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What's Up, Tiger Lily? Actor: Woody Allen Directors: Woody Allen, Senkichi Taniguchi Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 80 minutes Studio: Image Entertainment Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-07-15 Buy from Amazon |
 "excellent concept, average execution"A Film by Woody Allen I've seen several Woody Allen films, but I can't say that I'm a big fan. What interested me most was the concept of this movie: Woody Allen takes a Japanese "B" spy film, removes the language track, dubs his own and changes the entire movie into a comedy. It was a daring idea then, and it remains a daring idea today. It is similar to Mystery Science Theater, only instead of having a group of people outside the film mocking it; the characters do the job themselves. Whatever the original source material was about, What's Up, Tiger Lily? is a comedic quest to retrieve a stole recipe for Egg Salad. That's right...egg salad. There are several funny moments throughout the movie (the best is when Woody introduces the film and claims that "Gone With the Wind" was actually a redubbed Japanese film), but as a whole I felt let down. The concept was fantastic, and I know that the action and the dialogue were intentionally absurd, but the movie didn't work for me. I appreciate how well the dubbed dialogue fits into the movie, so well that I considered the fact that Woody might actually have shot the movie using Japanese actors in order to better fit the dialogue and action. The dub fits the movie that well. While it is occasionally funny and interesting, it wasn't interesting enough for me to give the movie a positive review. I just didn't care for the movie.  ""She's a personal friend of James Bond!!!!""I cannot believe that this was released and What's New, Pussycat was not. This is way past the point of being deranged. I can't believe that anyone would believe Tiger Lily would have more commercial potential than Pussycat. Of course, Image Entertainment released Tiger Lily so they have the video rights, whie Pussycat was released on VHS only by MGM/UA so MGM must have the video rights. Therefore, this is not really an apt comparison. However, I never miss a chance to kvetch about the appalling dearth of good films that remain unreleased in the U.S. The chat rooms being, as near as I can determine, useless I would like to engage in discussions with some people who also list films that should be on DVD. Maybe we could instigate letter writing campaigns. I was amazed at how many lists included A Fine Madness and The Offence. Anyone interested may feel free to email me. eMail address in on my Amazon page.  "What's up with this Movie?"Seriously, this is one of Woody Allen's funniest movies. If you have not yet seen this movie, see it. Do not be fooled by imitators (Kung Pow: enter the fist) this movie is pure gold. other suggestions if you like Woody Allen 1. Bananas 2. Small Time Crooks 3. Play it Again Sam 4. Radio Days  "Not one of Allen's best"Take a B-grade, Japanese spy film, write an entirely new script, and dub new tracks with English-speaking actors. What do you get? A B-grade Japanese spy film dubbed into English. Woody Allen's re-wrttien script did not do anything to enhance the movie. Granted, there are a few good one-liners, plus the first score of a film written entirely by a rock band, The Lovin' Spoonful, but the humor is lacking. Maybe when the film was first released, the search for the world's best egg salad recipe ("it will make you PLOTZ!) was considered funny. Now, it just seems outdated and very safe. I actually enjoyed when Woody Allen cut in with his interview regarding the movie itself. That's where Allen's sense of humor really shines. But still, I found it difficult to laugh during this film and had to force myself to watch it all the way through, just to be fair. Woody Allen has better films out there! The DVD has some okay extras and, if you look hard enough, you can find the egg salad recipe hidden in the main menu. "watchable over and over"I ran across this movie many years ago as a Late, Late Movie on broadcast TV and have watched it every chance I can get. The movie is hilarious. But did you also know that it was also the first movie scored by a rock band? The Lovin' Spoonful (who arguably would've been even bigger had it not been for the Beatles) wrote all the incidental music tracks for the movie. Other movies had rock soundtracks, but What's Up Tiger Lily was the first to have original background music written and played by a rock band. The brief music interludes that were interjected into the movie were a psychedelic bow to The Lovin' Spoonful who were VERY popular in 1966. "... ugh, this Peter Lorre imitation is killing me..." |
