Code Name: Tiger (Le Tigre aime la chair fraîche)

Claude Chabrol directed Code Name: Tiger (original title Le Tigre aime la chair fraîche, “The Tiger Loves Fresh Meat”), a French-Italian spy film from 1964. Counted among the Eurospy pictures of the 1960s, it was an attempt to build a French franchise to rival James Bond. The film was shot in French and runs about 90 minutes.

Roger Hanin stars as the agent Louis Rapière, who works under the code name “The Tiger”. Hanin also contributed to the screenplay, and Jean Halain is listed alongside Chabrol as a writer. The female lead is Daniela Bianchi, who had appeared in the Bond film From Russia with Love the year before. The cast also includes Stéphane Audran, Maria Mauban, Roger Dumas, Serge Bento, Albert Dagnant, Carlo Nell, Marcel Gassouk, Mario David, Dominique Zardi, Henri Attal and Michel Charrel. The story is a classic espionage adventure that pulls its hero into a dangerous mission.

The film makes no secret of its Bond connection: one scene shows the cover of Ian Fleming's novel From Russia with Love with Sean Connery's image on it. It drew enough interest for a 1965 sequel, Le tigre se parfume à la dynamite (English title Our Agent Tiger), which turned Rapière's adventures into a short-lived series.