THE FUNNIES: MOVIE ADAPTATIONS OF FAMOUS COMIC STRIPS

Prince Valiant by Hal Foster

THE FUNNIES: MOVIE ADAPTATIONS OF FAMOUS COMIC STRIPS

This week Great Old Movies looks at films and serials that were based on famous newspaper comic strips (as opposed to characters who first appeared in comic books, such as Superman). These characters -- Prince Valiant, The Phantom, Dick Tracy, Terry Lee (of Terry and the Pirates) and Smilin' Jack -- may all have wound up in comic books later on, but they first appeared in daily and/or Sunday newspaper comic strips. To my knowledge, Prince Valiant, the Phantom and perhaps Dick Tracy are still being published today in certain newspapers.

Anyway, this week we examine two Dick Tracy serials; the cliffhanger adventures of Terry and the Pirates and Smilin' Jack Martin; Robert Wagner in the stunningly-produced Prince Valiant with James Mason as the bad guy; and the equally well-produced The Phantom of 1996 with Billy Zane in the title role. 

DICK TRACY SERIAL (1937)

Fred Hamilton, Ralph Byrd and Kay Hughes

DICK TRACY (15 chapter Republic serial/1937). Directors: Alan James; Ray Taylor.

The famous cartoon strip character first appeared on the big screen in this Republic serial starring Ralph Byrd, who would be forever after identified with the character (although at least two other actors also played the role). In this cliffhanger Tracy matches wits with an unknown club-footed figure known alternately as the Lame One or The Spider, since he heads a so-called "Spider Ring" of criminals. With the help of the Lame One's twisted scientist ally Moloch (John Picorri), the Lame One operates on Tracy's brother, Gordon (Richard Beach), and turns him evil, as well as changing his features (he is then played by Carleton Young of Double Deal) so that even his own brother doesn't recognize him. Gordon and his associates fly about in a wide, stylish aircraft known as the Wing, and each week come up with another sinister scheme that Tracy manages to smash after nearly being killed. Tracy is a Federal agent in this and his main assistants are handsome Steve Lockwood (Fred Hamilton) and secretary Gwen Andrews (Kay Hughes of Radio Patrol), who is much more than a secretary and is a scientist who provides her boss with important information. We also have Mike McGurk (Smiley Burnette) and Junior (Lee Van Atta of Undersea Kingdom), who are meant to be comic relief but are more often merely tiresome. Byron Foulger makes an impression as a brave if terrified guy who goes up against the Spider to his regret. The Spider uses a ring to burn an insignia into the forehead of his victims, an idea also used by the famous pulp magazine character, also known as the Spider. Highlights of the serial include the Bay Bridge nearly being destroyed by sonic waves in chapter one; Dick's small boat nearly crushed between two huge ships in chapter three; Dick dropping from the bottom of one plane to land neatly into another far below in chapter four; and Dick being pulled underwater by a submarine because a rope has been tied around his ankle. By the time we learn the true identity of the Lame One, you'll probably have forgotten who the guy is! Dick Tracy is a long but entertaining serial, but the best was yet to come. It was followed by Dick Tracy Returns, Dick Tracy's G-Men, and the best of all, Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc.

Verdict: Nice intro to Dick Tracy on the big screen. **3/4.

DICK TRACY RETURNS

Charles Middleton as Pa Stark 

DICK TRACY RETURNS (15 chapter Republic serial/1938). Directors: John English; William Witney.

This follow-up to Dick Tracy has our hero (Ralph Byrd), an FBI agent instead of a cop, battling the vile villainy of Pa Stark (Charles Middleton of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe) and his five evil sons, each of whom has a criminal specialty. Over the course of fifteen chapters, Stark and his gang pull off a bank job (in which new agent, Ron Merton -- played by David Sharpe -- is murdered on his first case); try to grab an important lens from an observatory; steal special government planes; get their hands on a dangerous torpedo boat; and work with a foreign agent named Boris Zarkov (Walter Mills). Tracy is joined by agent Steve Lockwood (Michael Kent), and gets help and sometimes interference from comedy relief Mike McGurk (Lee Ford) and young Junior (Jerry Tucker); Lynne Roberts is cast as Tracy's efficient secretary, Gwen. The highlights of this exciting serial include an unconscious Tracy being put in a car that's sent hurtling down the levels of a parking garage; Tracy being thrown out of a plane with a sabotaged parachute; a huge tower falling on a rooftop where Tracy and an enemy are in heated combat; and especially the thrilling sequence when two trains rush towards each other on the same track even as Lockwood is handcuffed to the top of one of the cars. Byrd is perfection as Tracy and Middleton is great as Stark. His "boys" don't get much of a chance to make an impression, with the exception of Ned Glass, who plays the trigger-happy "Kid Stark." Followed by Dick Tracy's G-Men and the superior Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.

Verdict: Byrd vs Middleton is a winning combination. ***. 

TERRY AND THE PIRATES SERIAL

Jeff York (aka Granville Owen) and William Tracy

The art of Milton Caniff

TERRY AND THE PIRATES (15 chapter Columbia serial/1940). Director. James W. Horne.

In this cliffhanger version of the famous newspaper comic strip, young Terry Lee (William Tracy) goes off to find his father, Dr. Herbert Lee (John Paul Jones), with the aid of his buddy and his father's assistant, Pat Ryan (Jeff York, aka Granville Owen, of Li'l Abner). As they search for Dr. Lee, the two men find themselves embroiled in a conflict between an evil half-caste named Fang (Dick Curtis) and his followers, and the mysterious Dragon Lady (Sheila Darcy of Drums of Africa), who presides over her subjects in a cavern headquarters. Fang seeks to control all of the natives in the area, as well as the white settlers, and is after a treasure that he thinks Dr. Lee can lead him to. Lee is only interested in the scientific achievement of locating a lost race. Other characters include Forrest Taylor as Allen Drake, and Joyce Bryant as his daughter, Normandie -- both actors also appeared in The Iron Claw serial --  while Fang's despicable henchman, Stanton, is played by Jack Ingram. Connie, a diminutive Asian fellow, is charmingly played by Allen Jung -- and looks much less like a caricature than he did in the strip -- and the unfortunately-named Big Stoop is essayed by Victor DeCamp. During the fifteen chapters, Terry, Pat and the other good guys must contend with Fang's army of leopard men -- who wear hoods and striped robes -- as well as an agitated and nasty gorilla named Bobo (Jack Leonard). Pat is nearly beheaded by a High Priest (John Ince), Terry nearly eaten by gators, and both are endangered by walls that slowly move in to push them into a pit full of spikes. One of the best cliffhangers has the boys trapped in another pit that is rapidly filling with water.

Terry and the Pirates is a consistently lively, amusing, and exciting serial, but it is far below the level of the comic strip and much less serious. In the comic strip, the Dragon Lady is a beautiful Eurasian who heads a group of modern-day pirates, but in the serial she has been reduced to a fairly pretty white lady who rules a standard lost sect. At 23, William Tracy is far too old to play the boy Terry -- Jeff York was only five years older -- and has to compensate with some "gee willikers" expressions and a high-pitched screech when they are in trouble. Years later he played another recurring role in the Terry and the Pirates TV series. Dick Curtis is actually good as Fang, but unfortunately he is saddled with a voice characterization that makes him sound like an Oriental parody in a bad sitcom, Asian by way of the Borscht Belt. Jeff York is suitably handsome and heroic and more than competent as Pat. Lee Zahler has contributed a very effective score.

In the strip, writer-artist Milton Caniff -- who eventually left the comic to do Steve Canyon, for which he controlled the rights -- aged Terry until he became an adult and Pat Ryan's role was diminished and possibly eliminated. I don't know if Pat was actually Dr. Lee's assistant in the comic, and believe it is more likely that Terry was an orphan, with Ryan acting as his mentor.

Verdict: Frankly ridiculous at times, but also fun and fast-paced. ***. 

THE ADVENTURES OF SMILIN' JACK

Jay Novello, Tom Brown, Marjorie Lord, Rose Hobart

 THE ADVENTURES OF SMILIN' JACK (13 chapter Columbia serial/ 1943). Directed by Lewis D. Collins and Ray Taylor. 

Columbia turned the popular aviation comic strip The Adventures of Smilin' Jack into a serial in 1943. In this exciting and action-packed cliffhanger,  Jack Martin (Tom Brown) is working in China just before the U.S. entry into WW2.  Mah Ling (Cyril Delevanti of The Night of the Iguana), the governor of Handan, a province of China in the Himalayas, knows the secret route of a passage into India which would be helpful to the allies. The Japanese group, the Black Samurais, a division of Axis Espionage, is anxious to get this secret as well. The Samurais are under the uneasy control of a German agent, Fraulein Von Teufel (Rose Hobart of Conflict), who is better-known to the allies as "Trudi Miller," a war correspondent. We learn early on in the serial that Trudi is a ruthless double agent, but neither Jack, his friend, Tommy (Edgar Barrier), nor his sister, Janet (Marjorie Lord), are aware of this. It seems that in every other episode the evil Fraulein is reminding Kageyama (Turhan Bey) that she is in charge of the Samurais despite the fact that she is German. Philip Ahn is Wu Tan, the loving aide to the elderly Mah Ling; Keye Luke is Captain Wing; and Sidney Toler is cast as the Chinese general, Kai Ling. The ever-versatile Jay Novello is a cast stand-out as the Japanese saboteur Kushimi, and David Hoffman [The Creeper] also scores as the weasel-like Blenker.  With his pudgy face and kind of geeky voice, Tom Brown is hardly perfect casting as the sleek, handsome Smilin' Jack, but his performance is okay, while Lord and Barrier are adept enough in somewhat pointless secondary roles. Rose Hobart, on the other hand, while lacking the viciousness and sensuality of Carol Forman of Black Widow, is quietly effective and quite venomous as the steel-hearted Fraulein, and pretty much walks off with the serial (even if she is saddled with a highly unflattering headpiece). At one point the Fraulein suspends Jack in a net in the water below a trap door, even as the tide comes in and sharp floating spikes rise up higher and higher toward his back. Tom also plunges out of a plane to find that his parachute won't open, and is locked into a leaky box that is thrown into the river. In two of the best cliffhangers, a clipper ship holding our hero and friends crashes into the ocean, letting in gallons of rushing water; and a Japanese sub with Jack and the others aboard is rammed by a huge ship that is also controlled by Jap agents. An amusing aspect of the serial is that Mah Ling seems to take forever to make up his mind to give up the secret of the Mandan route and comes up with one obstacle after another to prevent him from divulging it. With the participation of such actors as Hobart, Luke, Toler, Bey and others, Similin' Jack has a better and better-known cast for a serial than usual. 

Verdict: Decidedly one of the better Universal serials. ***. 

PRINCE VALIANT

Robert Wagner

PRINCE VALIANT (1954). Director: Henry Hathaway.

Hal Foster's newspaper comic strip Prince Valiant  -- which debuted in the late 1930's and is still published today -- was given lavish treatment by 20th Century-Fox with Technicolor and CinemaScope. Valiant (Robert Wagner of Titanic) is the Viking son of the exiled King Aguar (Donald Crisp). Hoping to restore his father to his throne, Val travels to the court of King Arthur, where he hopes to become a knight. Arthur (Brian Aherne) tells him that he must be a squire first, and he is   assigned to Sir Gawain (Sterling Hayden of The Star). Valiant falls in love at first sight with the beautiful Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh of Psycho), but, alas, Gawain falls instantly in love with her himself even as her sister, Ilene  (Debra Paget) pines for him. An added complication is a sinister and mysterious Black Knight, who has men who are loyal to him and wishes Arthur's throne for himself. Prince Valiant is a beautifully-produced movie which boasts one of Franz Waxman's richest and most  elaborate scores, as well as exquisite cinematography from Lucien Ballard. The performances are fine, and James Mason -- although this is arguably not one of his more memorable roles -- adds a nice touch as Sir Brack, who may have a few secrets (none of which will be surprising to the audience). In its early years the Prince Valiant strip had fantastic elements such as sorcery and monstrous giant beasts, but by the fifties the strip was more realistic and the film adaptation follows suit. There is, however, a well-choreographed and fiery battle scene, and a splendid and protracted sword fight between Val and Sir Brack. Ultimately, how much you enjoy the movie depends on how much you like the time period and the comic strip. Prince Valiant was never my cup of java, but the movie is still impressive in many ways.

Verdict:  Beautiful production values and not a bad story. ***.

THE PHANTOM (1996)

An exciting moment from The Phantom

Lee Falk's comic strip

THE PHANTOM (1996). Director: Simon Wincer.

The Phantom, whose real identity is Kit Walker (Billy Zane), is the 21st in a long line of masked and costumed white heroes in the African island nation of Bengalla. Now that his father (Patrick McGoohan) has been murdered, Walker has taken on the mantle, which means he must temporarily walk out of the life of his lady love, Diana Palmer (Kristy Swanson) -- until she is kidnapped. The Phantom's main adversary is Xander Drax (Treat Williams), who employs a beautiful mercenary and pilot named Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who in turn leads a whole gang of lady pilots. In addition to Drax, and his nasty  henchman Quill (James Remar of Blink), the Phantom must also contend with Kabai Sengh (Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa), who runs an infamous and long-lived Brotherhood that operates out of an elaborate hideout in a cave on a mysterious island. Both Drax and Sengh are after three metallic skulls which will create a tremendous energy force when joined together, but both men need to be careful what they wish for ... The Phantom is based on Lee Falk's long-running comic strip (still published today), and is a highly entertaining and well-produced adventure film, although some of the plot points -- especially those concerning the skulls -- are over-familiar and never quite work. But there are some outstanding and thrilling action scenes in the movie, especially one in which The Phantom tries to save the life of plucky little Zak (Chatpong "Jim" Petchlor) as they dangle from a rope bridge that is falling to pieces after the heavy truck they are riding in crashes through it -- this is as good as anything in any classic cliffhanger. Billy Zane is fine as the Phantom, while Treat Williams [Deep Rising] tries to play in a jaunty style that doesn't really work that well, although Zeta-Jones scores as the sexy good girl/bad girl, Sala. Kristy Swanson [Deadly Friend] is pretty and competent but makes much less of an impression in this; she's primarily a television actress. Patrick McGoohan of The Prisoner only appears as a ghost.

I originally saw this movie in theaters and pretty much forgot about it, although it is certainly a worthwhile picture, with striking settings (from Africa to Manhattan to the Bermuda Triangle), a rich score by David Newman, and superb cinematography by David Burr. Perhaps my ho-hum reaction at the time was due to my comparative disinterest in the main character, and the fact that the plot could have used a little work. Still, this is a notable comic strip movie, well-directed by Simon Wincer.

Verdict: Believe it or not, this is better than the cliffhanger serial, The Phantom, ***. 

MOVIE COMICS: PAGE TO SCREEN; SCREEN TO PAGE

MOVIE COMICS: Page to Screen; Screen to Page. Blair Davis. Rutgers University Press; 2017.

This is one of a number of books on the subject of film adaptations of comic strips and comic books since the 1990 publication of my Comic Book Heroes of the Screen. Movie Comics is an intelligent and well-researched look at even older strips (my book concentrated on super-heroes) including Mickey Mouse and other Disney cartoon characters. Davis looks, in turn, into comic books that were inspired by individual films, or just by The Movies themselves. Davis examines such strip-into-films as Skippy, Li'l Abner, Dick Tracy, Joe Palooka, and Prince Valiant, and comic book-into-films (and TV shows)  such as the Superman TV series with George Reeves and The Adventures of Captain Marvel serial, among many others. Davis can occasionally be accused of being painfully obvious in his assertions -- typical of academic books -- but unlike many academic books Movie Comics is readable and accessible as well as informative.

Verdict: Engaging and pretty thorough look at its subject if not necessarily the last word. ***.

TAILSPIN TOMMY

TAILSPIN TOMMY (12 chapter Universal serial/1934). Director: Lew Landers.

Air enthusiast Tommy Tompkins (Maurice Murphy) of Littleville is given the nickname "Tailspin" by an aviatrix named Betty Lou Barnes (Patricia Farr). Proving his ability as a pilot, Tommy gets a job delivering mail by air, and distinguishes himself with his acts of bravery. Wade Taggart (John Davidson) runs a rival company and tries to wipe out Tommy with acts of sabotage. Finally, the young man comes to the attention of Hollywood, who casts him as -- what else? -- a pilot in their aerial adventure film " Midnight Patrol." Based on Hal Forrest's comic strip, this is a kind of creaky old serial but the flying scenes are still fairly exciting, and there are some good cliffhangers involving crashing aircraft, a well-done earthquake, a train hurtling toward a chasm where the bridge has collapsed, and Tommy being dragged behind a plane as he dangles from a rope. The serial temporarily becomes a bit weird with a sequence in which Tommy and Betty Lou find themselves in an old mansion where a mad scientist traps them in a room with electrical dynamos. Noah Beery Jr. [The Three Musketeers] plays Tommy's intellectually challenged friend Skeeter, and others in the cast include William Desmond, Grant Withers, Dennis Moore, and the never-young Walter Brennan in a bit.  Maurice Murphy makes a pleasantly boyish and enthusiastic Tailspin. He had been acting since the age of ten, and amassed 57 credits. Followed by Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery in which Murphy was replaced by Clark Williams.

Verdict: Not an especially memorable serial but it has points of interest. **1/2.

RADIO PATROL

Rentschler, Hughes, and Withers

RADIO PATROL (12 chapter Universal serial/1937). Directors: Ford Beebe; Clifford Smith.

"He acts like he knows something." -- Policeman Pat, referring to the dog. 

Scientist John Adams (Harry Davenport of Pardon My Past) has invented a formula for flexible steel which could make planes impervious to bullets and have other amazing uses. When Adams is murdered, the chase is on to not only find out who killed him, but keep the formula out of the hands of the bad guys. Cops Pat O'Hara (Grant Withers) and his partner Sam Maloney (Adrian Morris) join up with Adams' young son, Pinky (Mickey Rentschler); Molly Selkirk (Kay or Catherine Hughes), whose brother is at first accused of the Adams' murder; and Pinky's smart-as-a whip and spirited doggie, Irish (Silver Wolf). Bad guys include the sinister Egyptian, Tahata (Frank Lankteen), and slimy entrepreneur W. H. Harrison (Gordon Hart). Early on in the serial there are a couple of good cliffhangers -- Pat nearly winds up in a smelter furnace; and is almost smashed by a crushing door on a hydraulic hinge --  but other than that there's not much to recommend in this comparatively dull cliffhanger. Withers was in The Secret of Treasure Island, Jungle Jim, and other serials. Adrian Morris, sort of a Charles Laughton-lookalike, was the brother of Chester Morris. Beautiful Silver Wolf had only three film appearances. This serial was based on the comic strip of the same name; "Pinky," a youthful protagonist, came from "Pinkerton, Jr.," the original name of the strip. [In the the opening sequence a crime wave occurs and it is noted that the cops need radios in their cars to keep up with the bad guys; otherwise there is no real "radio patrol" in the storyline.] Withers and Morris also appeared together in the terrible serial Fighting Marines.

Verdict: When the dog is the most interesting character -- and actor -- and it isn't a Rin Tin Tin movie, you know you're in trouble. **.

LI'L ABNER (1940)

Pansy washes Pappy and Salome the pig together

LI'L ABNER (1940). Director: Albert S. Rogell.

"Pappy, you are the most ignoramus creature I ever did see!"

"That's the code of the hills!"

In the hillbilly mountain village of Dogpatch, Li'l Abner Yokum (Jeff York aka Granville Owen) tries to avoid the clutches of the gal who loves him, Daisy Mae (Martha O'Driscoll of Henry Aldrich for President). But when Abner mistakenly thinks he's got one day to live, he decides to get engaged, but there are complications. Wendy Wilecat (Kay Sutton) also has her eyes on him, and he wants no part of weddin' anybody once he realizes he isn't really doomed. So his fate will be decided on Sadie Hawkins day, when the two gals will race to see who can land him first. Both his Mammy, Pansy Yokum (Mona Ray), and Pappy, Lucifer Yokum (Johnnie Morris), do their best to help their boy behind the scenes. Jeff York certainly resembles the beautiful-but-dumb Abner, and he isn't bad in the part, although it could be argued that he's not exactly a skilled comic actor. [That same year he played Pat Ryan in the serial Terry and the Pirates, and did a lot of TV work thereafter.] Billie Seward is fine as Daisy's cousin, the sexy "Delightful," and Maude Ebern is as fun as ever as Daisy's Granny Scraggs. Buster Keaton has a small role as the Indian Lonesome Polecat. The movie has some amusing scenes, such as a bath Pansy gives to Pappy and their pig Salome at the same time, and there's a tiny little bit of suspense during the Sadie Hawkins Day race, but all in all this isn't a very memorable movie. Al Capp's Li'l Abner was again made into a film 19 years later and if memory serves me well it wasn't all that much better. 

Verdict: Love that pig! **.

BRENDA STARR, REPORTER

The big-faced gal is kidnapped

BRENDA STARR, REPORTER (13 chapter Columbia serial/1945). Director: Wallace Fox.

Based on the comic strip by Dale Messick, this has plucky reporter Brenda Starr (Joan Woodbury) involved with the assorted players in a quarter million payroll robbery. Lou Heller (Wheeler Oakman), just released from prison, refuses to tell anybody where the money is; after he's killed his twin brother turns up. Frank Smith (George Meeker) is the gang leader who reports to an unseen "Big Boss." Brenda alternately works with and gets in the way of Lt. Larry Farrell (Kane Richmond). Billy Benedict is the dizzy copy boy, Pesky; Lottie Harrison is Brenda's economy-sized roommate and cousin, Abretha, who is always either eating or preparing dinner; and Syd Saylor is the photographer, Chuck. An interesting aspect of the serial is that the cliffhangers aren't always resolved at the opening of the succeeding chapter but a few minutes into it. Richmond and Woodbury, a real big-faced gal, are fine, and most of the supporting players are competent, but Brenda Starr, Reporter is a very minor-league serial with standard cliffhangers, a pretty weak plot, and colorless antagonists. Not one of Columbia's gems.

Verdict: Quite a disappointment. **.

BRUCE GENTRY

BRUCE GENTRY 15 chapter Columbia serial (1949). Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr.

"As a last resort, use your brains."

Tom Neal, most famous for the film Detour, plays the comic strip "daredevil of the skies" in this Columbia serial. Several agents investigating the story of a "flying disc" either crash to earth or disappear. The unseen leader of the sinister group that controls the [cartoon] flying discs is called "The Recorder" because he uses recordings to send messages to his underlings, chief among which is Krendon (Tristram Coffin, the King of the Rocket Men). The Recorder has kidnapped Dr. Benson (Forrest Taylor) and is holding him captive until he tells him all of his scientific secrets. Bruce is hired by Radcliffe (Hugh Prosser), who runs an engineering firm, to investigate the flying discs and find out what happened to Benson. Along the way he is helped by a spunky brother and sister team of young ranchers, Frank (Ralph Hodges) and Nita (Judy Clark, who isn't much of an actress). Highlights of the serial include a plane with jammed controls roaring toward a car with an unconscious Gentry inside in chapter 9; a bit with propellers that nearly slash into Nita in chapter 11; and a sequence in which Gentry's parachute, caught on rocks, begins to unravel strand by strand in chapter 12. Perhaps the most thrilling sequence occurs in chapter 5 as Bruce desperately tries to get Frank out of a car that stalled on train tracks at the end of the previous chapter. While the unmasking of the Recorder may at first seem to make absolute nonsense of everything that went before, it's actually all explained quite credibly in the serial's final minutes. Neal is fine as Gentry and the other performers are generally more than competent. Radcliffe's flirtatious secretary, Louise, is uncredited. Hodges also appeared in the serial version of Mysterious Island in 1951.

Verdict: Practically by the numbers at times, but it has some good moments. **1/2.

MODESTY BLAISE

MODESTY BLAISE (UK/1966). Director: Josey Losey.

It's hard to figure out what Losey and company were thinking when they cobbled together this adaptation of the novels and comic strip by Peter O'Donnell about a shapely thief who goes on assignment for the British Empire. The movie isn't funny or satirical enough to work as a parody, and it is completely devoid of thrills, suspense, and a sense of danger – and hasn't even that much action – so it certainly hasn't the entertainment level of a Bond film. Blaise (Monica Vitti) employs the aid of cockney lover boy Willie Garvin (Terence Stamp) to fight villainous Gabriel (Dirk Bogarde) over some jewels. Bogarde affects such “camp” mannerisms at times that it may be that his character is meant to be stereotypically gay (although a heterosexual Arab has two hunks paint his toenails at one point!), but sometimes Bogarde acts in a more “normal” fashion, so who can tell – or care? Vitti and Bogarde banter well together during a breakfast scene, but the movie boasts not one outstanding sequence. There's an interesting moment when Gabriel's hit-woman Mrs. Fothergill (Rosella Falk) breaks a mime's neck with her knees, but her karate "cat-fight" with Modesty is brief and disappointing. This isn't even as good as an average episode of the British spy parody The Avengers of the 60's. At times it has a Batman TV show (also of the 60's) kind of sensibility but without the amusing aspects. You can miss the moment when Vitti and Stamp break out into song.

Verdict: Nice scenery. *.