what’s up, tiger lily? (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

December 20, 2009 by Dennis Amith

Woody Allen’s directorial debut which features two Japanese films spliced together and redubbed in order to make a spy comedy thriller. Well, the film’s plot is not necessarily important but if you want to see how crazy Allen wanted to go with this 1966 film in terms of its hilarious and perverted humor, “what’s up, tiger lily?” is definitely worth watching!

TITLE: what’s up, tiger lily?

DURATION: 80 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: 2:35:1, Enhanced for 16:9 TV’s, Color, Dolby Digital Mono

COMPANY: Castle Hill Productions/Image Entertainment

RELEASED: June 2009

Directed by Woody Allen, Original by Senkichi Taniguchi

Written by Woody Allen, Julie Bennet, Frank Buxton, Louise Lasser, Len Maxwell, Micky Rose, Bryan Wilson

Associate Producer: Woody Allen

Music by The Lovin’ Spoonful

Cinematography by Kazuo Yamada

Edited by Richard Krown

Starring:

Tatsuya Mihashi as Phil Moscowitz

Akiko Wakabayashi as Suki Yaki

Mie Hama as Teri Yaki

John Sebastian as himself

Tadao Nakamura as Shepherd Wong

Susume Kurobe as Wing Fat

Sachio Sakai as Hoodlum

Eisei Amamoto as Cobra Man

Tetsu Nakamura as Foreign Minister

Woody Allen as himself

Zal Yanovsky as himself

Joe Butler as himself

Steve Boone as himself

Featuring the voices of Frank Buxton, Louise Lasser and Len Maxwell

China Lee – Dancer

A sick, evil mastermind with an addiction to egg salad … sadistic, torture-inflicting doublecrossers … gorgeous girls hungry for lovin’ … a wierd marriage between a killer cobra and a chicken! Only one man is daring, clever and sexy enough to take on this kind of mission: superspy Phil Moskowitz!

Woody Allen outrageously spoofs the spy thriller in one of his earliest, funniest films, a nonstop frenzy of sidesplitting wackiness. Allen rewrites and redubs the dialogue for a Japanese Bond-style movie as well as indulging ins ome playful re-editing of the film footage. Set to a rockin’ 60s soundtrack by the Lovin’ Spoonful, WHAT’S UP, TIGER LILY? As seen through Woody Allen’s funhouse mirrors turns the sex-and-danger world of filmdom’s spy game upside down!

In 1966, Woody Allen was given his chance to direct his first film (which he wrote and starred in as well). His job was to make a spy thriller and sure enough, he came up with something different. The film studio purchased the rights to the Japanese films “International Secret Police: A Barrel of Gunpowder” and “International Secret Police: Key of Keys” (Kagi no Kag) and Allen pretty much had the scenes from both films rearranged and edited to create one film, strip all the sound and redub it to make a comedy. The result is “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?”.

In this comedy, the film revolves around a superspy named Phil Moskowitz who is hired to stop a group of evil men who are after the secret recipe to egg salad (apparently, whoever owns the recipe can rule the world). With the help of two secret agents named Suki Yaki and Teri Yaki, the three try to obtain the secret recipe and return it to the its original owner.

But the interesting thing about “what’s up, tiger lily?” is how it was presented. The film begins with a few minutes of the original Japanese film and then it cuts to Woody Allen explaining to an interviewer of what was his role in the film and then cuts to the film which takes place at a strip bar but then abruptly cuts to a music performance by The Lovin’ Spoonful (note: It’s important to note that in post production of this film, the live performances by the band performing int he film was put into the film against Woody Allen’s approval which became the primary reason he wanted full directorial control of all his films after from her on in).

After the performance, the film goes back to Phil Moscowitz “the loveable rogue” (played by Tatsuya Mihashi) in a gun fight with an unknown Black man who then fight to the death while Moscowitz date is taking a shower. The film then cuts to Phil on a date with a woman who lands on his car. Moscowitz’s date is kicked out of the car and he meets a beautiful woman named Suki Yaki (played by Akiko Wakabayashi). In a similar scene to the last, Suki Yaki is taking a bath and Phil, a pervert tries to spy on her through a keyhole. While she takes a bath, we cut to a scene in which a woman sends a group of henchman to the home to kidnap Phil and Suki Yaki and a fight ensues which leaves Phil unconscious.

By the time he wakes up, he is in India and is told by the Grand Exalted high Majah of Raspur that their recipe for egg salad has been stolen and whoever owns it will rule Heaven and Earth. It is believed that the gang leader named Shepherd Wong (played by Tadao Nakamaru) has stolen it. Phil is told that to help him through his mission to get back the recipe are two agents, Suki Yaki and Teri Yaki (played by Mie Hama).

Meanwhile, another criminal named Wing Fat (played by Susumu Kurobe) is also after the recipe and thus, Phil and Teri Yaki must team up with the criminal and must work together to get the recipe. Meanwhile, Suki Yaki tries to work undercover and become one of Wong’s ladies and find out where his safe is hidden and report back to Teri Yaki.

Will Phil and the ladies find the recipe in time? Or does it even matter?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“what’s up, tiger lily?” is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and is enhanced for 16:9 TV’s. Picture quality for this 1966 film is actually pretty good on DVD. I have read that many people prior to the DVD release, they watched really bad versions of the film and thus, Image Entertainment’s release of the film was amazing. The film contains a little grain and I didn’t notice any major dust, scratches or film warping.

As for the audio, audio is presented in Dolby Digital mono and is center channel driven. But for those with a modern home theater receiver, may feel it best to have audio set at audio on all channels (esp. for those with 5.1 or 7.2 or higher setups).

There are no subtitles included in this DVD release.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

It is generally known that Woody Allen is not a big fan of special features for his films on DVD and wants the focus to be on the film. But for “what’s up, tiger lily?”, you do get an audio selection for the dialogue used for the original theatrical version and an alternate version (which is literally a toned down dialogue).

For example, during a scene when Phil’s date is kicked out of the car by Suki Yaki, in the original, his date screams “Hey! You got my vibrator!”. In the alternate version she screams, “Hey! That’s a rented car!” So, you can select the original or alternate version for audio and you can listen to audio comparisons for certain scenes from the film selecting the original version or alternate version.

Also, included is a Woody Allen Filmography shown onscreen as text.

“what’s up, tiger lily?” is an interesting but yet a fun film. To tell you the truth, the story of the film is unimportant because the way the story is written and how pacing for the film is set, but what does matter is how crazy the jokes are for the English dub and how hilarious and out of left field the jokes can get and add a little perverted humor to the mix and see how it relates to the characters in the film. So, the whole entire film is not meant to be taken seriously but is supposed to be one long joke and Woody Allen succeeds.

In fact, the way the film is edited, the pacing of the scenes seem out of place and in one instance, the film is paused and you see hand silhouette trying to rid a hair onscreen during the film while it is paused and is supposedly the film operator and his girlfriend having fun (I wonder if any moviegoers actually believed this and went to complain to the theater). In fact, in one sequence, an interviewer who is confused by the story asks Woody Allen if he can summarize to the audience what has happened in the film thus far, Woody Allen answers “no”.

I suppose if you are a Woody Allen fan, “what’s up, tiger lily?” is a film that you want in your collection or for those curious of his first directorial debut. It’s a funny film that has a plot through its dub but what you see onscreen feels disjointed because the scenes have come from two different film sources. But it was definitely an ambitious and experimental film for Woody Allen and I’m sure during that time, the film managed to succeed in making people laugh and to showcase sexy and beautiful Japanese women.

In fact, many of the talent in the film went on to bigger things. Woody Allen and his wife at the time, Louise Sasser (who did the female dub voices) would go on to work on more films together. As for the two main Japanese female characters, both Akiko Wakabayashi (who plays Suki Yaki) and Mie Hama (who plays Teri Yaki) became the two Japanese Bond girls in the 1967 film “You Only Live Twice”. Meanwhile, the stripping girl at the end of the credits, China Lee (who was Playboy Playmate of 1964) also appeared in several films.

While redubbing of Japanese films has become commonplace these days for some Japanese animation releases in the US (to make things much more appealing to American audiences) through the use of jokes and perverted humor (ie. “Crayon Shin Chan” from FUNimation Entertainment), “what’s up, tiger lilly?” is definitely a funny film from 1966. The humor still holds up nearly 45 years later and I was definitely entertained by it.

It’s important to note that this DVD was released back in 2003 and was re-released in 2009. There are no differences between the two.

Overall, “what’s up, tiger lily?” Is not a groundbreaking film by any means, but if you are a Woody Allen fan and want to start out with his first film or have been curious about watching this film, then this film and the DVD is definitely worth checking out!