Las flores del diablo

The film begins in Iran where an agent (Stephen Boyd) deals with an opium smuggler (Hugh Griffith) . Later on , two United Nations agents (Trevor Howard, E.G. Marshall) arrive in Teheran airport and reunite with Iranian authorities (Yul Brynner , Omar Shariff , Jack Hawkins). They scheme to chase the smugglers by means of opium full of radioactive element and a 'Geiger counter set' to place it . The colonel (Brynner) along with a riding posse heads desert to crack the opium bandits , as they climb a mountain and attack . After that , the tracks lead to Napoli where encounter the radioactive opium and a suspect named Locarno (Eli Wallach) . Other clues lead to Stromboli club (there fights a wrestler woman , Senta Berger) , a ship commanded by a drunk captain (Anthony Quayle) , Niza , Montecarlo Hall (where sings La Bamba the actor-singer Trini Lopez) and a magnate named Serge Marco (Gilbert Roland) . At the end happens some spectacular struggles into a train ('From Russian with love'-alike).

Trevor Howard and his partner Edgar G Marshall are a couple of hard-noised narcotic detectives who stumble onto what turns out to be one of the biggest opium rings of all time , involving mastermind well played by Gilbert Roland . Trevor Howard's portrayal is good and the teamwork with E.G. Marshall is special . Based on a story outline by Ian Fleming who died before he could complete the script . Production with quite budget by United Nations to get funds for world fight against drug , however did not obtained success at the box office ; furthermore uninterested collaboration of actors and technicians . Colorful cinematography by Henry Alekan , Terence Young's usual, and atmospheric musical score by George Auric . All characters , places and events in this film are fictitious : any similarity to any persons, places or events is purely coincidental and based on an Ian Fleming story , shot on location in Iran , Napoli , Niza, Monaco.

This dope-trade thriller is professionally directed by Terence Young and being dedicated to the memory of Adlai Stevenson, the American politician who was US Ambassador to the United Nations. Terence realized three of the first four James Bond films , as ¨Dr No¨, ¨From Russia with love¨ and ¨Thunderball¨, such successful blockbusters were hard to continue , though he attempted in search of more box office hits . His biggest film was , beyond doubt , ¨Wait in dark¨ with Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna . However , his last period was largely unsuccessful , full of failures and duds as ¨Amazons¨ , ¨Klansman¨ , ¨Blood line¨, ¨ Inchon¨, ¨Jigsaw man¨, ¨Takeover¨ , though some action scenes remained undiluted.

Poppies Are Also Flowers is an all star amalgamation of two previous films on the narcotics trade. Sharp eyed fans of the cinema will spot plot elements from those two Forties era films, To The Ends Of The Earth and Port of New York. Of course both those films were infinitely better.

Still a whole bunch of international stars lent their names and got a fat paycheck for this muddled episodic film which tries to make E.G. Marshall an action star. Talk about ridiculous.

Best in the film by far are Yul Brynner as an Iranian general and Rita Hayworth as the dope addicted wife of Gilbert Roland who is one of the villains. Roland plays it rather straight and that ever present twinkle that I love in him is missing.

The filming was done on actual locations including some of the harder to reach regions of Iran. Of course that was back in the day of the Shah's pro-western government and you can see photographs of the Shah in some of the shots. I also liked Hugh Griffith as I always do with those wild eyes of his, the wildest this side of Jack Elam. Griffith just dusts off his Sheik Ilderim portrayal from Ben-Hur and hams it up to beat the band. There wasn't much else the man could do, he knew he was in a Thanksgiving special.

Tutu the poodle was the most memorable actor in this star-littered film!

I kept waiting for Jonah and the Bots and/or Mike, Bill and Kevin to do commentary. (Would have made the film more watchable!)

The Poppy Is Also A Flower is an odd movie of great interest to film and trivia buffs primarily for having the coolest, if not largest, international all-star cast, including Yul Brynner, Omar Sharif, Trevor Howard, Gilbert Roland, Angie Dickinson, Rita Hayworth, E.G. Marshall, Stephen Boyd, Anthony Quayle, Marcello Mastroianni, Eli Wallach, Trini Lopez, and Grace Kelly, just to name those I can recall. The film concerns UN investigators tracing irradiated drugs from the poppy fields in Iran through the entire process of smuggling, refining, and sale. E.G. Marshall and Trevor Howard are the main protagonists on the trail of the drugs, which leads through the Mediterranean to Italy and Monte Carlo. Gilbert Roland is interestingly cast as a Mafia boss. Unfortunately the film isn't very effective, almost dull, in spite of super stars in exotic locations, in the first half, until one of the protagonists is caught by the bad guys. Sometimes it seems as if the dialog is dubbed or the soundtrack misaligned, or the acting just a bit stilted, though some is very good, especially Anthony Quayle as a cockney sea captain - he sounds like Cary Grant and looks like Victor McLaglen. The film has a few sights you wouldn't expect to find in any movie: E.G. Marshall hiding under Angie Dickinson's bed; Gilbert Roland watching Trini Lopez sing La Bomba; and Rita Hayworth playing a drug addict. So I'd recommend it if you're interested in the trivia aspects, but not for escapist entertainment.

I'm not sure if this came up on a recent discussion of the three United Nations-produced 20th-anniversary movies, but I'd always been curious to see it since coming across descriptions way back in TV Guide. I'd remembered clicking onto the beginning years ago as a kid, with the informative "educational" prologue by Grace Kelly, and thought the entire movie was a public-service documentary on the UN's efforts to stop international drug trade.

Nope--The producers had hired Ian Fleming to write the screen story, Terence "From Russia With Love" Young as director, and a host of charity-benefit stars (who were reportedly paid $1 each for services rendered), and if that sounds like they were setting out to do a faux do it yourself 007 Bond film, they succeeded. There were a lot of bad international Bond-knockoffs at the height of its 60's mania, but this one got the right ingredients, and captures Young's exact feel for the first three Sean Connery 007's, which were as much about the procedural investigation and globe-trotting locales as the car chases.