The Poppy Is Also a Flower

Trailer—The Poppy Is Also a Flower

The Poppy Is Also a Flower_720p(480P)

source: The Poppy Is Also a Flower

You know how I've discussed how Eurospy films often feel like the United Nations, what with so many countries working together to make these movies? This American/French/Austrian made-for-television spy and anti-drug film - also known as Danger Grows Wild - was made with the United Nations themselves as part of a series of television specials designed to promote the organization's work. It was produced by Xerox. So how does it tie-in to Bond? Well, 007 director Terence Young is at the helm - he passed up Thunderball to direct this - and it's based on a story by Ian Fleming. In an attempt to stop the heroin traffic at the Afghanistan-Iran border, some United Nations operatives inject a trackable radioactive compound into a seized shipment of opium and let it go back into the wild to try and find Europe's top heroin distributor. German-born Sente Berger - who is also in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. film The Spy with My Face and The Ambushers - is here, as is Stephen Boyd (Ben-Hur), Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson, Georges Geret, Hugh Griffith (another Ben-Hur alumnus), Jack Hawkins (who took as many roles as he could late in his career before his three-pack-a-day habit stole his voice), Rita Hayworth (!), E.G. Marshell, "If I Had a Hammer" singer Trini Lopez as himself, Marcello Mastroianni, Amedeo Nazzari (a huge Italian star from before World War II and well afterward), Omar Sharif, Barry Sullivan, Nadja Tiller (Death Knocks Twice), Eli Wallach (who won an Emmy for his role), Grace Kelly (this is the only movie she made after retiring from acting in 1957) and Harold "Oddjob" Sakata. Truly, this is the very definition of a star-studded affair. All of them were paid $1 each to be in this film, with Young working for free. One of the producers, Edgar Rosenberg, was of course the husband of Joan Rivers. This is the movie where Joan would meet Hayworth and write that she was demanding and incoherent, yet still glamorous. That said, it's possible that Hayworth was already beginning to suffer from the effects of Alzheimer's Disease.

Can you imagine a star studded cast like E.G. Marshal, Yul Brynner, Angie Dickinson, Trevor Howard, Rita Hayworth, Marcello Mastroianni, and Gilbert Roland all in one place - and they're all upstaged by Bond villain Harold Sakata/Oddjob, who pro wrestling fans like myself fondly remember as Tosh Togo. I might be a little facetious here, but really, this was a plodding ordeal from the folks who bring you rousing anti-Semitism on a daily basis, and most recently, U.S. national election inspectors who can't believe that ID isn't required to vote. I don't think this United Nations sponsored film was a success on either score, seeing as how it's a critical bomb, and the drug trade is bigger than ever. Oh well. Along with the international cast and the globe trotting story line, we also get a somewhat unexpected appearance by singer Trini Lopez at a Monte Carlo night club singing his hit 'Lemon Tree' and a version of 'La Bamba' that sounded cool enough. The honorable mention of the picture has to go to Eli Wallach who showed up looking like he was doing an impression of Joe Pesci before anyone would have known who Joe Pesci was. Check it out if you don't believe me. Well I'm almost there. I have this box set of two hundred fifty movies on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment and I'm winding down now with about the last twenty or so films I haven't reviewed yet. Folks, this is a chore but I made a promise to myself to make it to the last picture. I wish this one was it.

This movie was produced by the United Nations. That's about all you really need to know. The UN has slipped up many times in history, and rarely seems to accomplish its goals, something this movie embodies perfectly. Watch it and you'll know exactly what I mean. The movie centers around a strange plan to contaminate a large shipment of opium poppies with radioactivity, so that as the drug is refined and circulated around the world, agents can track the radioactivity and see where the opium from this particular source is going. The goal of these agents is to figure out who is involved in the opium trade so that they can be arrested and the drug trade ended. Following the setup of this scheme, which takes quite awhile, the movie follows two of the agents around the world as they follow the radioactive opium, meeting a variety of people who are involved in the drug trade in one way or another. There is some fighting and spy stuff, but none of it manages to be exciting. The film's climax takes place on a train, where the agents and the bad guys face off. One agent is killed, which comes as a shock as he's been there throughout the whole movie, but it doesn't matter much as the other agent still catches the drug kingpin, and the movie quickly ends. The whole thing is narrated by Princess Grace (of Monaco), but many versions cut this out to make it feel more like a normal movie. Unfortunately, that leaves the viewer with no explanation of where anything is taking place! Even with the narration intact, this is a terrible movie and despite its obvious anti-drug stance, it does very little to actually show why drugs are bad. You will be far too bored by this movie to care about its moral. The best part of this movie is a totally pointless 3-minute scene where Trini Lopez performs "La Bamba" in full in a nightclub. Throughout the song, he keeps begging the audience to let him leave the stage so he can catch a flight! Even he didn't want to be in this. I wonder if he got paid the token $1 like everyone else in the movie (!) or if he was just performing in whatever nightclub they decided to shoot the scene in...?

This is not an easy film to review, because it is simply overdone in every possible way. There are too many outstanding international stars, there are too many plots, there are too many incidents and too much happening all the time, all made in a furious tempo all the way, so it is very difficult to keep track of all the elements of the confusion. E.G:Marshall and Trevor Howard are on the hunt of some major international opium smugglers, and they believe they can track them down by making the cargo radioactive, an idea introduced by Yul Brynner, who is one of the characters of the film you will remember, both as an Iranian military officer and on horseback. The action is in eastern Iran and the French riviera with Naples in between, yes, the mafia is also involved, and there are some brutal murders on the way, one in a Naples prison. Senta Berger and Rita Hayworh make two very pathetic roles, the kind of roles you would think no actress would make voluntarily, and one critic aptly suggested that many of the actors could have been under the influence as well. On the other hand, it is a typical Terence Young film, very swift and intelligent action all the way, no unnecessary word spoken, and Ian Fleming is also behind it - you recognize all the high society elements with posh night clubs and yachts and even Trini Lopez making a performance. Angie Dickinson is the one woman in the film to make a better impression, a kind of mystery woman, who no one really knows who she is, but it will be revealed eventually, when it is almost too late. It's a kind of stuffed and muddled adventure movie, and after having seen it the first time you feel motivated to see it again just to have some questions answered, but you will postpone it forever. When you see it again you will still be left with a rather hazy and muddled impression and wonder what really happened and how it all hanged together. The interesting thing is that the film is as early as from 1966, way ahead of "French Connection" and all those other fast action drug traffic films, to which eventually there never was any end, - and the problem is still there, heavier than ever.

Surprising movie, with a crowd of stars, a bit of a weak plot, and a few good scenes. The movie does not take itself very seriously. Gilbert Roland as the Chief Mafia Boss, with a super-yacht docked in Montecarlo is just great. Good performances from Anthony Quayle and Trevor Howard. Entertaining movie, a bit outdated, with some actual scenes filmed in Iran before the Revolution. The movie was promoted by the United Nations, and it is an oddity and an historical curiosity.

Tutu the poodle was the most memorable actor in this star-littered film! I kept waiting for Jonah and the Bots and/or Mike, Bill and Kevin to do commentary. (Would have made the film more watchable!)

Curiosity is defiantly there for this all-star fiasco that means well but pushes its message so much into your face that it feels like bees attacking. The narration at the beginning indicates that this was promoted by the United Nations which gives a hint of its political backing. It would be great if the film took its mission seriously, but when leading characters spend time playing paper/rock/scissors, it becomes difficult to believe in the message. Everything starts off on the right mark with the introduction of the narcotics agents making their infiltration on the opium smugglers, and with major stars like Yul Brynnur and Omar Sharif, attention is made. Some stars are on and off so fast that their cameos are forgotten by the time the movie is over. Somewhat memorable, but probably not for the right reason is the lengthy cameo by Rita Hayworth as an obviously addicted mob wife and Angie Dickinson as a double agent. Toss in a few songs including "Lemon Tree" and "La Bamba" for a distraction from the silliness (as well as cameos from a few musical oddities) and a plot that goes all over the map, literally.