Assault on a Queen

Nothing special about this one..Sinatra doing his usual under-acting, but Anthony Franciosa is usually interesting, and Virna Lisi is one of the great Italian beauties of the 1960's. Alf Kjellin and Richard Conte are decent actors, but this one drags about half the time. A 5 out of 10.Best performance = Mr. Franciosa.

Films like this were common in the mid-60's and Sinatra never seemed to have a clue. Sorry Frank! Anything with Virna Lisi as the main female is always worth checking out. Simply gorgeous with intelligence and a great voice. There's not much else to recommend it and there are no surprises.

Assault on a Queen offers an intriguing, albeit far-fetched, caper on the high seas. To say "far-fetched" is a bit of an understatement really. Clearly all of the scenes underwater were shot in a pool (you can clearly see the sides of the pool). In addition, the scenes towards the end of the film are almost laughable. Still, since this film was not filmed with our modern technology, its understandable that some of these features are not up to snuff. However, there are far too many holes in the plot to make up for the lack of sophisticated filming. From the timetables used by the crew to the strategies to the final scene everything is just too hard to believe. The acting does not enhance the film either, making each character a bit predictable and wooden.

Pros: Incredibly interesting narrative idea. Cons: Tired acting, unbelievable plot and low quality stunts. 5/10.

Frank Sinatra starred in two memorable heist movies in the 1960s. The first was Ocean's Eleven (1960), which brought the Rat Pack together for a film that Sinatra is said to have remarked "Forget the movie. Let's do the heist!"

The second was sci-fi writer Jack Finney's Assault on a Queen (1966). Despite its mediocre rating here on IMDb, it's actually a fascinating film marred only by rather cheap special effects (Sinatra's diving scenes look like they were shot in a backyard pool) and the sometimes ridiculous Rod Serling script. "She's so deep in my gut we breathe together" is the worst line, and one that Sinatra must have needed more than a few drinks to articulate.

Meanwhile, Virna Lisi appears as little more than eye candy in the film, and Anthony Franciosa's character is rather repugnant and oily. However, there are some good scenes with Sinatra and fellow Rat Pack member Richard Conte, and the movie would have benefited greatly if their two characters had been given more time together.

It's definitely worth watching, and Sinatra's acting is great as usual despite the weak script.

This movie is the perfect entertainment for everyone who likes either ships, U-Boats and/or Frank Sinatra... Although the main story is nothing but a fantasy plot, the movie works out pretty well. Mainly because of Franky's outstanding performance and some interesting dialogue. Don't miss the 'crushing' climax...

This movie has some heavyweight names among its writing team .The script is by Rod Serling -he of The Twilight Zone fame-and it is based on a novel by Jack Finney ,whose book Invasion of the Body Snatchers has given rise to some fine movies.This is probably the most mainstream movie they have been associated with -and a pretty poor one it is too.

Sinatra had made a big hit with the caper movie Ocean's 11 and probably assumed another heist movie would ring the box office chimes too .Sadly ,this movie lacks even 10% of the qualities that made the earlier picture so successful -plausibility, a good support cast and a decent director The Queen of the title is the Queen Mary and Sinatra and his gang -Richard Conte ,Tony Franciosa ,Virni Lisi and Alf Kjellin plan to rob it and steal the money ,jewels etc of its well heeled passengers .The heist involves first raising a U-Boat once commanded by Kjellin from the bottom of the sea and then using it to board the liner

The acting -Kjellin apart -is dire ,the direction by Jack Donahue is so anonymous as to be non-existent and the whole enterprise is dead in the water . It is likely to interest Sinatra lovers ,sea movie nuts and Anglo-phobes while others -especially those in search of entertainment -are advised to look elsewhere