Rodrigo Amaro
What attracted me to "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" was seeing Woody Allen working in re-dubbing a foreign film making into a new one. This technique is familiar to me thankful to a 30 minute show who lasted for a short period on MTV and it was really something seeing a unknown film being dubbed for comical purposes and ridiculous scenarios. Allen makes of the "serious" Japanese film called "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" a funny but somewhat tedious and a times uninteresting film where the hero has to go to a lot of trouble to get an special egg salad recipe. Just like many spy flicks this one is very difficult to follow (there's a moment when Woody is asked by a host to explain the film to the viewers to which he replies "No" and the film goes on). This Bond adventure type has some hilarious funny sequences, some good dialogs ,a little bit of action and many histrionic moments where the characters keep making impersonations of Peter Lorre and other classic actors.Quotes like the one in this review title or things like "I'm dying, call my rabbi!" and many others are really funny but the movie doesn't know how to be more hysterical, more interesting. There some slow parts and some jokes that doesn't work nowadays. But Allen had a lot of comical touch to make it a nice film, pretty decent and that can make you laugh at least in one scene. Yeah, the plot is ridiculous but it works well, it's well handled. One of the greatest things "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" features is musical numbers by The Lovin' Spoonful which was included behind Allen's back when the studio felt a need to bump up the running time. Their appearance and the score was really cool, highly funny even though it doesn't have much connection with the plot or anything.Inventive, a little bit original for its time and even more effective than many cheap comedies of the past ten years, this is a good example of Woody Allen many talents as a writer and director and deserves to be seen at least once. Just don't expect the high flies of intellectualism of his future works and you'll find some fun in here. 7/10
gavin6942
Woody Allen basically plays himself, presenting a Japanese spy film with English dubbed over the top, with the words changed to make it humorous.The comparison to "Mystery Science Theater" is obvious, but the real connection is to "Kung Pow". As funny as I find "Kung Pow" to be, it owes a debt to this film that I think is too rarely recognized.Not the standard Woody Allen comedy with big words and elitist literature references. The addition of The Lovin' Spoonful was a studio imposition to bump up the running time. Woody Allen was so incensed by this that he threatened to sue the studio, although he later recanted when the film became a hit.
runamokprods
Many years before 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' popularized making fun of bad films to a whole new generation, Woody Allen - in his first 'directing' gig - had a field day completely re- dubbing this unintentionally silly Japanese spy film into a very intentionally silly comedy about the desperate search for the recipe for the perfect egg salad.It has a few dry spells, and I thought the spliced in musical numbers by 'The Lovin' Spoonful' were pretty embarrassing in a now dated attempt to make the film 'hip'.But where it's funny, it's very, very funny. And not only are there a slew of choice new lines, but the voice talents are all excellent, really capturing the awful, stiff voice acting we all got used to hearing in cheaply dubbed imports. A one-of-a kind comedy, and worth checking out if you're in a silly mood, or are any sort of fan of Woody Allen's non-sequiters and wit. Yes, it's adolescent compared with where Allen would go just a few years later, but that doesn't mean it's not a lot of fun!
julian kennedy
What’s up Tiger Lily: 7 out of 10: Long before Airplane or Mystery Science Theater 3000 or even my own mix-up of an uncut bootleg of Chōjin densetsu Urotsukidōji and Led Zeppelin II (Blows Pink Floyd and the Wizard of OZ out of the water.) there was What’s Up Tiger Lily.A very young Woody Allen acquired the rights of a Japanese James Bond knockoff called Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (Literal English title International Secret Police: Key of Keys) and dubbed in his own dialogue.The film starts with some non-dubbed footage involving bondage, a shootout, and a circular saw. Then Woody appears with an interviewer what he has done with the film. The film then restarts Woody’s dubbing in place and with the exception of two short interruptions by Woody (both very funny) It is the Japanese import with a new script and story.The dub itself is quite funny and well done. One can definitely see the roots of some of Woody Allen’s comic themes in this work. The overall story of the world’s greatest egg salad recipe is quite well done and the voice work is applicable and fits the on screen characters well.What’s Up Tiger Lily benefits from good source material to work with. Longtime fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 know that even the best riffing can suffer from deadly boring source material. (Red Zone Cuba for example). What’s Up Tiger Lily’s source material is colorful, action packed, and has a very attractive cast. In fact I would love to see the original source material.On the down side, since the film is dubbed, when the movie has no dialogue the experience can drag. Unlike an Airplane or a Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffing session, What’s Up Tiger Lily isn’t a 10 jokes a minute affair. Even more detrimental the Lovin Spoonful show up periodically to present an unrelated music video. This both dates the effort horribly and kills the flow of the humor.What’s Up Tiger Lily is a must see for fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and of Woody Allen’s early comedy. (And fans of the Lovin Spoonful I guess).One should pay respect to ones elders and it is a very fun time.
AD
