Modesty Blaise

Clive Revill as the Scottish book keeper is superb. His depiction of the stereotypical penny-pinching Scot is a comic highlight of this film. In one scene, he and Gabriel sit at a table while Mrs Featherstone is hanged in the background. Gabriel is self absorbed in soliloquy and McWhirter is lost in his financial analysis. Neither sees the action behind them. Later, he even tells one of Gabriel's men not to waste ammunition in the midst of a gun battle! And in the closing scene of the movie, his loyalty to Gabriel is comically both touching and courageous. While Gabriel, staked out in the sun cried out for "champagne", McWhirter, dressed in a kilt, sneaks up indian-fashion on the arab camp to rescue him. Sure the film was disjointed, but Clive Revill's McWhirter made it all worthwhile.

Mediocre adaptation based on character of Modesty Blaise who was created in 1963 by Peter O'Donnell , realized in 60 pop-arty style and far from original image . A two-fisted babe spy (embodied by attractive Monica Vitti in his first English language role) , the world's most lethal female secret agent , and her colleague , the dark-haired , brawn Willie Garvin (the British Terence Stamp) confront a dangerous international delinquent usually wielding his endless collection of parasols and perfumed wig named Gabriel (Dick Bogarde) and aided by his right-hand (Clive Revill as twitching Scots helper) . The tough secret agent is watching out for a diamond shipment , which is the target of her arch-rival enemy .

Colorful but failed rendition , not taking any situation seriously ; being based on famous strip-cartoon thriller by Peter O'Donnell who retired himself and Modesty Blaise in 2001 . However , Peter O'Donnell complained that of his original screenplay, only one line remains . This very campy picture contains thrills , action , phantasmagoria , tongue-in-cheek , absurd situations , but being badly developed . The main and support cast -with everyone having fun- is frankly good , but is really wasted . Monica Vitti as tough British spy, the world's deadliest and most dazzlingly female agent, is miscast and is hardly ideal actress in the title character . Joseph Losey found it difficult to work with Monica Vitti, as she would invariably be accompanied onto the set by director Michelangelo Antonioni, in whose films she had become famous ; Antonioni would often whisper suggestions to her, and she would take direction from him rather than Losey. The best of the interpretations results to be Dick Bogarde as a cunning villain , including some enjoyable moments as when he is staked out in the desert and he croaks : I'm thirsty , Champagne . Furthermore , a sympathetic Clive Revill and Rosselle Falk as as a villainess who cruelly murders his victims . And special appearance of notorious British secondaries such as Harry Andrews , Alexander Knox and James Craig . This movie was one of four 20th Century Fox pictures featuring female spies that were released during 1966-1967 , the movies were Fathom (1967), Caprice (1967) and Come Spy with Me (1967)

There is another version about this character titled ¨My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure¨ , 2004 , by Scott Spiegel with Alexandra Staden as Modesty Blaise , Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau and Raymond Cruz ; it was produced as a prequel to the popular spy comic strip, plans call for this film to be followed by more Blaise movies taking place during the timeframe of the comic strip . In addition , a TV version : Modesty Blaise (1982) by Reza Badiyi with Ann Turkel as Modesty Blaise and Lewis Van Bergen as Willie Garvin .

Atmospheric original music by John Dankworth including a catching leitmotif . Gliimmer as well as glamorous cinematography by Jack Hildyard . The motion picture was middling directed by Joseph Losey . Director Losey was originally compelled to release movies under pseudonym Victor Hansbury because he had blacklisted by Hollywood where he shot The boy with the green hair , Prowler, Sleeping tiger, among others , during the 50s red scare . Losey exiled England where directed good films as The servant , King and Country , Accident , Romantic Englishwoman and other European countries as France where filmed Mr Klein at his best .

You saw people shot with an umbrella? No? You will see here. Going to see also a guy strangled in between the legs of a lady-killer, Mrs. Fothergill(Rosella Falk) (29 years before Famke Janssen is trying to do the same thing to Mr. Bond Pierce Brosnan in "GoldenEye"), you'll see also another guy exploding with an entire house in Amsterdam only by pressing the button of the ring bell... OK, well, we have here a few absolutely exceptional actors, Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews, plus a great director Joseph Losey, but the film is nothing but a pretentious crap, really now, it's excitingly boring... it will feel like you'll need to watch another film, or films, specifically: "Noi donne siamo fatte così"(1971), with Monica Vitti," The Collector "(1965), with Terence Stamp, "Our Mother's House" (1967), with Dirk Bogarde, "The Ruling Class" (1972), with Harry Andrews. These are real films, this one is just a waiste of time. 3 out of 10 only for the beauty of Monica Vitti.

Fox pinned hopes on 'Modesty' becoming a franchise to rival Bond, but these were cruelly dashed as Joseph Losey's film played to mostly empty theatres in the U.K. and U.S.A. ( it did rather better on the Continent ). Taken on its own terms, its not too bad. Jack Shampan's production design is superb, as is John Dankworth's music, there are a couple of decent performances ( Clive Revill, Harry Andrews, and a wonderfully camp turn from Dirk Bogarde ) and some good moments such as Modesty finding herself trapped in an op art cell. But as an adaptation of Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway's comic-strip, its a non-starter. Monica Vitti fails to project warmth and charm as Modesty, while Terence Stamp sounds like Michael Caine on an off-day. The scene where they sing a romantic duet whilst under fire is just painful. Losey was clearly not the right director for this project. Fox made a rather more successful 'girl power' Bond thriller a year later - 'Fathom', starring Raquel Welch.

Following the success of the Bond franchise, spy films were highly popular in the sixties, and Peter O'Donnell's popular comic strip "Modesty Blaise", which featured the adventures of a glamorous female secret agent, must have seemed like a natural subject for cinematic treatment. This film was the result. The basic plot is a simple one; Modesty is recruited by British Intelligence to foil a plan by gang of jewel thieves to intercept a shipment of diamonds to a Middle Eastern sheikh.

The heroine is played by the Italian actress Monica Vitti in her first English-speaking role- something I have always regarded as an uninspired piece of casting because Vitti's spoken English was not particularly fluent, although she certainly had the looks for the part. O'Donnell's Modesty was always a brunette, but Vitti mostly plays her as a blonde, although her looks, costume hairstyle and hair colour seem to change at random. Male viewers might be disappointed to note that Vitti only spends a short time dressed in the skin-tight leather catsuit which is the hallmark of the Modesty Blaise of the strip cartoon.

Some spy films of the era, such as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", took a serious look at intelligence work, but the majority aimed to emulate the relatively light-hearted tone of the Bonds. Indeed, many aimed to go even further in this direction and treated their subject-matter in a comedic way. "Modesty Blaise" falls firmly into this category. Although the plot involves what in real life would be serious crimes, notably robbery and murder, the scriptwriter Evan Jones and the director Joseph Losey refuse to treat the story with any seriousness, instead aiming for something light, camp and at times verging on the surreal. Jones's script was, officially, based upon a story by O'Donnell, but he departed from it so radically that O'Donnell virtually disowned the movie.

I felt that making the film in this way was a mistake. The Bond films, at their best, have always relied upon striking the right balance between tension and humour. This balance has occasionally been upset; some of the Roger Moore Bonds were too jokey and light-hearted, and the Timothy Dalton ones from the eighties tended to be too heavy-handed, but in the Sean Connery era of the sixties the film-makers generally got it right. The makers of "Modesty Blaise" get it very wrong indeed. There is no tension, and we never care about what happens to any of the characters. Moreover, "comedic" does not always equate to "humorous"; the script is supposed to be light-hearted but never produces any actual laughs.

The result is a film which is supposed to be a comedy-thriller, but which might more accurately be regarded as a thriller which does not thrill and a comedy which fails to amuse. There are some well-known stars involved, such as Terence Stamp and Dirk Bogarde, but their talents just seem wasted. It is no surprise that "Modesty Blaise", unlike some of the Bond copycat franchises, such as the "Man from UNCLE" series, did not give rise to a single sequel. 3/10