What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) is an American comedy film, marking Woody Allen’s first time directing a feature-length film. Using footage from the Japanese spy movie International Secret Police: Key of Keys (1965), Allen dubbed it with entirely new dialogue unrelated to the original plot. Along with adding new scenes, he also reorganized the sequence of existing scenes, creating a condensed version that ran for an hour instead of 93 minutes. The result was a complete transformation of the film’s tone – shifting it from a James Bond imitation to a comedic story about the quest for the ultimate egg salad recipe.
The plot sets the stage for a series of comical visual jokes, wordplays, and satirical stereotypes about Asian culture. At its core, it follows the mishaps of undercover operative Phil Moskowitz, recruited by the Grand Exalted High Macha of Rashpur (a fictional yet credible nation), to retrieve a coveted egg salad recipe that was pilfered from him. The said recipe is currently in the hands of criminal mastermind Shepherd Wong, but is also being pursued by rival gang leader Wing Fat. In an unlikely alliance, Moskowitz enlists the help of two Rashpur female agents and joins forces with Wind Fat in an attempt to steal back the recipe from Wong’s clutches.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Tatsuya MihashiPhil Moscowitz  Akiko WakabayashiSuki Yaki  Mie HamaTeri Yaki  Woody AllenHimself / Projectionist |
What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) is an American comedy film, marking Woody Allen’s first time directing a feature-length film. Using footage from the Japanese spy movie International Secret Police: Key of Keys (1965), Allen dubbed it with entirely new dialogue unrelated to the original plot. Along with adding new scenes, he also reorganized the sequence of existing scenes, creating a condensed version that ran for an hour instead of 93 minutes. The result was a complete transformation of the film’s tone – shifting it from a James Bond imitation to a comedic story about the quest for the ultimate egg salad recipe.
The plot sets the stage for a series of comical visual jokes, wordplays, and satirical stereotypes about Asian culture. At its core, it follows the mishaps of undercover operative Phil Moskowitz, recruited by the Grand Exalted High Macha of Rashpur (a fictional yet credible nation), to retrieve a coveted egg salad recipe that was pilfered from him. The said recipe is currently in the hands of criminal mastermind Shepherd Wong, but is also being pursued by rival gang leader Wing Fat. In an unlikely alliance, Moskowitz enlists the help of two Rashpur female agents and joins forces with Wind Fat in an attempt to steal back the recipe from Wong’s clutches.
