Madame Sin

Ever wonder what Fu Manchu would look like if Christopher Lee looked just like Bette Davis?

Stop wondering, here's the answer. Ms. Davis plays the evil Madam Sin, an oriental villainess who is plotting world conquest from her Scottish castle, fully equipped with laboratory, sonic weapons, hypnotic drugs, etc.

She abducts Robert Wagner, an ex-CIA man whom she frames as a defector. Then she dupes him into helping her kidnap a naval officer and steal a nuclear submarine. European audiences paid to see this pilot for an unsold TV series.

Robert Wagner does a Eurospy.

Wikipedia says that "Wagner's friend and agent Albert Broccoli suggested that he audition to play James Bond, but he decided it was not right for him." (Yeah right!)

And

"The following year, he produced and cast himself opposite Bette Davis in the made-for-TV film Madame Sin, which was theatrically released overseas as a feature film."

Robert played a jewel thief who becomes a reluctant secret agent in "It Takes A Thief" on the television, as well as another jewel thief alongside David Niven in "The Pink Panther" on the big screen, and would later play a high class con-man in "The Switch" (and much, much later, he would play #2 in the Austin Powers spoof series), so it's the type of smooth operator role that suits him well.

Bette Davis plays a female "Dr No" (half Chinese and no more convincing than Joseph Wiseman in that regard) who runs a SPECTRE like organisation with designs on a British Nuclear submarine. She plans to use brainwashing to gain the co-operation of the subs captain, Gordon Jackson, and kidnaps Catherine Schell in order to coerce Robert into assisting her. She also has a fancy sonic rifle in her arsenal which can disable and kill.

She has oily Denholm Elliott as her second in command and Dudley Sutton brings his distinctive skull like visage to the role of henchman. Pik Sen Lim and Bert Kwouk are also along to add a more authentic Asian flavour.

It's a polished TV level production, but never feels like anything more than that, plus I've never been a fan of 1960s "Manchurian candidate" subgenre of espionage movies. The downbeat ending doesn't sit quite right with me either (the price of having Bette on board?)

However I've always had a big crush on Catherine Schell, so it worth waiting around till the end just to see her in a bikini.

Catherine was fresh from being one of Blofeld's "Angels of Death" in "On Her Majesties Secret Service" with George Lazeny (As Catherina von Schell). Previously she had a small role in "Assignment K", then continued her espionage career in "The Black Windmill" with Michael Caine and "Callan" with Edward Woodward.

On television she was almost ubiquitous, appearing in "The Persuaders" with Roger Moore, "The Return Of The Saint" with Ian Ogilvy and almost any other UK drama series in the 1970s and 80s you can think of.

The movie does have some nice ideas - using sonic weaponry etc. that does make it more interesting. It doesn't seem to have anything else that drew me in. Wagner and Davis acted well, and there were a few funny scenes that would draw light chuckles. The plot does have a few twists that does make it watchable but nothing that will make you think or go beyond the story itself. The implausibility of some fight scenes appear a bit confusing, but need to be taken according to the time of the movie being made. If you have an hour-half to spare, this movie won't really help ease the boredom, so best bet would be to skip it. Rating 4/10.

My DVD describes Madame Sin as 'a prime example of the camp spy genre'; how misleading! Yes, there are some crazy futuristic inventions used by the baddies to achieve their nefarious goal, but the film as a whole is actually rather sober affair, especially considering the impact of the unexpectedly bleak ending.

Bette Davis plays the titular character, a criminal mastermind who lives on a remote Scottish island from where she conducts her wicked money-making schemes. Robert Wagner is ex-CIA agent Anthony Lawrence, who is abducted by Sin's henchmen and used as a pawn to assist in the stealing of a Polaris submarine, which the villainess intends to sell to revolutionaries.

Rather than a garish, cheezy romp full of outrageous set pieces and witty one-liners from the hero, writer/director David Greene plays much of the film surprisingly straight, even going so far as to add an avant-garde vibe to early scenes, taking the film firmly out of the realm of Matt Helm or James Bond. A bizarre electronic score only adds to the off-beat atmosphere.

Depicted as such, the film sometimes feels frustratingly dreary and uneventful: one longs for an exotic location, a desperate shootout or an exciting car chase to alleviate the tedium that occasionally sets in as Lawrence tries to thwart Sin's plans.

Madame Sin will never go down as a great Bette Davis movie. But as with a lot of less worthwhile projects, Bette just turns on the malice and let's it carry the film through.

Her role as Madame Sin is an Anglicized version of the Dragon Lady from Terry and the Pirates. What nefarious scheme she has in mind is to steal a Polaris submarine and sell it to some terrorists. To do that she's brainwashed Captain Gordon Jacksonm of the Royal Navy.

Trying to stop her is CIA guy Robert Wagner. Bob has his problems dealing with Bette and her bag of tricks including stealing every scene she's in.

Bette's fans will enjoy it though don't expect Dark Victory.