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Modesty Blaise
UK 1966
produced by
Joseph Janni for 20th Century Fox
directed by Joseph Losey
starring Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews, Michael Craig, Clive Revill, Alexander Knox, Rossella Falk, Scilla Gabel, Michael Chow, Joe Melia, Saro Urzì, Tina Marquand (= Tina Aumont), Oliver MacGreevy, Jon Bluming, Lex Schoorel, Max Turilli, Giuseppe Paranelli, Wolfgang Hillinger, Roberto Bisacco, John Karlsen, Aldo Silvan, John STacy, Robin Hunter, Denys Graham, Patrick Ludlow
screenplay by Evan Jones, Peter O'Donnell, Harold Pinter, based on the comic strip by Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway, music by John Dankworth
Modesty Blaise
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Because somebody wants to steal a fortune in diamonds meant for some
Arabian country, and failure to deliver would mean the UK would lose a
sizeable oil deal, the gouvernment hires master thief Modesty Blaise
(Monica Vitti) to counteract the crime. Modesty and her partner-in-crime
Willie Garvin (Terence Stamp) soon conduct some investigations in
Amsterdam and come to the conclusion it must be the work of one Gabriel
(Dirk Bogarde), the only man who's as successful a thief as Modesty - but
much more ruthless. After much to and fro that also includes Modesty being
captured by some baddies but freed by Willie, the two of them see the
diamonds safely loaded onto an airplane and flown to the Arabian country -
and then the plane is shot out of the skies ... Modesty, Willie and
Gabriel of course all have known that the diamonds were never really on
the plane, but on an inconspicuous freight ship, but Modesty and Willie
have decided to now steal the diamonds themselves after their gouvernment
has tricked them - but then they fall into the hands of Gabriel who takes
them prisoners and forces Willie to help in a raid on the freight ship,
then he puts them under lock and key on his own private island. But of
course, even disarmed, neither Modesty nor Willie are out of resources,
and they free themselves in no time, send a signal to the beduin leader of
the Arabian country (who just happens to be a close friend of Modesty),
then shoot their way out until the (beduin-)cavalry arrives to save the
day ... Modesty Blaise is quite simply exquisite to look
at, every shot seems to be carefully composed, the whole thing is
chock-full of pop art designs, the sets and costumes (and Ms Vitti's
always changing hairdo and -colour) are as eccentric as they are stylish,
the overall attitude is decadent but chic, and all this gives the film an
unmistakable and irresistible 1960's aura, as if the film has set out to
drive the stylistic excesses of its era (also think early James
Bond here) to the max. And the characters break into songs in
fittingly the least fitting moments, too. That said, Modesty Blaise
simply isn't a very good movie. Basically it's badly written, most of the
setpieces seem to be interchangeable and are neither narratively motivated
nor do they have effects on the subsequent plot. On top of that, the
characters are not properly set up and remain flat throughout, thus
wasting some top acting talent. And while the film is 100% tongue-in-cheek
in approach, it almost invariably lacks proper punchlines, and thus the
thing totally fails on an emotional level. Still, every 1960's
afficionado will have to see this film - but the emphasis is on
"see" here, there really isn't any depth to this.
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find Modesty Blaise at adultvideouniverse.com
