Puppet on a Chain

A half-baked thriller set in Amsterdam, and wearily flaunting the familiar backdrop of canals and barrel-organs while struggling to extract some excitement from a limp Alistair MacLean adventure about an American narcotics agent (Taube) and a drug ring whose nastiest habit is getting rid of meddlers by hanging them from meathooks. Reeve's direction serves up spasmodic lumps of violence in lieu of suspense, and the one tolerable sequence - an extended speedboat chase through the canals - was contributed by Don Sharp.