Criminal Story

Claude Chabrol tried his hand repeatedly at the spy genre in the 1960s (when it was extremely popular, due to James Bond's success), but it wasn't really his forte: his style is just too cerebral and measured in its pace to generate much excitement. At least "The Road To Corinth" is an improvement over his two "Agent Tiger" efforts (which further suffered from an uncharismatic lead). In this one, Jean Seberg takes a while to appear, but she makes a fairly awesome heroine: brave, smart, sneaky, determined, and (to state the obvious) beautiful with a killer body. The attractive Greek locations, the flavorful music score and a collection of eccentric characters keep you watching, but as I said above the film is rarely exciting and its climax is more of an anticlimax. Worth seeing mostly as a diversion for Chabrol, just before he entered the most celebrated phase of his long career. **1/2 out of 4.

In Greece, the radar and missile systems are jammed and surveillance is intensified. When the magician Pericles and his car are searched by the authorities, a mysterious electronic black box is found. They learn from Pericles that other boxes have arrived in Greece; then he commits suicide, eating his poisoned cigar. NATO Agent Robert Ford (Christian Marquand) follows a lead and contacts a man named Alcibiades (Claude Chabrol) at the Corinth Port and he asks one thousand dollars to tell the whereabouts of the black boxes. However, he is discovered by his boss Kalhides (Saro Urzzi) and a killer (Antonio Passalia) shoots him and he falls off in the sea. Robert meets his wife Shanny (Jean Seberg) in their room at the Hilton Hotel, but is murdered by the killer that frames Shanny and she is accused of murdering her husband. Robert's chief of the intelligence, Mr. Sharps (Michel Bouquet), hits on Shanny and releases her from the prison. However, Alcibiades had visited her in the prison disguised as orthodox priest and demands one thousand dollars to tell her the whereabouts of the black boxes. Sharps does not believe Shanny and assigns Robert's partner, Agent Dex (Maurice Ronet), to keep her under surveillance. But the stubborn Shanny is decided to find the culprits to revenge her husband and prove her innocence.

"La route de Corinthe", a.k.a "The Road to Corinth" (1967), is a spy adventure by Claude Chabrol that does not work well, since it is silly for a thriller and unfunny for a comedy. The gorgeous and sexy Jean Seberg is the best offered by this movie. It is funny to see Shanny and her purse luring internation and skilled spies along the story. Mr. Sharps is a ridiculous character and the killer is funny with his gay movements. Shanny convincing the mob boss Kalhides that she wants him in the end of the plot is so naive that becomes dumb. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available.

If the prospect of watching Jean Seberg dangle from a crane is appealing to you then perhaps you may get something out of this pointless exercise. As it sits there is really very little to recommend here other than the luminous beauty of the star.

The story, the smuggling of little black boxes that jam the Greek radar stations, is nothing to get excited about and director Claude Chabrol refuses to inject much in the way of action or suspense to offset it. Chabrol made a few spy flicks early in his career (see Our Agent Tiger) but this one must be considered the weakest.

The film opens with an anonymous quotation: `I don't ask you to believe it but I suggest that you dream about it.' There is a certain dream-like quality to the proceedings but this lackadaisical film is nearly anti-spy cinema. If the question is `Who has the black box?' the reply simply has to be `Who cares?'

Add Seberg and Greece to Chabrol and you'd expect something to sizzle. Unfortunately sizzle is not quite the right word - damp squib, maybe? The plot, such as it is, has been well set out by others so I won't rehash that. Whilst the story and the events are ridiculous, there is, nevertheless, a certain style here. The opening scene, where a magician enters Greece and the Greek border guards find the incriminating goods, promises a good film (I understand that this scene was cut from the version originally shown in the UK - as it's one of the best scenes goodness knows what it must have been like watching it back then). But sadly it's all downhill from there although the style and flair are still there. Who could fail to admire the dapper, but ruthless, killer in his white suit, white shirt, red tie and matching red-banded straw boater? Fortunately Chabrol returned to more masterful output a year later with "Les Biches", a film that is so far removed from this it's hard to believe it's the same director.

And who on earth dreamt up the dumb English language title for the US release? Surely "The Road to Corinth" would have worked.

This is not a typical Chabrol film. It's a dull spy-comedy filmed at Greece. So I am going to spare these lines commenting on the positive aspects of the film. Jean Seberg is sexy as hell. There are parts that are funny. There are two Greek actors who in Greece have special respects (Artemis Matsas, Vasilis Diamantopoulos). Finally, Chabrol seems to like the Greek landscapes and the Greek way of living, at least the one during the 70ies. He presents the most graphical side of Athens and of the Greek Country at its best. It's a 6/10 because of these few good additions, if you are not interested in them, don't even bother watching the movie.