What's Up, Tiger Lily?
by Senkichi Taniguchi
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Eisei Amamoto, Frank Buxton, Joe Butler, Mie Hama, Steve BooneDirector: Senkichi Taniguchi
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-15
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: American International Pictures (AIP)
Movie Reviews of What's Up, Tiger Lily?
Movie Review: An enduring gem. Very atypical Allen, but worth it anyway
Summary: 5 Stars
`What's Up Tiger Lily' is a puzzle in Woody Allen's body of work. On the one hand, it is such a creampuff I expect it's primary value is as material for the question on daytime `Who Wants to be a Millionaire':
Which 1960's folk-rock band was featured as performers on Woody Allen's `What's Up Tiger Lily'?:
A. The Byrds
B. Buffalo Springfield
C. The Lovin Spoonful
D. The Mamas and the Papas
The answer, Meredith, is C. Final Answer.
An even more difficult question is who, exactly directed the movie, who wrote it, and who filmed it. Woody Allen's name is above the title on the front, yet he gets no credit as writer, although it is pretty obvious that he was the primary writer of the English dialogue you see on the screen. He also makes brief appearances in mock interviews where he is credited with the idea of the movie and with the dialogue.
There is virtually nothing in common in this film, released in 1966, with Allen's first full time actor / writer / director work, `Take the Money and Run', released in 1969 and produced by the usual Rollins and Joffre team. American International, the B-movie studio of Saul Arkoff whose stock in trade was cheap second-rate movies and imports, released this movie, of all things.
I must say that I rarely agree with blurbs on the front of DVD jackets, but I really think there is something to the statement `The film that began America's laugh affair with Woody Allen. Funny then, funnier now!'. Remarkably, aside from the very `60's act by the Lovin Spoonful, there is virtually nothing in the movie that dates it. Some of the parodies apply as effectively to the latest `Lethal Weapon' opus and, even more amazingly, to `Kill Bill' as it does to the cheap spy / martial arts Japanese movies of the 1960's.
The stated premise of the movie is that the American producers (Allen is credited as an Associate Producer) took the film of a cheap Japanese flick and put their own dialogue into the Japanese characters' mouths. The transplant works so well, I almost find it hard to believe this is what they really did. While I recognize some of the names of the dubbing actors (Louise Lasser, for example), I recognize nothing on the screen, and, no credit is given for the Japanese actors, writer, director, cinematographer, or gaffer. I guess this was all part of the deal with the Japanese producer that they got the raw film with no credits given.
I also happen to agree with the blurb from Leonard Maltin who says this is `...One long, very funny joke'. In a sense, for all the parodies done by both Allen and Mel Brooks, this is probably the one from Allen that is most similar to Mel Brooks' style, where the whole premise becomes part of the joke.
I must warn those to whom this is important that all the bad things you see about the filming of movies in the 1950's and 1960's is true of this flick. There is none of the great Gordon Willis cinematography, let alone any of Allen's high talent guest lensmen such as Sven Nykvist or Carlo De Palma.
Allen fans should not pass this up as they may with `Casino Royale' and `What's New Pussycat', where Allen is simply paying the rent by acting in these high cast comedies.
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