User reviews

The film begins in Iran where an agent (Stephen Boyd) deals with an opium smuggler (Hugh Griffith) . Later on , two United Nations agents (Trevor Howard, E.G. Marshall) arrive in Teheran airport and reunite with Iranian authorities (Yul Brynner , Omar Shariff , Jack Hawkins). They scheme to chase the smugglers by means of opium full of radioactive element and a 'Geiger counter set' to place it . The colonel (Brynner) along with a riding posse heads desert to crack the opium bandits , as they climb a mountain and attack . After that , the tracks lead to Napoli where encounter the radioactive opium and a suspect named Locarno (Eli Wallach) . Other clues lead to Stromboli club (there fights a wrestler woman , Senta Berger) , a ship commanded by a drunk captain (Anthony Quayle) , Niza , Montecarlo Hall (where sings La Bamba the actor-singer Trini Lopez) and a magnate named Serge Marco (Gilbert Roland) . At the end happens some spectacular struggles into a train ('From Russian with love'-alike).

Trevor Howard and his partner Edgar G Marshall are a couple of hard-noised narcotic detectives who stumble onto what turns out to be one of the biggest opium rings of all time , involving mastermind well played by Gilbert Roland . Trevor Howard's portrayal is good and the teamwork with E.G. Marshall is special . Based on a story outline by Ian Fleming who died before he could complete the script . Production with quite budget by United Nations to get funds for world fight against drug , however did not obtained success at the box office ; furthermore uninterested collaboration of actors and technicians . Colorful cinematography by Henry Alekan , Terence Young's usual, and atmospheric musical score by George Auric . All characters , places and events in this film are fictitious : any similarity to any persons, places or events is purely coincidental and based on an Ian Fleming story , shot on location in Iran , Napoli , Niza, Monaco.

This dope-trade thriller is professionally directed by Terence Young and being dedicated to the memory of Adlai Stevenson, the American politician who was US Ambassador to the United Nations. Terence realized three of the first four James Bond films , as ¨Dr No¨, ¨From Russia with love¨ and ¨Thunderball¨, such successful blockbusters were hard to continue , though he attempted in search of more box office hits . His biggest film was , beyond doubt , ¨Wait in dark¨ with Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna . However , his last period was largely unsuccessful , full of failures and duds as ¨Amazons¨ , ¨Klansman¨ , ¨Blood line¨, ¨ Inchon¨, ¨Jigsaw man¨, ¨Takeover¨ , though some action scenes remained undiluted.

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.

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.

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.

"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")

Another surprisingly bad film from director Terence Young (did this guy really make such greats as Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Wait Until Dark?) What's more surprising about Poppies Are Also Flowers is the calibre of the cast. Trevor Howard, E.G Marshall, Omar Sharif, Angie Dickinson, Yul Brynner, Jack Hawkins, Senta Berger, Rita Hayworth, Anthony Quayle, Eli Wallach, Trini Lopez, Marcello Mastroainni, Stephen Boyd and Hugh Griffith all make appearances in the movie - and virtually every one of them is guilty of rampant bad acting. I challenge anyone to find this talented a cast in a more badly acted film. The story is pretty poor too.

Narcotics agents Lincoln (Trevor Howard) and Coley (E.G Marshall) arrive in Iran to investigate the death of another agent, Benson (Stephen Boyd). They learn that Benson had struck a deal with a tribal chief (Hugh Griffith) to buy his opium crop, but a disgruntled rival buyer attempted to seize the crop in transit, killing Benson in the process. In order to track down the killers, Lincoln and Coley agree to let another opium crop leave Iran bound for an unknown European drug lord. However, they put a radioactive element into the opium, meaning that they can track its progress with geiger counters, all the way to the head man. The trail leads from Iran to Switzerland to Italy and, finally, to France.

The film is based on an idea by Ian Fleming (yes, the Bond creator). However, there is little of the flair in this film that you would find in the Bond books and films. The very concept of contaminating opium in order to track its whereabouts seems rather unconvincing and implausible, but the film doesn't suffer too much because of it. The problem here is more fundamental - it's a badly scripted film. A plethora of characters come and go without proper introduction or development, and various events and actions are patched together without sufficient explanation. Such under-cooked ingredients do not make for a satisfying viewing experience. Other than Georges Auric's stirring music and E.G Marshall's performance (the only good one in the whole film) as the hero, Poppies Are Also Flowers is a failure.

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.

Hilariously awful star-studded turkey, an apparent do-gooder drama concocted by Ian Fleming, sponsored by Xerox and directed by Bond-filmmaker Terence Young, details the United Nations' efforts to stop the trafficking of opium out of the Middle East. Bungled ingredients include star-cameos, an introduction by Grace Kelly (!), and Yul Brynner (misspelled in the credits) as a fez-topped Colonel who rides out to meet his enemies on horseback as if this were a Samurai western. The curious, sloppy over-dubbing leaves some of the actors looking like foreigners in a spaghetti spy-drama, while Kelly implores us to remember that...yes...Poppy flowers are attractive and innocent-looking, but their seeds are producing drugs that are destroying our young people! Not as fast as films like this. E. G. Marshall's somewhat bemused performance is the only asset the picture has to offer. Also known as "The Poppy Is Also a Flower", "The Opium Connection" and (my favorite) "Danger Grows Wild". NO STARS from ****

I really don't care that the majority of people didn't enjoy this film. I thought it was a very watchable escapism film. Nothing complicated or confusing. I think the appeal is more for the 60+ crowd who grew up with the many international stars appearing. The sexy Angie Dickinson was in a featured role. I can't think of a better bad man than Harold Sakata (Goldfinger fame). The international locations and seeing Iran as it use to be.

The version I have runs a tad over 84 mins. The VHS picture quality is quite good. When I first saw this film on the big screen, it ran longer. From my fading memory, the original film had an excellent female mud wrestling scene, something I had never seen before. Well, that scene is gone, not fitting for TV around 1970. Much like the gypsy fight scene in From Russia With Love is mostly cut for TV.

During the film, the UN investigators spiked the opium with a radioactive dose to help follow the shipment. What happens to the ultimate users who ingest this cocktail? Never explained in the film.

At any rate, for us oldsters, seeing all of these stars in one film is a treasure. If you are too young to know these people, then take a pass. This is not a high brow boring film. Just check your brain at the door and enjoy.

The opening dose of earnest monologue from Princess Grace of Monaco gives us a clue as to what we might be in for here. It's a clunkily stitched together series of cameos built around the process of identifying and stopping those bent on exporting opium from Iran to, ultimately via Europe, the United States. Yul Brynner ("Col. Salem") starts off the process working with the Imperial authorities in Iran where poppy farming is completely outlawed. Needless to say, though, if the money was right then there were those who would bend the rules and here we can look "Salah Khan" (Hugh Griffiths - a performance straight out of "Ben Hur"). The police, though, have devised a plan to inject his resin with a radioactive isotope enabling it to be tracked and them to destroy the distribution network. Helping the colonel with his task is the doughty "Sam Lincoln" (Trevor Howard) and as they follow the trail we are introduced to a cast of dozens of famous faces adding their visage, if little else, to the potency of the message set out by HSH at the top of the film. It's quite an interesting theory, the journey is well documented as are the difficulties faced by those trying to thwart this most lucrative of trades, but the style of presentation is so very disjointed and the narrative spends just a little too much time pontificating and not enough time engaging the audience. After about forty minutes I had the gist and the baddie firmly in my sights - the remainder delivered little better than an half-baked "007" adventure (Ian Fleming was involved here too). It is not without it's tragedies - this is not a sterile depiction and characters do get bumped off to illustrate just how ruthless these dealers are - but none of that really enlivened what is essentially rather a dull drama.

Tutu the poodle was the most memorable actor in this star-littered film!

I kept waiting for Jonah and the Bots and/or Mike, Bill and Kevin to do commentary. (Would have made the film more watchable!)

This is not an easy film to review, because it is simply overdone in every possible way. There are too many outstanding international stars, there are too many plots, there are too many incidents and too much happening all the time, all made in a furious tempo all the way, so it is very difficult to keep track of all the elements of the confusion. E.G:Marshall and Trevor Howard are on the hunt of some major international opium smugglers, and they believe they can track them down by making the cargo radioactive, an idea introduced by Yul Brynner, who is one of the characters of the film you will remember, both as an Iranian military officer and on horseback. The action is in eastern Iran and the French riviera with Naples in between, yes, the mafia is also involved, and there are some brutal murders on the way, one in a Naples prison. Senta Berger and Rita Hayworh make two very pathetic roles, the kind of roles you would think no actress would make voluntarily, and one critic aptly suggested that many of the actors could have been under the influence as well. On the other hand, it is a typical Terence Young film, very swift and intelligent action all the way, no unnecessary word spoken, and Ian Fleming is also behind it - you recognize all the high society elements with posh night clubs and yachts and even Trini Lopez making a performance. Angie Dickinson is the one woman in the film to make a better impression, a kind of mystery woman, who no one really knows who she is, but it will be revealed eventually, when it is almost too late. It's a kind of stuffed and muddled adventure movie, and after having seen it the first time you feel motivated to see it again just to have some questions answered, but you will postpone it forever. When you see it again you will still be left with a rather hazy and muddled impression and wonder what really happened and how it all hanged together. The interesting thing is that the film is as early as from 1966, way ahead of "French Connection" and all those other fast action drug traffic films, to which eventually there never was any end, - and the problem is still there, heavier than ever.

Many big names in this film but an actor who doesn't play a central role, steals the movie. If you haven't guessed yet, is Eli Wallach. And there is also an actress who steals it too, she's also in a supporting role, Rita Hayworth. They are the best thing of the whole movie which, is boring. Despite the fact that it has many elements of a James Bond film: director Terence Young, writer Ian Fleming, actor Harold Sakata (Oddjob in Goldfinger). The other actors, though big names, they do not excel with anything, the roles are weak, in a low and very predictable scenario: Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson, Georges Géret, Hugh Griffith, Jack Hawkins, Trevor Howard, E.G. Marshall, Marcello Mastroianni, Amedeo Nazzari, Omar Sharif. Only Anthony Quayle is also very good in another supporting role. And, Jean-Claude Pascal(Galam Khan) is credited.