12 + 1

The scene in the theater where Orson Welles plays Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is funny. Sharon Tate is sweet, but not as great as in "The Wrecking Crew." Mylène Demongeot is also funny in a very small role as a prostitute. There is another scene, very short, with Sharon Tate, Ottavia Piccolo and Vittorio Gassman, in bed, which would have been worth developing. Some great actors such as Orson Welles, Vittorio Gassman, Vittorio Di Sica, the English comedian Terry-Thomas, wasted in a sub-mediocre production.

...in an incredibly goofy, obscure, guilty pleasure of a film! I must say I have been entranced by the beauty and mystery of the gorgeous Sharon Tate for a while now, so her presence was what initially led me to seeking out this rare gem. I saw it under the title "12+1", and I must say, if you are a Tate fan this is well worth seeking out. The movie itself is a fast-paced, slapstick comedy set in swinging London and various European countries. Vittorio Gassman plays Mario, a man who sells thirteen antique chairs bequeathed to him by his late aunt to an antique shop in London, where he meets the groovy, blonde-haired honey known as Sharon Tate. However, the catch is that Mario's aunt has hidden a fortune in one of the chairs, and he, along with Sharon Tate's Pat, sets off on journey throughout Europe to find the fortune, all the while a string of mishaps and misfortunes befalls him and his smashing partner in crime. The movie itself is interesting to watch, for its incredibly dated but very amusing sixties atmosphere, corny music, dialogue and the overall goofiness of what Mario and Pat experience while searching for the chairs. Miss Tate seems to be enjoying herself here, and I found her to be incredibly witty and sexy in what would sadly be her last motion picture appearance. Highlights, besides Miss Tate's delightfully comical performance: Miss Tate's breasts popping out unexpectedly in several scenes, Miss Tate having a wet t-shirt contest, a screeching uber-queen named Jackie frolicking through a field of flowers singing, "I've got the chairs, I've got the chairs!", the Jekyll and Hyde play sequence with Orson Welles as Markau, with Vittorio Gassman hamming it up while trying to get his hands on one of the chairs: "I'm JACK THE RIPPER!", plus, Mario paying money to "have sex" with one of the chairs, among numerous other moments of hilarity in this obscure classic. This is one of those numbers that is likely to never receive a DVD release, so get your hands on the ultra-rare VHS as soon as possible!

Barber in New York City inherits his great aunt's estate in Europe, but arrives only to find a run-down residence and thirteen matching chairs. Upon selling the chairs to a local antique store, he finds a note telling him that one of the chairs holds $100K under the yellow upholstery. Would-be screwball farce is missing most of its screws, however the cast is intriguing. This served as the final film of actress Sharon Tate before her murder in August 1969; if the movie is no longer very funny, at least we get a good look at this beauty near the end of her life. Tossing off quips and jumping into pools and beds, Tate is very frisky and cute, but hasn't much of a character to play. The narrative is so gloppy, we can't even be sure how other mercenary players find out about the hidden treasure, and lead Vittorio Gassman doesn't have the loose body language needed for an arms-flailing farce. Portions of the film are well-directed, though with so much cutting, over-dubbing, and globe-trotting, it isn't any wonder the picture leaves viewers exhausted and unsatisfied. ** from ****

I found this film delightful. It is frantic and fun but somewhat uneven in it's pacing. Vittorio Gassman is quite good as the poor schmuck who unknowingly gives away a fortunate hidden in one of thirteen chairs, and Sharon Tate is delicious in her role as the antique dealer. Had she lived, she may well have made it as a light comedian. It was quite surprising to see Orson Welles in this light comedy. His performance is more understated than the other two stars, but still quite good.

Long unavailable, you can now (2011) buy this on DVD in an Italian release. No English subtitles but if you play the Italian subtitles you can work out what is happening. I wanted to see it for two reasons. First, I'm trying to watch all the various film versions of Ilf and Petrov's 1920s Soviet novel The Twelve Chairs. The plot - a man inherits a set of dining room chairs with jewels stashed in one of them, and a frantic chase ensues to find the right chair after the set has been dispersed - has been used various times, most notably by Mel Brooks in 1970. Second, the bizarre international cast seemed to indicate this was a really classic instance of international co-production of the type so common in the late 1960s. I was particularly interested, as a British viewer, to see stalwarts of 1970s British TV in an Italian-made film. What would the results be like?

After years of waiting, I was not disappointed.

In no other film will you see:

Willie Rushton declare his love for an ultra-camp Tim Brooke-Taylor - in dubbed Italian

Tim Brooke-Taylor camping it up with, in separate scenes, Orson Welles and Vittorio de Sica

Welles play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as if in a pantomime

Terry-Thomas as a lorry driver.

Mylene Demongeot as a prostitute quite happy to hire out her chairs for men to make love with.

And so on and so forth. The film is typical of the late 60s kaleidoscope approach to film-making - throw every bizarre ingredient into the mix and see what happens, a la the original Casino Royale. But this film, while wildly dated, still entertains in a giddy sort of way, because it's fast-paced, there are no boring passages and you never (and I really mean never) know what will happen next.

If you like late 60s cinema, then this is a crucial watch. It is also valuable to watch if you are a student of British comedy, as you get two different comedy traditions - an older one music hall represented by Terry-Thomas on the one hand, and a newer TV satire one embodied by Rushton and Brooke-Taylor on the other - playing out in the context of an Italian film. It's really interesting to watch this if you are interested in the history of British comedy. I am pretty sure that no film historians writing such a history have included Twelve Plus One, but it deserves at least a side mention of British actors being used for international co-production purposes. The results are odd but fascinating.

I should also note that Ms. Tate is charming and certainly at the most beautiful I have seen her in any film. The tragedy of her early death is underlined by watching this film, where she does seem hugely magnetic. You do get a sense of why Polanski fell for her in real life.

Overall, Twelve Plus One is well worth seeing. It is a perfect time- capsule of what European films were like in the late 60s. It has a silly charm that still works today - in fact, the film may play better now, at forty years' distance, than it did when it was first released.