I saw this movie long ago and thought it was pretty amusing. Woody Allen took a Japanese spy movie, recut it, and dubbed it with U. S. actors doing mostly one-liners that had nothing to do with the original plot. So, for example, whatever the MacGuffin was in the original movie has become the recipe for the world's best egg salad. The trailer and the poster give the impression that Allen is in the movie. He is, but only in the prologue at the beginning, when he tells about making the movie.Little did I know that the movie I saw wasn't the one that Allen intended for me to see. It had been altered with dialogue being added, along with additional scenes from another movie. And the Lovin' Spoonful. Yes, the Lovin' Spoonful sings a couple of numbers during the course of the movie for reasons that are obscure other than that somebody wanted them in there.
Or that's one version of the story, at least. There are others. I don't think anybody really knows for sure how many versions of the movie there are or which ones exist on current DVDs. It's something worth a look, though, if you want a movie unlike just about any other. The one-liners are hit and miss, but they hit more often than they miss. Or that was my long-ago impression. Now they might all fall flat.
27 comments:
I laugh every time I see WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? It's silly, but fun.
I love this movie. The first time I saw it I laughed as hard as I've ever laughed at a movie.
What I'd like to see is the original version. I think I'll check to see if it's available.
Haven't seen it in forty years and not sure which version.
I saw the original version and laughed all the way through it, so sue me. No, I really liked it but haven't seen it in probably 45 years. Yikes!
And stsay off my lawn.
Jeff
Love this. Have owned it on DVD for years!
I don't know what version I've seen, but Louise Lasser (who was married to Woody Allen at the time) voiced one of the female leads, the one who says, "You know what I haven't had in a while? A really good egg salad sandwich."
I love it. It was obvious that the Lovin Spoonful clips had been shoved in by the producer to boost box office. I wasn't aware that an un-meddled-with version was out there somewhere. Must seek it out.
Favorite lines: "Everybody shows up when we're tying up girls." and, "This Peter Lorre imitation is killing my throat!"
"Saracen pig! Spartan dog!" has become a meme, with Keith Olbermann at least.
A.S.
I'm not sure the u-meddled-with version is available. I'd like to see it if it was.
Somehow I missed this.
Turkish taffy! Certainly my best time at an Allen film, though I saw it on television over the years, first at the sweet-spot age of 8 or 9...the stripper onscreen with Allen in those sequences is "China Lee," married for a while to Mort Sahl.
When you speak of the Original Film, I thought at first that you meant the original Japanese imitation Bond film..._International Secret Police: Key of Keys_ as IMDb cites it in translation. But there could be endless variations on the cuts, and I'm sure Allen wasn't alone in writing the script of their redubbing (it's a little misleading to suggest he isn't in the film except in his inserts, with Lee and with the interviewer, and with Lasser providing voices to a silhouette gag), given that Lasser, he and the others are heard throughout...and there was zero attempt to integrate the Spoonful, definitely, though they're pleasant enough.
Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi were the big (superb) visual draws of the film, of course, and Lasser particularly is great as a voice actor here. "I'm such a great piece..."
Cap'n Bob, I'm surprised this wasn't a Tankon staple.
Todd, you're possibly the biggest fan yet to comment!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLU_-YMPX7I seems to be an 80-minute cut, which is the longer version IMDb cites.
Hmm:
_Video Watchdog_ noted a few years back that some tv versions of the film had different jokes and dubbing inserted here and there. An extra on the disc is the inclusion of the second alternate track that has these differences, plus a comparison feature that highlights three-score or so instances of dubbing replacement. There's no overall explanation for any of the changes that I could find, which leaves us grateful for the original track but wondering why things were changed in the first place. Any analysis of the pattern will be appreciated. One thing that stuck out for me is Woody Allen's last line, delivered as he interrupts China Lee's sexy strip to say, "I promised her a part in the picture." In both versions, it appears to be spoken by someone else, when I distinctly remember it being said by Woody. That's how it goes, I guess.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s892tiger.html
Very interesting stuff, Todd. Thanks for the link.
That last...there's definitely a version in Allen's voice, and perhaps a version with the added joke of having Allen redubbed in his own sequence...
As I noted, Bill, I like this one better than any other Allen film. Certainly free of the self-pity/self-regard that plagues most if not all the others. (He can also be good in others' films, such as the wildly uneven CASINO ROYALE or PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM...as good as anyone could be in the clumsy THE FRONT.)
I'm a big fan of PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM.
The Bogart guy and perhaps Allen's finest hours as actors.
Meanwhile, as IMDb helpfully notes in the redub scripting:
Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)
Woody Allen
Julie Bennett
Frank Buxton
Louise Lasser
Len Maxwell
Mickey Rose
Ben Shapiro ... (production conception)
Bryna Wilson
Frank Buxton (OTR scholar) was one of the regulars at the REPS Showcase in Seattle. I regret that I didn't think to chat him up about his work on Tiger Lily. He was, of course, Phil Moskowitz, Lovable Rogue.
Art Scott
One of my first dates in High School; took a girl to see this. She never spoke to me again.
She failed an important test.
This, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, and PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM are my favorite Woody Allen movies, although I'm fond of all the early ones.
I discovered Allen with his first comedy LP long ago. I was an instant fan, and I can find something to like in most of his movies. But the early ones are the best. I really like PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM.
I stand corrected...I've been forgetting Allen wrote the play and film script for PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM, even though he wasn't directing the film.
Well, I knew he wrote it. I figured all along you meant that he didn't direct it.
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