Opération Opium

Let's face it...whenever you get this many stars in one place the end result is gonna be really bad. And this is no exception.

I know this film was made by the UN to help bolster efforts to stop drug trafficking and abuse...I know the most of the stars worked for scale to cut down costs. But it looks like only Trevor Howard remembered that "working for scale" still means "working"...i.e., acting. Yul Brynner is, well, Yul Brynner. He doesn't have to act...he only has two characters in his repertoire anyway (enjoyable though those characters may be).

It was interesting to see E.G. Marshall as the hero of the piece though...one of the few interesting points to the film.

One major part of the premise was that the UN forces tagged a shipment of opium with radioactivity to track it. Now this radioactivity was measurable at a distance of several miles at times, so one has to wonder what would happen if it got away from them and got to the junkies...hoards of radioactive heroin addicts...ack.

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.

"Poppies Are Also Flowers" is a high-budget movie that does not work. The stellar cast has names such as Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson, Rita Hayworth, Trini López, Marcello Mastroianni, Grace Kelly, Omar Sharif and Eli Wallach among many others. Locations in Iran, Montecarlo, Naples, Monaco and others fancy and exotic places. However the lame story and screenplay associated to non-charismatic and unfunny lead characters make this film a turkey. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Ópio também é Uma Flor" ("The Opium Is Also a Flower")

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.

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.