This isn't auteur Woody Allen, this is incredibly early and silly Woody Allen and it's hilarious. He took a cheap Japanese James Bond type movie, mixed up the scenes and redubbed it into English but having changed the dialogue completely. So while the original movie dealt with a spy story the new one deals with the ultimate egg salad recipe because he who owns it controls the world. Yes, that's right. You now have people fighting and searching for an egg salad recipe. And that's pretty much it. The situations are made all the more ridiculous from what the characters are now saying. Things like the hero Phil Moskowitz, a fine Japanese name if I ever heard one, calling his foes names like "Saracen Pig" and "Turkish Taffy" as he fights them. The aptly named "Cobra Man" who sounds a lot like Peter Lorre and he's getting his cobra ready to marry a chicken. And who can forget the High Macha Of Rashpur, a totally real sounding place and they're on the waiting list for a country and as soon as there's an opening, they're in.Above all else, don't try to take this seriously.

"What's Up, Tiger Lily" is not the film that put Woody Allen on the map - "What's New, Pussycat?" did that, the previous year - but it is the film that showed his wit is not only irreverent, but also unique: nobody had attempted before to do what he does here. And would you believe that he actually manages to tell a reasonably coherent spy story (about an egg salad recipe!) through his dubbed dialogue?! The original film does have fairly slick production values (apart from some shots where the sea looks like a painted backdrop) and two gorgeous, gorgeous Japanese women in its cast (they both starred in the Bond film "You Only Live Twice"!). Woody's version has some laugh-out-loud moments, but it does wear thin in the course of its 80 minutes; I agree with Pauline Kael's comment that it would have been better as a short. However, the film's best jokes ("Beware of the man with....with....with....with....") are so good that they can make you laugh even when you're remembering them later, though in my opinion the single funniest line belongs to Woody himself: "it's a great film, beautiful color, lots of raping and looting and killing!". **1/2 out of 4.

In The Year of Our Lord 1963, the TV Animation Production Team of Jay Ward and Bill Scott entered the area of "live action" production, in a manner of speaking. The men, who had gotten well known in the animation field with associations names like UPA, or United Productions of America (Bill Scott) and "CRUSADER RABBIT" (Jay Ward 1950-57).What they did as a sort of departure from the Animated Cartoon was to bring us the most unusual type of film. As a television series that hit the airwaves via the route of Syndication, they gave us the most unusual FRACTURED FLICKERS (Jay Ward Productions, 1963). It was not an animated series, but as far as the humor and delivery of the dialogue, it may well still have been classified as a "cartoon" of sorts.What Messers Ward & Scott did was to take any number of Olde Time Silent Films, now conveniently existing in the limbo of Public Domain. Being in that classification, the films were out there and available to any and every one whom deemed it desirable to use them. Jay, Bill & Company did so, to the tune of a whole season's worth of ½ hour shows.And, just what was it that had done? If it is unfamiliar to you, let us elucidate.The gimmick was to take an existing Silent and to add a sound track to it. But this sound track would give a totally variant story. Using the same voice actors who had been used in the casts of such Ward & Scott collaborations such as ROCKY & FRIENDS (Syndicated,1959), THE BULLWINKLE SHOW (NBC, 1961-64) , HOPPITY HOOPER (ABC, 1964-67) and GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE (ABC, 1967-70). These were people like: Host & voice-Hans Conreid, Chris Allen, Bill Scott (the Co-creator/Producer), William Conrad (TV's Frank Cannon, Radio's Matt Dillon), Paul Frees (the Dean of Voices), June Foray, Walter Tetley (TV's Sherman, Radio's Leroy on Gildersleve Show), Daws Butler (Huckleberry Hound) and Beverly Scott.Quite simply, a silent film would not only give a sound track, but completely change the story. For example, the Douglas Fairbanks' starring vehicle, THE MARK OF ZORRO (United Artists, 1920) was transformed into THE BARBER OF STANWYCK, with the hero, 'Zeke Zackley' facing the hardships of being the only Barber in town. Lon Chaney in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (Universal, 1924) became DINKY DUNSTON, BOY CHEERLEADER. (Got he picture? I knew you would!) So, American International Pictures Head Honcho, Henry Saperstein was the guy with the idea of doing a spoofing sound track on the Japanese Bond-type Spy film, KEY OF KEYS, to which he had purchased the rights. He gave the job of "Director" to film newcomer, Woody Allen, who also co-wrote.What we saw in the film that had been about international espionage and stolen micro-film; turned into the search and struggle for a recipe for Egg Salad! The spoofing extended to the characters' names as well. The hero's name was 'Phil Moskowitz, the two (Woo, woo, woo, woo!) Asian girls were named Terri Yaki and Suki Yaki. The 'Brains Heavy' was Sheppard Wong, with his lieutenant being Wing Fat.The names and especially the situations are hard to recollect; as all seemed to be so "off the wall" and non sequitor in their origins. That of course, is the key to this. Get as far-out of a storyline as a departure, making it absurd; and string the "story" along with plenty of verbal gags, often turning the visuals on the screen into un-intentioned sight gags! It seems that like so many other movies and acts in the films, no one has any middle ground to take. Much like The 3 Stooges, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles and satirist Tom Lehrer; either you love their work or you can't stand the same. This seems to be the case for this early Woody Allen work; with some folks finding it to be below the dignity of the Director of the now considered 'High Brow' works as ANNIE HALL and MANHATTAN. The other end of that spectrum (including this writer) see it for what it is a whole lot of unpretentious fun and laughs.As a little concession to the American audiences, AIP sort of twisted Woody's arm to get some original scenes added. (And some said to be added later). These included the musical set with The Lovin' Spoonful playing at the dance scene. (That Band also was party to an almost amazing dub-job in that one featuring the bunch of guys riding on the launch, seemingly singing the Spoonful's song!) And sly old Woody sure knew how to keep a guy's attention in the closing credits, having Miss China Lee (Woo, woo, woo, woo!) doing a sort of striptease with the films waning final moments! If you like this WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILLY? or not, you really must give a kudo or two for Woody's effort to do something so different for a theatrically released Motion Picture. And beyond just its making, Mr. Allen really managed to keep fresh and interesting what a lesser comic and film maker would have allowed to "spoil on the vine" He kept going with what could be called the "one joke" story for 80 minutes. Even without the added musical, comedy and (Oowoogh!) China Lee* closing, Woody had a whole hour to sustain the laughs and maintain our interest.NOTE: * It is no secret that males everywhere really seem to find Oriental or Asian females to be among the most attractive of the species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Woody would most certainly agree on this point, and in this we heartily concur.

MASTER PLAN: must get recipe for egg salad. The premise is simple enough: take a standard movie thriller from Japan and remove the original sound track. Then, dub in your own wacky dialog. This ends up as the most unusual parody of the James Bond-type spy action of the sixties, with Japanese actors of the time voicing silly, inane sentences, usually in an overly silly style. One sinister henchman, for example, speaks in the style of a bad Peter Lorre imitation, way over-the-top. The whole thing is hit-or-miss: if you're really into awful Lorre imitations, you'll probably be giggling; if not, you'll just find that aspect, well, kind of stupid & tiring. A lot of the intended humor stems from just listening to some weird, juvenile guttural sounds or snickering seeming to emanate from the actors on screen; of course, that's the illusion: the actors you see had nothing to do with all the strange noises you hear. So, the main question is how clever was Woody Allen and his 'staff' of voice actors in adding on their interpretations of what passes for funny? It was hit-or-miss, about 50/50. There's also the problem of all those insertions of The Lovin' Spoonful singing for no reason except to fill up time. That doesn't do much for the pace of the film.The film begins with a standard action scene from the original Japanese film and it's not that bad, involving a flame thrower and then a 'lady-in-peril' scene, with some exciting fights. It actually looks like the conclusion of the film. We suddenly switch to Woody Allen, seated in a nice office with an interviewer, as he explains his vision of re-authoring a film. Allen's one big scene is pretty amusing and he pops up briefly later, as well as at the conclusion. The movie itself doesn't make much sense and is hard to follow. The hero, some kind of agent, encounters femme fatales and various villains, all in the pursuit of a code describing the ultimate egg salad recipe. The hero gets into some fights, always yelling stuff like "Saracen Pig!' and 'Spartan Dog!' It may sound funnier than it actually is. He's also good at pulling carpets out from under the feet of bad guys, which may have been funny in the original film, as well. Many of the more clever bits involve the dialog of the villains, who put a very strange spin on some of the threats they make, such as a special camera that takes pictures which removes the clothes from the subjects. The ending has some genuine thrills. The main connection to the Bond films, however, is that two of the actresses here also appeared in "You Only Live Twice" a couple of years later. Hero:6 Villains:7 Femme Fatales:6 Henchmen:5 Fights:7 Stunts/Chases:5 Gadgets:3 Auto:4 Locations:7 Pace:6 overall:6