Modesty Blaise
by Joseph Losey
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews, Michael Craig, Monica Vitti, Terence StampDirector: Joseph Losey
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-16
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Modesty Blaise
Movie Review: "What's that? Looks like a fish!" Modesty will live forever, despite the best efforts of Gabriel and Joseph Losey
Summary: 1 Stars
Monica Vitti as Modesty Blaise has such a thick Italian accent and such minimal acting skills you're never sure if she's inviting you to her bed or telling you she wants another helping of spaghetti. Joseph Losey, the director, has attempted a comedy thriller along the lines of a Jane Bond knock off. All he and his screenwriter, Evan Jones, have managed to wring out of such a stale idea, stale even in 1966, is lead-foot comedy dialogue, mannered characters which must have embarrassed the actors who played them, and an awkward, ham-handed, swinging style. Not only is what are supposed to be amusing send-ups not, the pace of the movie is as flaccid as a month-old cucumber
Thank goodness Modesty Blaise, as Peter O'Donnell gave her to us, first in his comic strip and then in his novels, is indestructible. She don't need no Joseph Losey or Monica Vitti to bring her to life...just O'Donnell's words and our own imagination.
O'Donnell was asked to write a screenplay based on his popular comic strip character. He did, turned it over to Losey, and watched while the script was re-written, changed, neutered and nudged until he, and just about everyone else, conceded that the caricature of Modesty in the film had almost no resemblance to the smart, shrewd, tough, resourceful woman O'Donnell created. The movie was made and flopped. O'Donnell took his original script, rewrote it as a novel titled Modesty Blaise and the novel was a big success.
Here we have Modesty in awful Sixties styles (and with an awful Sixties soundtrack) hired by British intelligence to foil a plot by the criminal mastermind, Gabriel (Dirk Bogarde, in a performance he probably regretted for the rest of his life). A huge sum in diamonds is in play to secure a middle-east oil deal. Gabriel plans to heist the ice. It will be Modesty and her faithful friend, Willie Garvin (Terence Stamp), against the swish, effete Gabriel and his band of vicious exaggerations, ranging from a mad accountant to a collection of pretty young men. Keep an eye out for Mrs. Fothergill, played by Rosella Falk. She's another lush plate of lasagna, one with thighs of steel and the habits of a psychopathic dominatrix. That's a lotta pasta. Gabriel rather cares for her.
If you're as fond of Modesty as I am, watch this movie to see for yourself the depths to which some creative types fall while confusing their talent with talent. Losey even has Modesty and Willie sing a jaunty partnership song. Vitti and Stamp are not dubbed. They are stunningly awkward. So's the song. The movie is a misbegotten product from the casting to the writing to the direction. I'm giving this movie one star, not because I'm fond of the real Modesty, but because Losey and Jones, with their screenplay and direction, made such a long (nearly two hours), confused, unconvincing and joyless film.
All will not be in vain, however, if you are intrigued by Peter O'Donnell's erotic, original and often violent creation. Start your love affair with Modesty by reading his first novel, Modesty Blaise. You'd have to be a dried, stale old prune not to want Modesty to come to your aid and comfort, with Willie Garvin, her knife-wielding platonic best friend, as back-up for the aid part.
Summary of Modesty Blaise
A pop-art explosion that makes Austin Powers look demure, Modesty Blaise is a bizarre relic from the heyday of Swinging London. Based on a comic book, the movie is strong on psychedelic art direction, long on camp (especially Dirk Bogarde's aristocratic, white-haired villain), and thin on plot--and what plot there is cannot possibly be deciphered. Italian actress Monica Vitti, the ennui-weary star of many Antonioni classics, makes an odd choice for stylish spy Modesty Blaise (a female 007 without portfolio), especially given her uncertain command of English. The gifted director Joseph Losey, not noted for his humor, apes various New Wave techniques in his approach, even allowing Vitti and costar Terence Stamp to warble an off-key song. But the most coherent contribution is the jazzy swing of John Dankworth's score, which you won't be able to get out of your head, even if you want to. --Robert HortonAction & Adventure DVD Video
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