Eleanora Spado (The Assassination Bureau)

Eleanora (Annabella Incontrera) appears in The Assassination Bureau, a 1969 British comedy-melodrama set
in London and Europe around 1908 as the world moves to what would become the First
World War.
The Assassination Bureau is an organization of professional
hitmen from around Europe. The Bureau is led Ivan Dragomiloff (Oliver Reed) who
is the son of the Russian founder of the group.
Before the founding of the Bureau, assassinations were a very
hit and miss affair. They were often poorly planned and most of the time they
failed. The Assassination Bureau was created as a sort of precursor to Murder*,
Inc. The Bureau murders people for money. The fact that they have no connection
to the crimes that they commit makes it difficult for the authorities to connect
them to the murders. Their murders are well planned and untraceable.
* (Murder, Incorporated a was real organized crime group in
the 1930s and '40 that killed people for money.)
Dragomiloff has working for him a number of trained assassins
from each of the major countries of Europe.
The guiding principle of his bureau from the time of its
founding was that there had to be a moral reason why their victims should be
killed – these have included despots and tyrants.
Sonia Winter (Diana Rigg) is an aspiring journalist and women’s
rights campaigner who has stumbled upon the secret organization.
Sonia lets it be known that she wants someone killed and
that she has the funds needed as payment. She is taken to the secret headquarters
of the Assassination Bureau where the board members are conducting a meeting at
a large round table. Dragomiloff is presiding over the meeting.
Sonia, is allowed to make her case before the group. She tells
the men that she wants to take a contract out on Dragomiloff himself.
Instead of being upset by the proposal Dragomiloff accepts
it as a challenge and tells the other members of the group that he is now fair
game. (Dragomiloff is really using this contract on his life as an opportunity
to get rid of some of his rivals within the Bureau, who are secretly after him
anyway.)
More recently Dragomiloff has noticed that his elder
colleagues have tended to kill more for financial gain than for moral reasons.
Dragomiloff, therefore, decides to accept the commission of his own death and
challenge the other board members: Kill him or he will kill them!
As soon as Dragomiloff accepts the contract on his own life the
Italian board member Cesare Spado (Clive Revill) attempts to kill Dragomiloff
by throwing a dagger. Dragomiloff ducks and knocks out Spado with his gavel.
It soon becomes apparent that Lord Bostwick (Telly Savalas)
the newspaper owner for whom Sonia works wants to take control of The
Assassination Bureau. It was Lord Bostwick that gave Sonia the money to pay for
Dragomiloff’s murder.
Lord Bostwich and his sidekick the Prussian General von Pinck (Curd Jürgens) watch in the shadows as a number of board members make
attempts on Dragomiloff’s life, but fail and are themselves killed.
Dragomiloff ends up teaming up with Sonia who slowly falls in love with him. The pair travel to Italian city of Venice. The home of the
knife-throwing Cesare Spado and his wife Eleanora Spado.
Eleanora is said to be an even better assassin than her
husband. Dragomiloff compares her to the historic femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia.
We are first introduced to Eleanora (Annabella Incontrera) she
is having dinner with her husband who is greedily wolfing down a dessert. The
dessert is poisoned, and he dies. Eleanora is having an affair with a tall handsom gondola man, Angelo (Jess Conrad). 
Angelo man takes the body of Cesare Spado wraps it in a canvas blanket tide with rocks and rope and then rows it out to the middle of one of Venice’s many canals and rolls the body over the side. He then begins singing while Eleanora listens impassionedly from her window to his beautiful voice.
Lord Bostwich and General von Pinck approach Elanora about killing Dragomiloff. Elanora agrees and attempts to poison Dragomiloff with a poison cup of wine. 
Dragomiloff pretends to drink the wine and pretends to die.
Eleanora has her lover the gondola man dispose of the body. Once again he rows
the body out to the middle of the canal but is killed by Dragomiloff. 
Eleanora makes several more attempts on Dragomiloff and Sonia but fails {One of her assissans tries to shoot Sonia but Dragomliff kills him with a ships pully and knocks him into a canal; she tries to convinces Lord Bostwich, General von Pinck, and herself that she has succeeded. She is shocked when Bostwick opens the coffin and finds not the body of Dragomiloff but of Angelo
Elanora foolishly tries to extort money from Lord Bostwich and Von Pinck about the Assassination Bureau activities and pours some wine to toast their future working as a team; however General von Pinck draws his Luger and shoots her dead.
==Trivia==
* The Assassination Bureau was based on an unfinished novel by American writer Jack London. London died in 1916 before the novel was complete and it was many decades later that thriller-writer Robert L. Fish was hired tofinish the book.
* In the movie, Eleanora is said to resemble Lucrezia Borgia. Lucrezia Borgia (1480 – 1519) was a Spanish-Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Rumors about her and her family cast Lucrezia as a femme fatale, who used poison to kill her many alleged victims.
* The story appears to have been partly inspired by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria who was assassinated on 28 June 1914, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This assassination triggered a number of events that led to the First World War. The assassins failed a number of times to kill the Archduke on that fateful day as he and his wife were driven through Sarajevo, a bomb was thrown but it missed their car. Franz and his wife were finally shot at close range after all other attempts failed. This assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was big news around the world at the time when Jack London was writing the story.
==Promo Pics Gallery==
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==Movie Stills Gallery==
Eleanora 01_Gold_Plans to Poison Husbanb.png|Eleanora waits for her devoted husband to eat all the dessert she poisoned
Eleanora 02_Gold_feigns concern for husbanb.png|As her assassin husband dies, Eleanora feigns concern while getting info about the Assassination Bureau
Eleanora 03_Gold_Glee as Husband Dies.png|Satisfaction as she watches her husband finally die
Eleanora 04_Blue_Confident on her plans.png|Eleanora listens on balcony to Angelo serenade her as he sinks her husband in Venice canal
Eleanora 05_Blue_Surpise Interrogation.png|Surprised by visit from benevolent master assassin Dragomiloff who instantly suspects Eleanora of killing her husband (his colleague). He decides to use her for his own ends.
Eleanora Spado_06508_edit.png|Eleanora's evil delight as she is presented with opportunity to kill Dragomiloff to collect bounty and get access to Assassination Bureau.
Eleanora 07_Blue 06_Failed Seduction.png|Attempts to seduce Dragomiloff but fails
Eleanora 07_Blue_Accused of Murder.png|Incensed as she is spurned and accused of murder
Eleanora 08_Blue_Plans to Poison Dragomiloff .png|Eleanora shows her ring to Angelo with plan to poison Dragomiloff's wine glass
Eleanora 09_Blue_Poison Confusion.png|Dragomiloff playfully spins the table with the poisoned wine glass and suggests Eleanora drink 1st (just to screw with her). He then pretends to drink and seemingly dies.
Eleanora 10_Black_Mirror Stockings.png|Thinking she's killed Dragomiloff, Eleanora is ready to to join the Assassination Bureau and dresses for success
Eleanora 11_Black_Mirror Vain 2.png|Admires herself in the mirror
Eleanora 12_Black_Mirror Finishing Touches.png|Final dress and finishing touch with ostentatious hat
Eleanora 13_Black_Ordering Lover Around.png|Eleanora orders her lover around
Eleanora 14_Black_Attemps to Join Bureau .png|Arrogantly applies to be a member of Assassination Bureau
Eleanora 15_Black_Assists in Attempt to Kill Sonia.png|Eleanora's 1st assignment is to assist in the killing of the investigative journalist Sonia
Eleanora 16_Black_Exposed as Failure .png|Sonia escapes out of sight. The Bureau suspects Dragomiloff is still alive and helped her. Eleanora realizes that Dragomiloff used her, and her failure to kill him is about to be exposed
Eleanora 17_Black_Scolded .png|Lord Bostwich scolds Eleanora as he threatens to open Dragomiloff's coffin. He brushes her aside as he passes.
Eleanora 19_Black_Doubting Her Aptitude .png|Eleanora pleads not to open what she now thinks is an empty coffin
Eleanora 20_Black_Coffin Opened.png|Eleanora is shocked to instead see her dead lover in the coffin (killed by Dragomiloff)
Eleanora 21_Black_Returns to Blackmail.png|A humiliated Eleanora returns with a new devious plan...
Eleanora 22_Black_Attempts to Blackmail.png|She blackmails the Assassination Bureau for money by threatening to expose their secrets to the world
Eleanora 24_Black_Overconfident in Plan.png|Self satisfied as she believes the blackmail is successful
Eleanora 25_Black_Blackmail Plan Backfires.png|Her plan backfires as Assassination Bureau deems her expendable
Eleanora 26_Black_Shot .png|Eleanora reacts as the gun goes off
Category:1960s
Category:Adulteress
Category:Assassin
Category:Beehive Hairstyle
Category:Betrayer
Category:Brunette
Category:Conspirator
Category:Corset or Bustier
Category:Deceiver
Category:Failed Seduction
Category:Feathers
Category:Femme Fatale
Category:Garter Belt
Category:Henchwoman
Category:High Heels
Category:Humiliated
Category:Lingerie
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Low Cut Top
Category:Man Kills Villainess
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Poison
Category:Pistol
Category:Sex
Category:Shock of Impending Doom
Category:Stockings or Nylons
Category:Thigh High Stockings
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Vain
Category:Villain's Lover
Category:Demise: Shot
Category:Fate: Deceased
Category:A Taste Of Her Own Medicine