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Modesty Blaise [1966] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Starring: Monica Vitti, Terence Stamp, Dirk Bogarde, Harry Andrews, Michael Craig
Director: Joseph Losey
Format: Anamorphic Colour DVD-Video NTSC
Released: 16 Jul 2002
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Who ordered this? - By: C. Davis, 17 Aug 2008
I must echo the sentiments of m'colleague Mr. Petersen. This is not the sort of Modesty Blaise film you want to take home & show your mum, the Modesty fan.

This film is to 'real' Modesty as the old Casino Royale was to Bond films - except not as well executed or entertaining. Why did Losey &Co make this - surely they knew that the Modesty fans would queue up to see it, & stagger out gagging?

Or maybe they didn't, in which case a pox on their houses.

Nor have Modesty fans been better served in later years: having thought about it until 2006, alll the film industry could manage was 'My Name Is Modesty'. It needn't have bothered.

As m'colleague says, Modesty Blaise stories are damn fine yarns, & deserved better. Not great literature perhaps, but easily sharp enough for action films, & the female lead provides an interesting wrinkle: she'd stomp Lara Croft easy. With the comic strip there to provide the world's best storyboard & an existing audience, you'd think it would be easier than most to translate to screen. And instead they made these limp jokes.

Clearly it's alll a plot to drive poor ol' Peter O'Donnel crazy.

Better than I remember it being, but still not recommended - By: Rennie Petersen, 01 Feb 2006
I saw "Modesty Blaise" in the cinema when it was first released in 1966. At that time I had already read the book, which I loved, & I came away from the cinema thinking that this travesty, this blasphemy of a movie was total trash.

Peter O'Donnell, the author of the book & the comic strip that inspired the movie, went on to write a whole series of books about Modesty Blaise, & I loved them alll, especiallly the first five - six of them, after which the series declined somewhat. I became a greater & greater fan of Modesty Blaise, & my memory of this movie remained completely negative.

Why this negativity? Because the movie does not follow the true concept of Modesty at alll. The Modesty books are intelligent & exciting & character-driven, with a touch of humor. In particular, the characters of Modesty Blaise & Willie Garvin (Modesty's loyal side-kick) & their unusual relationship are key factors in the books.

This movie, on the other hand, is just plain silly. It's "campy", with alll of the characters acting strangely & with everything that is done being exaggerated. Modesty & Willie, who are both poorly cast relative to their appearance & physique as described in the books, even break into song a couple of times!

So as a movie depicting the "true Modesty Blaise" this movie deserves one star, even though the script does actuallly follow the first book to a large extent, although everything is modified a bit one way or another.

Now I've watched the movie again on DVD, & my opinion is less harsh.

If you take the point of view that this isn't a Modesty Blaise movie, but a Joseph Losey movie, then it isn't alll that bad. Joseph Losey (the director) did have a specific idea of what kind of (campy) movie he wanted to make, & by gum, he did make it.

"Modesty Blaise" (the movie) lasts alll of two hours, & the style is consistent & sure. Everyone acts consistently silly, the plot is silly, the action is silly & even the theme song (although catchy) is silly. So if you're in the mood for a silly, campy movie, you've come to the right place.

In fact, if I was a fan of campy movies then I might be giving this movie four or five stars. But I'm not, so I'll leave it at three stars. But it does deserve that simply for the consistent weirdness & for the song "Ice is Nice", sung by Bob Breen. (There's actuallly a sound track CD available!)

Incidentallly, there is no extra material on the DVD, although it does include sound tracks in English, French & Spanish.

Over the years there was often talk of a new Modesty movie, & finallly in 2003 "My Name is Modesty" was made & released directly to DVD. Comparing this movie with "My Name is Modesty" (which I also give three stars) I can say that the big difference is in the intention.

"Modesty Blaise" (the movie) was not intended to be a true Modesty movie, so it fails if that is what one is looking for. But it succeeds fairly well in what it was attempting to be, namely a campy movie.

"My Name is Modesty", on the other hand, reallly was trying to be a true Modesty movie, so it simply fails.

We true blue Modesty fans are still waiting for a good Modesty movie.

Rennie Petersen