What’s Up, Tiger Lily
Directed by Woody Allen and Senkich Taniguchi
Written by Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, et al
1966/US/Japan
Benedict Pictures Corp./National Recording Studios/Toho Company
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Woody Allen: They wanted in Hollywood to make the definitive spy picture. And they came to me to supervise the project, you know, because I think that, if you know me at all, you know that death is my bread and danger my butter – oh, no, danger’s my bread, and death is my butter. No, no, wait. Danger’s my bread, death – no, death is – no, I’m sorry. Death is my – death and danger are my various breads and various butters.[/box]
Woody Allen’s first film couldn’t be sillier. It made me laugh and that’s all I ask for from a comedy.
American International Pictures bought up a pretty lame-looking Japanese spy film for $66,000 then decided the plot was too complicated for American audiences. Someone came up with the idea of re-dubbing it as a comedy and Woody Allen got the job.
The Japanese film featured lots of violence and female flesh. It involved the search for a secret microfilm. Allen and his friends stripped out the soundtrack, dubbed the film over in English, and added wacky sound effects and a score performed by The Lovin’ Spoonful. The story becomes a spy spoof about the search for a secret egg salad recipe. I thought the one-liners were amusing and was surprised by the explicitness of some of the dialogue.
