POPPIES ARE ALSO FLOWERS is a surprisingly decent little international thriller made in the Bond mould - Ian Fleming wrote it and Terence Young was even called in to direct. The film's progeny is of interest, given that it was a propaganda piece made by the United Nations to show off their abilities. E.G. Marshall and Trevor Howard play a pair of UN investigators hoping to stop an opium smuggling gang operating out of Iran, and their detection leads them to a number of slippery customers based around the world. I only know of Marshall through his roles in the likes of CREEPSHOW, so it was a surprise to see him playing an action hero here and even more of a surprise that he makes a decent stab of it. There's not a wealth of action but the train-set climax more than makes up for that with some great fight scenes. The film is well worth a watch for Bond fans looking for a pseudo-enterprise in the same mould, and an endless array of both international and Hollywood stars keeps you involved in the story: Yul Brynner, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith, Anthony Quayle, Eli Wallach and even Rita Hayworth all show up to good effect here.

One of the main interests in films of this sort is the game of star-spotting, and it is to the scriptwriters' credit that they have found good spots for each of the many, many stars at their disposal, from Amedeo Nazzari and Barry Sullivan through to Trini Lopez and Yul Brynner! I particularly liked Gilbert Roland's performance as the villain!Terence Young's direction is not always at his most inventive (I strongly disliked all the tedious close-ups of E.G. Marshall), but Young generally keeps the story moving and makes good use of his actual Iranian locations.

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.

The film begins in Iran where an agent (Stephen Boyd) deals with an opium smuggler (Hugh Griffith) . Later on , two United Nations agents (Trevor Howard, E.G. Marshall) arrive in Teheran airport and reunite with Iranian authorities (Yul Brynner , Omar Shariff , Jack Hawkins). They scheme to chase the smugglers by means of opium full of radioactive element and a 'Geiger counter set' to place it . The colonel (Brynner) along with a riding posse heads desert to crack the opium bandits , as they climb a mountain and attack . After that , the tracks lead to Napoli where encounter the radioactive opium and a suspect named Locarno (Eli Wallach) . Other clues lead to Stromboli club (there fights a wrestler woman , Senta Berger) , a ship commanded by a drunk captain (Anthony Quayle) , Niza , Montecarlo Hall (where sings La Bamba the actor-singer Trini Lopez) and a magnate named Serge Marco (Gilbert Roland) . At the end happens some spectacular struggles into a train ('From Russian with love'-alike).Trevor Howard and his partner Edgar G Marshall are a couple of hard-noised narcotic detectives who stumble onto what turns out to be one of the biggest opium rings of all time , involving mastermind well played by Gilbert Roland . Trevor Howard's portrayal is good and the teamwork with E.G. Marshall is special . Based on a story outline by Ian Fleming who died before he could complete the script . Production with quite budget by United Nations to get funds for world fight against drug , however did not obtained success at the box office ; furthermore uninterested collaboration of actors and technicians . Colorful cinematography by Henry Alekan , Terence Young's usual, and atmospheric musical score by George Auric . All characters , places and events in this film are fictitious : any similarity to any persons, places or events is purely coincidental and based on an Ian Fleming story , shot on location in Iran , Napoli , Niza, Monaco.This dope-trade thriller is professionally directed by Terence Young and being dedicated to the memory of Adlai Stevenson, the American politician who was US Ambassador to the United Nations. Terence realized three of the first four James Bond films , as ¨Dr No¨, ¨From Russia with love¨ and ¨Thunderball¨, such successful blockbusters were hard to continue , though he attempted in search of more box office hits . His biggest film was , beyond doubt , ¨Wait in dark¨ with Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna . However , his last period was largely unsuccessful , full of failures and duds as ¨Amazons¨ , ¨Klansman¨ , ¨Blood line¨, ¨ Inchon¨, ¨Jigsaw man¨, ¨Takeover¨ , though some action scenes remained undiluted.