik whose assassination is pending. Among the double-dealers he encounters, none surpass Françoise Dorléac, a wry, loose-limbed French beauty who wafts the spirit of high comedy through a role that would hardly seem worth the bother if a lesser actress played it.