 The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
It’s easy to cut Woody Allen some slack when it comes to quality. This is a man who has made a film a year since the late-70s. When you have a filmography as long as his, it can’t all be Crimes and Misdemeanors. Still, there’s nothing to be said against some light, romantic comedy stylings with a hint of melancholy, which is exactly what we get with The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, a nod to the adventure-mysteries of the 1930s.
Allen is the star of this one, playing C.W., an insurance investigator who ends up being hyponotised by a stage magician named Voltan (David Ogden Stiers) to believe that he’s in love with his arch-nemesis Betty-Ann (Helen Hunt). Voltan also happens to be a criminal of epic proportions, and leads the suggestible C.W. into all kinds of nefarious shenanigans while under hypnosis. Part crime comedy and part romance, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion offers up breezy comedy without much time for deep thought.
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion was roundly panned on its release, often held up as an example of Allen’s creative difficulties in the early 2000s. But if you look at it as a breezy caper comedy rather than a serious Woody Allen film, and it suddenly becomes a lot better. It’s not Annie Hall, but then again, most films aren’t.
Casino Royale (1967)
Back in the late 1960s, James Bond spoofs had never really been done before. The bizarre, meandering Casino Royale made in 1967 is a case of too many writers, too many directors…too many everything, really. There are about three or four films wrapped up in this single, weird movie, packed full of major stars and bizarre vignettes, with only a basic nod to the plot of anything resembling a James Bond story.
Trying to give a summary of this film is an impossible task. There’s David Niven, playing a retired James Bond horrified by his 007 heirs, who make the spy game look bad. He goes off to Scotland to chase after Deborah Kerr, who sleeps with him and then goes into a nunnery. Meanwhile, another James Bond (this one played by Peter Sellers) grapples with Le Chiffre (Orson Welles), during the film’s only sequence that bears any resemblance to the titular novel. Then, he’s captured and subjected to hallucinogens and the whole thing falls spectacularly to pieces. Oh, and Woody Allen is Jimmy Bond, who kind of vanishes partway through.
Casino Royale is a terrible, wild, confusing film, but it’s not as bad as it looks. In fact, if you just enter into the spirit of the thing and accept it as a slice of 1960s kitsch, it becomes a lot more fun. Just don’t think too deeply about things like plot or characterization.
