La route de Corinthe

This is the last film of Chabrol's sixties transitional period (1962-1967);the next one "Les Biches" inaugurates the great era which many consider Chabrol's finest hour.Using the same actors as in "La Ligne de Démarcation" ,Chabrol tried his hand at a spoof on the spy thrillers which were so hip at the time in the wake of James Bond ;call it "Marie-Chantal Contre le Docteur Kha 2".Jean Seberg's character's recalls Marie Laforêt's.

The story is absolutely far-fetched and the viewer doesn't care a little bit for the "black boxes" which threaten the world and its radars.Michel Bouquet has a couldn't- care- less part and you would not think by looking at him he would become the great actor of such Chabrolesque achievements as " La Femme Infidèle" -where he would meet again Maurice Ronet-"La Rupture" or " Juste Avant La Nuit".Jean Seberg plays the part of a not-so-dumb-bimbo and she's very good-looking as Greek landscapes filmed by Rabier are.

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"OSS 117: Le Caire Nid D'Espions" (Hazanavicius ,2006) "Coplan Sauve Sa Peau" (Boisset,1967) "Marie-Chantal Contre Le Docteur Khâ" (Chabrol,1965)

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.

I'm quite a big fan of French director Claude Chabrol's work that I have seen. This spy thriller is the earliest film of his that I have encountered and, to be honest, it's also the worst one so far in my opinion. It was one of many 60's spy films made at the time, a genre that was at the zenith of its popularity in that decade. The story involves NATO radar being jammed by some secret devices located somewhere in Greece. An American agent investigating this is killed and his wife then goes on the run while trying to solve the mystery.

Frankly, it's a very uninteresting story-line and one that unfortunately makes matters worse by playing things for laughs a lot of the time. I guess this would be okay if it was even remotely funny but the result is more of a very light-weight and silly film. It's very much a million miles away from the more austere films that are for the most part typical of Chabrol. In fact after this movie he was about to begin a run of extremely interesting serious minded thrillers which must surely constitute the best phase of his career. He was far better when he made movies that focused on psychologically complex character relationships. Like his hero Alfred Hitchcock, with Torn Curtain (1966) and Topaz (1969), he came unstuck when he made populist, straight-forward 60's spy thrillers, the results being far less interesting than his darker psychological works. The film is by no means a total washout though; after all it has exotic locations and the super chic actress Jean Seberg in the lead role. It's more overtly stylised than most Chabrol films, although admittedly his lower-key style was far better suited to him. So it's superficially quite good fun to an extent but is undoubtedly a weak film from this great director.

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?'

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.