Kennwort Kätzchen (1963) Online

This movie has gotten terrible reviews. Leonard Maltin called it "juvenile" and "pure camp" as did T.V. guide.

I saw it for the first time when I was about ten years old. I have never forgotten this movie, and it stands in my mind as one of my most beloved childhood movies. (So I supposed the "juvenile" is appros.)

This movie is fresh and fun. If you loved movies such as "The Trouble With Angels" or The "Tammy" series, for you this is a must see. Or if you're a Sandra Dee fan, you'll enjoy Kathy Dunn as Candy.

A young diplomat's daughter tries to play grown up as a spy. Of course she gets in over her head. And watching her get out of it is all the fun. Enjoy!!!!

I'm amazed I've found this movie, and that others remember it! A great flick I saw when I was young. Even then it was over 20 years old and it was still intriguing. The dark nature of the film would not be allowed for children to view these days... a shame. The movie focuses on a boarding school with a group of teenage girls, each representing a different country. The girls encounter dangerous villains and uncover secrets while having to use their cleverness to stay alive (from what I remember). It's a fun, unique film that has brought together the genres of thriller, mystery, and "family," if one would ever think it possible.

I wish I could find it on DVD these days. It really brings me back.

Several decades later, I still remember it, and wish it were on video or dvd. William Castle had a unique ability when it came to putting children in dangerous adult situations. His other film that comes to mind here is "Let's Kill Uncle," about a 12 year boy whose life is in dangered by his charming, cunning, financially challenged, ex-spy uncle. I think the bad reviews are a reflection of the fact that the film is hard to catagorize. As a pre-teen I found the idea of a group of young girls from different nations and cultures saving the world very appealing. Kinda fit in with my devotion to the Man From UNCLE.

Well this is a weird one. Interesting but weird. A mix of a Gidget type of teenage comedy with a spy spoof. Not sure why it's so hated. Leonard Maltin gave it a BOMB rating, for crying out loud. That's completely unfair. It's a cute and harmless little bit of fluff with some funny moments, especially early on. I liked Kathy Dunn and Lynne Sue Moon. Maybe people hate it because it's from William Castle and has a misleading title that makes it sound like a horror movie? I don't know. Admittedly the fun and cuteness of it wears off after awhile. When it seems to take its spy plot seriously is when things get a little dull. But it picks back up towards the end. I didn't think it was bad at all. Ignore the overly harsh criticisms and judge it for yourself.

I saw this movie in the early 70's. I remembered the movie was about 13 girls and one of them had a cat. She played quite the little detective and got into some real misadventures. Leaving her mark as Kitten by dipping her cat's paw in ink. I loved it and would like to get my hands on it sometime soon. Great movie for young kids into detective suspense stuff. I'm glad I found this site because finding this movie has been a monkey on my back for over 20 years.

At a European school for diplomats daughters, Candice Hull (Kathy Dunn) is the American among a wide assortment of nationalities (more than thirteen, none of whom are frightened, despite the title). To help her friend keep his job as a spy, she secretly begins feeding him intelligence.

I have this film as part of thew William Castle Collection, a series of his 1960s horror films. "13 Frightened Girls" is not horror, has no real stars to speak of, and as already mentioned does not have thirteen frightened girls. What it does have is a very juvenile approach to Cold War espionage.

From the beginning, there's commie humor - with the Russia and China girls calling each other "comrades". And we find out that Red China apparently kills people and hides bodies in the embassy's kitchen, with no consequences. In fact, despite all the threats, death and illegal action, no one ever seems to hold anyone at fault. In a sense, it turns espionage into a kind of joke -- the threat of death is played down, even after a foreign spy is murdered. Candy never fully realizes what danger she is in, even when it's really obvious.

There's other oddities. There's an old man seduced by 16-year old Candy, though she ultimately fails. And the film has colors "like a Fauvist threw up all over the place", in the words of another reviewer. I wouldn't have made that connection, but sure enough... Henri Matisse could very well have painted the film cels.

The rumor is that Castle launched a worldwide hunt for the prettiest girls from 13 different countries to cast in the film. Oddly, none of them, even star Kathy Dunn, went on to do anything in the movie business. I'm not sure what this says about the film... how does everyone get overlooked? Anyway, the film is interesting. Not Castle's best work, probably not his worst. But if you want to see something outside the realm of PG-rated horror from Castle, this is the one you want. Geared more towards young adults, but enjoyable for anyone who wants to see a very unique perspective on Cold War spying.

The quick pitch: Candy, the daughter of a US diplomat, uses her position at an all-girls' school to spy on her friends' fathers and the goings on at their respective embassies. What at first seems like harmless fun goes horribly wrong when a Chinese assassin is sent in to put a stop to Candy's shenanigans.

I wouldn't call 13 Frightened Girls all that good, but I wouldn't call it all that bad either. The film kind of feels like Disney took a stab at making a Eurospy film. I could easily see someone like Hayley Mills in the title role. It's all harmless enough fun, but it does lack any real bite. Even when lead-girl Candy is in danger, you know it'll all turn out all right. Take the scene where the Chinese baddies are searching for Candy in the room full of suitcases. It's downright silly. However, I don't think the film is the disaster some reviews would have you believe. I think the movie gets a knock because of the marketing, the title, and the William Castle name. It's nowhere near as lurid or suspenseful as the trailer or poster art would have you believe.

A couple of other things: First, I got a kick out of seeing Alexandra Bastedo (who would later appear in The Champions) in the background as "England". Second, I'm really surprised to see that Kathy Dunn didn't have more of a career in acting. Whether you like the movie or not, I think Dunn did an outstanding job as Candy.

As a producer William Castle was known for his outlandish gimmickry. In this the film delivers, although anemically, compared with Castle's best gimmicks, like Illusion-o, and Percepto. In this film he first put together an international search contest for the girls who would play the titular characters, and even made a different opening scene for each girl, all of whom represented their home country, with the exception of the Chinese and Soviet girls who had to be cast, (for you young people, in those days there was this thing called the Iron Curtain) as well as the seemingly well-groomed lead. Those alternate openings were presumably shown in their home countries only, as Americans only saw the one in which our girl was featured. The gimmickry continues with the addition of the Danger Card, with its scratch and win scenario. As this was a spy movie I am sure better concepts could have been developed. I think Castle was just busy on too many projects and this one got less gray matter devoted to it.

As a director, even by the standards we use to judge other Castle films, this one is not so good. As in Ed Wood's classics bad script writing, bad dialog, poor acting do nothing to sell the drawn out and preposterous plot line. It's 007 (with the inherent sexual innuendo)meets Nancy Drew (with its fresh-faced accidental intrigue). I guess it could have worked somehow, but it just doesn't in this case. Come to think of it the whole spy kid genre has been a bit of an underachiever.

See it for the strangeness of it. 3 of 10.

I had wanted to see this movie for a long time, since I had found William Castle's other movies to be offbeat in each of their own way, and because the Leonard Maltin movie guide said that this movie was a camp classic waiting rediscovery.

To be sure, the movie does have its share of unintended laughs. Take the title for one thing - it's wrong! There are actually FIFTEEN girls in the movie! And only one of them ever gets into a state that would be considered "frightened". There's other stuff like the hysterical scene when a cat jumps into the frame... despite the scene taking place inside of a dumb waiter! Then there's the fact that the sixteen year-old heroine at one point tries to seduce a man more than twice her age (you wouldn't see that in a movie made today.)

But I found most of the movie to be quite a bore. It takes forever for the story to seriously start, and there are plenty of breaks in the "action" along the way. There's not much for the actors to do, which may explain why almost all of the thirteen - oops, I mean fifteen! - girls are forgotten about for almost all of the running time. It's no wonder that this Castle movie has been mostly forgotten and only just recently been released on DVD. I can imagine that because of that, in the near future there will be more disappointed user comments from people who have wanted to see this for a long time.

I just discovered who William Castle is, and even though I've seen and loved Rosemary's Baby, which he produced, I wanted to see the B-movies he's famous for, and this turned out to be a good start.

The movie is about an American teenage girl who goes to a boarding school for the daughters of diplomats. When the spy who works for her father, and she has a crush on is in danger of losing his job, she decides to use her connection to the international students to gather Intel and secretly complete his missions, thus becoming a super spy called the kitten. It's an absolute great premise that was flushed out brilliantly by William Castle.

Interesting concept to the movie is the fact that a girl went to such great lengths for a man she has a crush on. Usually it's the other way around in these types of movies, but Castle was ahead of his time with this concept cause not even in today's film making do you see many stories like that. I feel like I'm almost insulting Castle by saying it's the greatest Disney movie they never made, but in all honesty, this is the movie that Disney should have made. Although they would have to change a few scenes as there are times when in her "missions" it looks like she's going to get raped or murdered and she also causes the death of another spy. So maybe it should not be a Disney movie because part of the charm is the fact that we are shown vividly what a dangerous game this little girl is playing, and Disney would screw that up.

Another interesting concept of the movie is that in a time when espionage was all about cool gadgets and cool dudes, the movie was more realistic of the concept. Wally Sanders, the spy Candy The kitten was crushing on is just a regular guy whose job was to gather Intel, though he did use microfilm, which feels outdated when you can take a picture on your cell phone, he was no James Bond by far, except in the eyes of a teenage girl.

Don't let the title fool you. 13 Frighten Girls! Was a title given to cash in on William Castle's status as a Horror Icon. This is relevant with the trailer that makes it seem like a movie about 13 girls trapped in a school being terrorized by enemy agents. In fact, the only other girl with an actual role to play in this movie is Mai-Ling, Candy's friend whose uncle is a Chinese diplomat, which would automatically make her an enemy during the 1960s, but the two girls manage a friendship despite. See it was made for Disney.

My advice to you is to go see this movie before someone at Disney reads this and decides to remake it. This way, when it comes out and it sucks you'll be able to tell everyone it's not better than the original.

Unlike most of William Castle's films, this one is filmed in beautiful Eastman Color--and looks like a high quality 'A-Picture'. Well, despite the look of it and polish, it is anything but an A movie--unless A stands for 'asinine'.

This film starts off with a scene that really didn't make any sense and was poorly done. In a kooky start, the school lets one of the teenage girls from the finishing school drive the bus--and naturally, things go wrong. What sort of idiots would let a 16 year-old and very inexperienced driver drive a bus filled with their students? And, to make matters worse, the road appears to be in California (due to the geography). According to IMDb, the school is supposed to be in Switzerland, but it didn't look like that ever. But, then, how did they get from Switzerland to London? It just 'happens'! What gives?! Talk about sloppy film making.

From London, we see that this is supposed to be a kooky comedy about precocious teenage girls who are all daughters of diplomats of all nations--and it focuses in particular on the American teen. The problem is that the dialog is pretty awful and never sounds real. For example, when many of the girls from this multinational school talk, they do lengthy expositions--explaining their back stories in a manner that sounded really fake. People DON'T talk that way in real life. Also, each of the teenagers is a walking stereotype---there is nothing subtle about them in the least. Talk about sloppy. There is nothing particularly subtle or adult about this film. It's clearly aimed at the Gidget and Frankie/Annette crowd and probably was never intended for a wider audience. If it was, then that's pretty pathetic due to its amateurish dialog, plot and putting so much focus on a rather annoying little girl. Think about it--the fate of the free world depends on THIS girl! Boy, are we screwed!

By the way, note the tennis game. Neither girl ever moves more than a step or two and the Russian girl appears never to move at all as they bat the ball back and forth! Talk about a strange style of tennis! This and other odd mistakes (such as the ice that is mentioned in the revealing mistakes on IMDb and the obvious dummy that is thrown off the balcony) are surprising--usually William Castle directed smarter than this. This one is just sloppy.

For adults, I'd rate this movie a 2--it's hard to enjoy and you'll often find yourself rolling your eyes at the dumbness of the film; for kids and teens, I'd rate it a 6 and it's akin to a made-for-TV Disney movie.

Finally, this is on the same DVD as 13 GHOSTS from a set of Castle films. Despite 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS being a rather dumb film, the DVD print is great and the special features are excellent. In fact, you might just want to see 13 GHOSTS and the special features and skip this film!

Brainless teen shenanigans produced and directed by William Castle, who seems to miss the ghosts and goblins of yore! Daughters of the world's leading diplomats (all schoolmates at the same institution) converge on London for a getaway, but the American girl gets more than she bargained for after a party at the house of her Red Chinese comrade--she finds a dead body in the freezer, stabbed with a letter-opener from the desk of her own father. Wide-eyed nonsense won't fool anyone who has outgrown "Nancy Drew". The production isn't bad, but Castle's direction is leaden, and the adults in the cast look properly embarrassed. * from ****

I had a Friday afternoon off, so to relax I turned on the Turner Classic Movies channel and saw that a film called "13 Frightened Girls!" was about to come on. I had never heard of it, and from the title it sounded like it might be a cult-favorite B movie directed by somebody like Roger Corman. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a Cold War era spy flick with lots of hot girls from 1963. Innocent though, mind you; the film has a strong feel of the way live-action Disney movies like the original "That Darn Cat!" used to be, except this is a Disney-like movie where people actually get killed!

Our sixteen-year-old heroine, Candace "Candy" Hull, reminded me of what Nancy Drew would be like if she opted to be an amateur international spy instead of an amateur detective. The film seems aimed at the age group that would enjoy reading Nancy Drew books, but it has material that adults can enjoy too. As for the reference to thirteen girls and why they are frightened, the beginning of the movie takes them on a very dangerous bus ride, but an even greater reason for their fear is not revealed until near the end. Most of the plot deals with the exploits of Candy and her Chinese friend Mai-Ling as they probe the liquidation of a foreign agent, then attempt to prevent a revolution, and that's just for starters. Interestingly, the part of Mai-Ling's mysterious uncle is played by Khigh Dhiegh, later known for his recurring role as the archvillain Wo Fat in the original version of the television series "Hawaii 5-O".

The film seemed uneven in a few places, but not enough to interrupt my involvement in the story. I was just relaxing, wasn't trying to pick it apart and suspended disbelief, so I had lots of fun with this movie and I'm very glad I was given the opportunity to see it. It's from a different era and doesn't fit with today's jaded mind-set, but for those who appreciate values beyond those of our present culture, watching this film just might be eighty-nine minutes well spent.

This is a fun, tongue-in-check espionage movie, similar to the campy Disney flicks "That Darn Cat" and "The Moon Spinners". Even the production style and cinematography are similar. The main difference is that the Disney movies have more polished story-lines with better actors.

The protagonist is Candy Hall, a teenager who attends an all-girls school for daughters of diplomats around the globe (hence the frightened girls). While visiting the embassy of one of her girlfriends, Candy witnesses a murder and so her life of a spy begins under the assumed name of "Kitten"...

Because the movie does not take itself seriously, the horrible acting and outrageous antics provide non-stop comedy. Clearly, this movie was not intended to depict genuine political intrigue or high drama, and if this is what you are looking for, then stick with movies like the "Bourne" franchise. It's the random scenes (the careening bus, the pouncing cat, the tennis match, etc.) that provide unexpected comical elements. So if you want entertaining 60's style fun and camp, this movie is perfect.

This is a fun movie for the reasons other reviewers note--the action and suspense, the silly idea of the diplomat's daughter becoming a spy, the bright colors. But the "action" scenes are beyond ridiculous; "Kitten" escapes from dangerous situations by the most unbelievable luck. In one scene, for example, she's drugged and wakes up supposedly paralyzed by the drug. But when the baddie tries to throw her off the balcony, with one feeble hand she manages to pull him up, over the balcony, and throw him below. Umm, how? In another scene, she's chased into a room by two baddies, screaming at the top of her lungs, but a moment later she's crawling around behind the furniture and they can't find her! It's completely absurd, but the movie gives no nod to how silly it is, just plunges forward.

13 Frightened Girls! (1963)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Director Castle would end up having two strange pictures released in 1963 with this being one and the other being his extremely poor remake THE OLD DARK HOUSE. This film here isn't quite as bad but it's certainly ever bit as strange. The film starts off at a boarding school in Switzerland where the thirteen girls of the title, all daughters to diplomats, get on a bus and head for London. Once there, the American girl, Candy (Kathy Dunn) expresses her love for the much older agent (Murray Hamilton) who is on the hot seat with her father (Hugh Marlowe). To get her crush back in good standings, the teenage girl uses her brains and body (!?!) to gather information. This is an extremely bizarre little film that certainly deserves to be forgotten even though it does contain a couple interesting things. I guess the best way to sum this film up is by thinking of Nancy Drew in a Disney movie surrounded by the weird Cold War themes that you'd see in some drive-in picture. The film gets off to a rather strange start as we see the teenage girl going into the office of the much older Hamilton and pretty much throwing herself on him. She ends up throwing herself on a couple other men throughout the movie and considering this film is aimed at kids, seeing that type of thing was certainly rather strange. Dunn does a pretty good job in the film as she's certainly cute and charming enough to pull off the role. Hamilton and Marlowe just go through the numbers as does the rest of the cast members. The entire film doesn't work for one main reason and that's the screenplay, which is all over the place and never really makes too much sense. The movie runs 89-minutes, which really drags at times because there are countless scenes that really don't go anywhere. Fans of Castle might want to check this out but they're bound to leave disappointed.

Director William Castle supposedly held an international talent search to find the 13 talented actresses to play the 13 Swiss boarding school students which caters to the children of diplomats. All 13 girls(led by Candance 'Candy' Hull, played by Kathy Dunn) get involved with spies who are after their parents. They also are from various countries, and have their own way of doing things. Can they help their important parents and escape certain death? Strange film doesn't seem to know what it wants be, or what tone to carry. Is most definitely a curio, if little more. Not as bad as Castle's previous two pictures, and not quite the BOMB Leonard Maltin claimed, this is still pretty poor.

Or "Secret Agent Miss" or even "The Spy Who Annoyed Me". The puns could just keep coming for this messy farce. If you are the type of person who avoids taking buses or subways during school rush hours, then find an alternative movie in addition to a way home, for this film will just grate on your nerves and possibly leave a ringing sensation in your ears of all this teen-aged girl chatter.

It all focuses on an American teenager (Kathy Dunn), the daughter of an American diplomat (Hugh Marlowe) in Paris who uncovers a murder and turns amateur spy. This 16 year old Jane Bond isn't as much annoying as she is nosy, and the storyline is simply absurd. Using the code name "Kitten", she sends pop Marlowe notes (cut out of course from magazines and newspapers) to assist him in breaking this spy ring. To make matters even worse, Marlowe discuses "Kitten" and other confidential in front of her.

There are some nice William Castle touches (the cat jumping out in a dumb waiter Dunn is maneuvering her way around in; The revelation of who one of the spies is and how Dunn manages to get away from him) but it is mixed with 90% absurdity. Then there is the mix of the other 12 girls, actually never presented as "frightened", just juvenile. Played by representatives of a dozen other countries, some of these actresses seem more late college age than high school boarding school age. Veteran character actress Norma Varden is totally wasted as the school proprietress.

Murray Hamilton plays Marlowe's assistant, the object of Dunn's affections and the only one in on "Kitten's" true identity. It really is embarrassing to watch Dunn throw herself at this 30-something man, even knowing that he's already in love with pretty Joyce Taylor.

I just pray that some current filmmaker doesn't see this film and decide to update it to today's technology obsessed teen crowd, giving these thirteen girls cellphones, I-Phones and I-Pads to be even more annoying (let alone reading spy instructor manuals on a kindle). Just wait until you see the ending (if you make it that far) which combines the conclusions of "Sister Act" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie", but minus the laughs of these classics.

I have recently found it on video, probably a pirate copy but none the less.... I remember vividly sitting in a dark theatre with my folks and the theatrical trailer for this came on the screen. A bus full of SCREAMING girls goes careening around a mountain road and I believe the windshield gets smashed or something as shocking to my young mind. Thats all I remember and for the longest time i thought the title was 13 SCREAMING GIRLS! When I finally came across the pirate video, I was somewhat disappointed that it was more of a spy thing than a haunted house kind of thing. Check out the superior Castle film I SAW what you did (and i know who you are). Now, that 's a film that delivers what this should have.

This William Castle B-film is all dressed up in luscious Eastman color and looks expensive enough to be called an A-film. But it's not.

The cast is headed by KATHY DUNN (extremely coy performance as a sixteen-year-old girl with a major crush on MURRAY HAMILTON). Seems she's a diplomat's daughter and housed in an embassy with other girls from various countries, all supposedly privy to some top secret information--and some of them on spy missions.

The script is full of lame dialog, the acting is below par--even for a William Castle film--and the story only shows signs of life toward the last fifteen minutes. By that time, most viewers will have turned off the movie or lost their attention span completely.

Insufferably bad acting from LYNNE SUE MOON as Mai-Ling is no help and she has a key role. NORMA VARDEN brightens things up considerably in a minor role as the head mistress of the school for girls.

But nothing really helps. Bad script and dull acting makes for a poor film. MURRAY HAMILTON is the only cast member to give a professional performance. HUGH MARLOWE is completely wasted.

I recently had a chance to see this.I personally love this for what it is a unique movie made in a serious time that gets to present a world serious topic in a most amazing way and keep it blending all elements of movie making!A really fun how its going Who Did It? Who's It? plot!As said on a serious topic well blended! Since I was watching this on Fearnet OnDemand I was wondering why they were showing such a cool bright and cheery movie and how it was going to go as far as presenting mad-slasher blood & guts,I can see how a few key scenes that seem like it, I don't want to ruin it by description!even though I give spoiler alert, were taken into other movies and followed through so as elements of seriousness were presented I thought this is amazing and intriguing that its bright and cheery and serious macabre at the same time and funny! I also loved how it kept up to seem like everything is OK and done and then...I love this well done movie as to itself and what it does, entertain and present a serious subject with some others that wouldn't be touched today!As well be presented so ingeniously! I can see where many other movies copied later to now! This is a well-done movie and I would recommend it for itself as is and its historical contents! It should be noted that the format of movie about diplomats daughters and politics has actually taken place and that even Stewardess's back then in there teens were used as couriers and spy's just like the Pan Am TV series address's with one of its Stewardess's!Also International Models too! So as far fetched as it sounds it happened!It was actually daring of Castle to get to present this topic in such an entertaining fun way in the early 60's! I love the looping tie-ins in this movie if you have never seen it it will surprise in as said its cool blending of different elements and emotions on a serious subject! Although there are 15 girls for critics 13 sounds better for effect and there are only 13 girls left at a certain place before movie ends! Kathy Dunn is very appealing and has the best scream I've ever heard and lends itself to making the mood get serious for bloody murder!I also wish I could have her come out of screen as she's a real Barbie Doll for a girlfriend!

I do not think every thing from the 60's is cheesy. I do not think Gold finger is cheesy. I do not think Dracula has risen from the grave is cheesy. I do not think Son of Godzilla is cheesy. I think some new movie are cheesy. And I think this is cheesy. This is about and all girl school. And one the sixteen year old girls becomes a spy. This is a movie were the characters make decisions for no reason. The only reason is the writes think they should do it. This movie is badly written. It is also badly acted. I do not know what to think of the characters at all. Do not wast your time. Do not wast your money. Do not see this movie.

I cannot believe people actually reviewed this movie as an adult movie. William Castle really put one over on anyone who thought this was for grownups. It is obviously aimed at kids and teenagers. Castle appears on screen in the theatrical opening and tells you to keep the little card you were handed as you entered the theater. After the movie ends, Castle appears on screen again, tells you to moisten the card, and if the word "danger" appears, hand your card to the manager, who will give you a prize. This gimmick alone screams "kids." The young girl actresses, the absurd story, the "cute" factor, everything about this movie is obviously directed (pun intended) at kids. If this were an adult movie I would give it one star (actually, zero, but there is no zero). As a kids and teens movie, I've seen much better, but I suppose it at least deserves four stars. The only thing that really amazes me is the fact that William Castle would make such a movie at all. To win a bet?

The third successive effort in the William Castle canon to veer from his successful gimmicky Horror formula was, despite the catchpenny title (incidentally, this being especially evocative of the director's popular but disappointing 13 GHOSTS {1960} and the film under review itself having received the dreaded BOMB rating from Leonard Maltin, I was quite wary of it to begin with!), the most drastic one since, unlike its predecessors – the two Tom Poston vehicles ZOTZ! (1962) and THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1963) – it did not feature fantasy elements at all. Indeed, it disparately combines the then-prevalent Cold War espionage sagas and "Beach Party"-type youth movies in a fairly enjoyable concoction with a decent, second-tier cast: leading man Murray Hamilton(!) as a secret agent, Hugh Marlowe as the U.S.' ambassador for Great Britain and Khigh Dhiegh as his "Red China" counterpart.

Marlowe's teenage daughter (Kathy Dunn) is the heroine of the piece, a student at a Swiss girls' college expressly reserved for the offsprings of international diplomats. However, these just want to hang out with boys – and only the protagonist and the Chinese girl within the group, curiously chummy (even if the latter is shunned by most of the others) seem to have other interests. Still, Dunn herself is besotted with Hamilton, her father's top agent but whose 'performance' has slackened of late and is being threatened with outright sacking! This actually sets the main plot in motion, as the girl determines to help him from behind the scenes in tracking down a defecting foreigner – who, as it turns out, she runs into just being eliminated at Dhiegh's house (the latter being uncle to Dunn's Chinese friend). Further romantic complications abound: Hamilton is in love with his closest associate, dubbed "Soldier" (Joyce Taylor) – while, for plot purposes, Dunn romances a succession of teenage boys away from a 'nymphomaniac' colleague…though one of them, whom she realizes is a spy, turns the tables on her and almost offs her from a balcony! Dunn's swift and successful undercover work earns her the name "Kitten" and the anonymous agent is thus sought by all sides – with the oblivious Marlowe urging Hamilton, now back in his superior's good books, to reveal his identity to him…and, when ultimately exposed, even the Reds decide to keep it quiet as they would not want it known that they were given a hard time by a mere child!

The film, then, has much of the fun quotient one associates even with Castle's "frightfests" – though, in this case and as with his other comedies, it descends more readily (if perhaps too often) into silliness! The director had obviously channeled Hitchcock before; here, he was unashamedly imitating his durable (and highly influential) comedy-thriller formula. Tellingly, having embraced monochrome for his first clutch of horror efforts, with this and the afore-mentioned THE OLD DARK HOUSE, Castle turned to colour – hoping, perhaps, for a more mainstream appeal – only to revert back to type for his next three straight genre outings and, then, stick to colour for his sparse remaining output!