The Girl Who Was Death - Recap

At a cricket match, agent Potter is acting as scorekeeper and removes a pair of binoculars from a bag and spots an attractive woman dressed in white. He also watches the bowler, Colonel Hawkes, who winks at him in acknowledgement. The bowler knocks his ball into the nearby bushes as the woman in white slips away and replaces the ball with one of her own. The next swing the bowler takes, the ball explodes. The woman in white watches from the treeline.



The agent known as Mr. X (Number Six) is back in action and reads a headline about Hawkes' death. He contacts Potter, disguised as a shoeshine man, and asks what Hawkes was up to. Potter explains that Hawkes was on the trail of a crazy scientist, Dr. Schnipps, who has been building a super rocket to destroy London. Hawkes was trying to find the rocket. Potter gets a call on his shoeshine brush and tells Mr. X to go to a record shop, booth seven, to speak with the Chief. As he leaves, Mr. X is unaware that the woman in white is watching him from a store window, posing as a mannequin.



Mr. X goes into the record shop and receives a special album. He goes into a soundproof listening booth and puts on the record, which gives him his mission to find Schnipps' rocket and take over where Hawkes left off. Mr. X plays on the same cricket field as the woman in white watches. Again she substitutes a stray ball with her own and Mr. X spots the substitution. The woman in white watches from the sidelines but Mr. X catches the ball and throws it into the woods where it explodes. He chases after the woman but finds nothing but a handkerchief with an invitation to meet at a local pub. He goes there and orders his usual from the waitress, Doris. He finishes off his drink and sees a note in the bottom: "you have just been poisoned." Thinking quickly, Mr. X orders seven different drinks and finishes them off in rapid succession to make himself sick and vomit out the poison. As he runs for the restroom, the woman in white steps past him.



As Mr. X cleans himself off, he pulls off a towel with a message suggesting he go to the Turkish baths around the corner. As he relaxes in a steam cabinet, the woman in white emerges from an adjacent cabinet and locks him in, then puts a transparent helmet on his head to trap the steam. Mr. X begins to overheat but manages to free himself and emerges, fully clothed. He examines the booth the woman was hiding in and finds a message directing him to a boxing booth, and a cryptic reference, "who would be a goldfish." Mr. X arrives at the booth and brushes past an old woman: the woman in white in disguise. The announcer presents Killer Komanski to the audience and introduces Mr. X as Mr. X. Mr. X is quickly ushered into the ring and the woman in white slips away to the side. As they spar, Killer Komanski directs Mr. X to the Tunnel of Love and explains an unknown lady gave him the message. Killer Komanski drops Mr. X, who later rides the boat in the Tunnel of Love. The woman in white watches from hiding and then gets into the boat and tells him not to turn around. She says she's beginning to love him as a worthy opponent, and he's passed her first tests. She tells him he'll be hearing from him again and he turns to find a transmitter, which he tosses into the water... and it explodes.



Outside at the carnival, Mr. X spots the woman in white heading for the Water Chute. He follows her in and takes a car to the top to spot her. As it descends, he spots the woman in white and pursues her through the park. He finally gets into the ride next to her only to find it's the wrong woman. He spots her again on a roller coaster and he leaps on, only to find that it's a photographer's model and her angry boyfriend. The woman in white is on the ground below and Mr. X pursues her. He spots her again but, seeing the photographer, realizes it's the model and leaves... except it's actually his target. She kisses the photographer and then departs in a car. Mr. X follows after her in a high-speed pursuit through the countryside. She broadcasts a message of love, promising him he'll die superbly, and then twists him around on the road, making him dizzy. She finally pulls off at Witchwood, an abandoned town. Mr. X investigates and finds shops belonging to a candlestick maker, a baker, and a butcher. The woman in white calls out to him on the loudspeaker and informs him that her name is Death. She says her father is busy with his rocket and didn't want to play gooseberry. She tells him his reflexes can't save him and he smashes into the shop where she thinks she is. An automated machine gun opens fire and he crawls under it to disable the mechanism. Death continues to taunt him and talks of how her father will be recognized as a god when London is destroyed. Mr. X takes the gun and shoots his way into the next room only to find a dummy with a balloon for a head. He falls through a trap door and catches the edges with his gun as he dangles over a bed of spikes. The electrified spikes start to rise and Mr. X grabs a wooden drawer and pulls it down below his feet.



Death is impressed as he climbs back up and shoots out a loudspeaker. She warns him that the rest of the floor is mined... and they'll all explode in 90 seconds anyway. He grabs a steam pipe and climbs across the floor, then smashes his way into the candlestick maker's shop. The burning candles are Death's special invention, with a cyanide derivative mixed in the wax. Metal shutters seal off all the exits. As Mr. X starts to choke, she warns him that if the candles are blown out, they explode. He uses a candlesnuffer to test her claim and discovers it's true. Mr. X quickly improvises and places racks of candles next to a shutter, then takes a bellows and blows out the candles from a distance. The explosion blasts open the shutters and he runs into the street. Death is waiting for him in a bell tower with a machine gun. He flees into a garage as she says she doesn't want to kill him anymore and invites him to join her and her father. He drives out in a bulldozer and uses the scoop as a shield. She switches to a mortar rifle and then grenades and finally disables the bulldozer. Next she fires a bazooka at him, blowing up the bulldozer. After checking her make-up, she departs by helicopter... unaware that Mr. X took refuge in the sewer. He emerges and follows her to a helicopter, then clings to the bottom as she flies away to meet her father.



Death flies to a lighthouse and takes an underground passageway and Mr. X follows. He finds an elaborate secret headquarters and a bunkroom decorated with pictures of Napoleon and Josephine. Hearing a noise, he hides as a man in napoleonic garb, a marshal, climbs down from the lighthouse. Mr. X knocks him out and takes his costume. Meanwhile, Schnipps reviews his men above in the lighthouse control room. Death is there and Schnipps asks if she's sure she killed Mr. X. Death, his daughter Sofia, assures him that Mr. X is dead. Schnipps explains his plan to destroy London. Below, Mr. X knocks out another marshal in the armory and sabotages all the rifles and grenades. Another marshal comes down and Mr. X easily knocks him out. Above, Sofia activates the countdown for her father and Schnipps explains that they'll leave by boat and conclude the operation from the sea. He notices the missing marshal and sends the others down to find him. Mr. X hears them coming down and feigns ignorance, then attacks them. He climbs down the side of the lighthouse and they take the rifles and go after him. Mr. X runs for the boat and stops for them to open fire, and all the guns backfire, killing them. He returns to the lighthouse and goes to the control room, but Sofia is waiting for him.



Sofia ties up Mr. X, who asks where the rocket is. He realizes that the lighthouse is the rocket, and Sofia promises he'll go up with it when it launches. Father and daughter depart by boat to watch from sea. As they pack Schnipps' records, Mr. X pulls the top off the chair he's tied to and frees himself. He sabotages the controls and then flees to the top of the lighthouse, and uses a stolen rope to climb down the side and get to the boat. He departs and Sonia and Schnipps come outside only to discover that Mr. X is leaving. Sofia throws the grenades at him, only to realize they're sabotaged and the handles are rigged to explode. Mr. X departs as Schnipps, Sofia, and the lighthouse are blown to pieces.



In the Village, Number Six finishes telling his bedtime story of how he saved London to a nursery with three children. He puts them to bed and promises to come again tomorrow. Number Two, who looks like Schnipps, is watching from his office in the Green Dome and scorns the idea that Number Six might have dropped his guard around children. Sonia, in a Village uniform, admits it was worth a try. On the monitor, Number Six wishes the children... and anyone watching, a good night.




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