The Venetian Affair

A U.S. diplomat turns suicide bomber at a nuclear disarmament summit. Why would a respected official go rogue? It's up to ex-CIA operative Bill Fenner to uncover the mystery.

Robert Vaughn's smooth, often playful Napoleon Solo of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." was one of the superspy era's best-known agents, but playfulness takes a backseat to intrigue when Vaughn takes on the role of Fenner for the earnest non-UNCLE maneuverings of The Venetian Affair. Elke Sommer, Felicia Farr, Edward Asner and Boris Karloff are among the players in this trenchcoated tale of Cold War espionage and paranoia based on a book by veteran thriller author Helen MacInnes and flavorfully shot amid the waterways and piazzas of Venice.

In this spy thriller, Robert Vaughn, who then starring on TV's THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., plays Bill Fenner, an ex-CIA agent who is called upon by his former boss, Frank Rosenfeld (Ed Asner), to investigate an apparent murder-suicide in Vienna. An American diplomat exploded a bomb at a peace conference, killing himself and all the attendees. Rosenfeld fired Fenner because his wife, Sandra Fane (Elke Sommer), was unmasked as a Communist. Now Rosenfeld tells Fenner that his wife may have been involved with Soviet agents behind the Vienna incident. Fenner eventually finds Sandra, who is hiding from the real bombing culprit, Robert Wahl (Karl Boehm). The story was based on a novel by Helen MacInnes.