Meurtres à Malte

The descriptors "simple" and "uninspired" apply to both this film and its title. It's the story of a stenographer who flies to Malta to write a mystery noir novel during her two week vacation. While there, she inadvertently comes into contact with nefarious elements.

Unfortunately, "Trenchcoat" has no charm, no intrigue, no artistic value. Margot Kidder--playing the wannabe writer--looks like she is doing a walk-through. Reportedly she did not get along with the director.

The direction and everything else about the film feels amateurish. The only thing that could make it worse would be a laugh track. The main problem is the script, which offers very little that is original. Its main approach seems to be putting the "heroine" in dangerous circumstances and having her lament that no one believes her. Not funny, unless maybe the actress is someone who is intrinsically funny.

Avoid this stinker.

The only reason I decided to check this one out was because it’s set in Malta; the result, however, was an exceedingly feeble comedy-thriller from, of all people, the Disney stable and, needless to say, a long way behind Hitchcock.

Incidentally, this was the film which forced the studio to open a parallel label – Touchstone – so that they could make more adult-oriented fare: its few moments of violence and the appearance of a man in drag, presumably, were the offending elements in this regard! The title is the typical outfit worn by the detective hero of 1940s film noirs: here, it’s incongruously donned by the irritating would-be thriller novelist Margot Kidder(!) – while the boyish-looking Robert Hays is the typical undercover agent (whose mission is to catch a ring of plutonium-traffickers). I can’t say the script-writers/film-makers were particularly inspired by the Maltese locations – so much so that it could have been set practically anywhere else to much the same dismal effect (it’s simply not thrilling and certainly not funny)!

Most of the other characters are seen either aiding or harassing the two leads – sometimes they seem to be doing one when their intention is actually the opposite; these include clumsy assassin Leopoldo Trieste, laid-back police chief David Suchet (TV’s future Hercule Poirot!), a couple of sweet old lodgers at Kidder’s hotel, a German mystery woman, and a Sicilian stud. A notable appearance is put in by John Justin (yes, the hero of the classic Michael Powell/Alexander Korda THE THIEF OF BAGDAD [1940] in what amounted to his last feature-film role!) as the long-suffering aristocratic owner of the hotel, whose place is turned upside-down by the end of the film. By the way, I only spotted two Maltese actors of stature in bit roles – one played a guide at a museum, and the other a fishmonger who helped Kidder evade her pursuers in one scene.

For what it’s worth, the identity of the villains is ingenious (if not exactly original); in the end, though, in spite of a number of chases, the film is never as engaging (or enjoyable) as it should have been…and only manages to give a bad name to the genre it’s playing at, not to mention the people and country involved!

I think that putting this movie under the Disney label even with controversy surrounding it was a good move. That is just what the studio needed at a time when people were straying away from the usual cutsie "Disney" movies, like "The Rescuers"(1977), or even "petes Dragon"(1977) for that matter. This is more of an adult centered film, and that is what makes it special. Parents will enjoy this film more than their kids. But any children watching this film under about the age of 12 or 13, SHOULD have parental guidance, because the film does have some suggestive content. Over all, I gave it 8/10, mostly for the story line and character situations. It was GOOD!!!

Mickey Raynond (Margot Kidder) is a court stenographer who aspires to be a writer of detective fiction who travels to Malta to research her book "Malta Wants Me Dead". During Mickey's tour of Malta, she inadvertently picks up an article belonging to a shady man (Leopoldo Trieste) which starts a series of misadventures that befall her beginning with a stolen handbag before they crescendo in Maltese Inspector Stagnos (David Suchet) coming to believe Mickey may be involved in an international drug deal and her stories of pickpockets and assassins are just the workings of an author's imagination. With the help of a smooth talking jewelry salesman, Terry Leonard (Robert Hays), Mickey Raymond sets out to clear her name as she finds herself living the adventure she'd set to write about.

Trenchcoat was the project of noted TV producer Jerry Leider who'd transitioned from his long tenure in TV to feature films with the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer. Initially setup at EMI, the project was describe as a comedic thriller under the initial title Malta Wants Me Dead. After Leider ended his association with EMI, the project went into turnaround with Leider taking the film to the Walt Disney Company who at the time were interested in working with independent producers. The project was greenlit by Disney and the $8 million international co-production began with an intended 1983 release. Margot Kidder research the lead role by reading multiple detective novels and watching various film-noirs in preparation for the part and the film was also the first credited work of screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman who would later write another more well known noir themed comedy in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Upon release, the movie was a box office and critical failure making only $4 million against its reported $8 million budget and critical reception wasn't much better with Siskel and Ebert disliking the movie and even putting it on their "worst of" list in their Stinkers of 83 episode of their TV show. Since it's initial release, Trenchcoat has been largely forgotten with the only legacy tied to it being Disney's formation of their Touchstone label so they could tackle more adult skewing material free of the Disney brand. Trenchcoat has a nugget of a good idea, but it's the execution that keeps things from firing on all cylinders.

I will say that Margot Kidder is certainly giving her all as Mickey Raymond and she uses that same acerbic delivery she brought to her Lois Lane character from the Superman movies to good effect here playing an innocent character wrongfully accused while trying to unravel the web she finds herself trapped in. While I like Kidder just fine in the leading role, the movie narratively and comedically lets Kidder's performance down as everyone she meets overplays their role to an obnoxious degree or is let down by the fact they are cogs in an "idiot plot" where even the usually reliable David Suchet is forced to spout some really stupid justification for not believing Mickey's story in a scene that feels like it's trying to be funny but the way the scene is delivered and edited with very standard workman like direction by Michael Tuchner makes the pacing too slow for any of the humor to have punch and the editing is surprisingly sloppy with key plot points such as Mickey Raymond picking up the object that gets her involved in the plot or her handbag being stolen either happening off camera or in a non-descript way that made me feel like I was missing key details and had to rewind to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Trenchcoat kind of plays like a rough (very rough) first draft of films like Romancing the Stone or American Dreamer that took very similar plots to Trenchcoat but played them with tighter direction and more surehanded craft to give those films some sense of urgency, style, or comic punch. You can see the bones of a potentially decent comic thriller, but the "meat" on those bones is flavorless and a chore to chew through. Kidder does what she can in the lead role, but everything else from the writing to the direction to even the bland dreary cinematography of Malta not giving Kidder anything solid to play her performance off against. Maybe if you're morbidly curious about what Disney did with adult skewing films prior to Touchstone it might be worth a one time look, but even then stuff like Dragonslayer, Watcher in the Woods, or Something Wicked This Way Comes have much more style, energy, and passion to them.

Once upon a time, people knew who they were. Some were mechanics, some were politicians, some were writers.

Since about 1980, the real writers have been removed so that the rich tea party families could "write on the side".

That's why we had so many "situational tea party type Miss Marple comic murder mysteries", comic fantasies purely going with formula.

There is no "writing" here. It is formula stage play. It is a mixture of "Romancing the Stone", "Miss Marple", and virtually every stage comedy one has ever seen.

Then again, all good cinema begins as good stage plays, so you have at least a mediocre movie here.

What helps here is great casting. Margot Kidder is a bit like Lois Lane here, only more likable. She shows that comedy is her forte, and the role seems to have been written specifically for her.

This is probably what Kidder should always have done. The rest of the cast is also splendid.

In a formula film like this, casting makes a big difference. It's lightly likable, with the cast pulling it up over the 5/10 mark.