Masterful Movie

Let's be realistic.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Taking part in ICM's poll for the best films of 1983,I decided that I would watch one title from auteur Uncle Jess Franco. Looking down his list of credits,I was surprised to find a 1983 Uncle Jess movie that had not one review on IMDb,which led to me wiping the blood from my shoes.The plot:Walking off a plane to perform at a music concert, Paquita la Fina picks up a badge left outside the airport. Unknown to Fina,the badge was worn by a spy,who has been kidnapped after trying to uncover the late Profesor Albert Von Klaus secrets. Unaware of what the real spy looks like, a double agent sees Fina with the badge, and gets her unknowingly involved in an espionage composition. View on the film:Weirdly making this under his "Clifford Brown" alias, (esp when compared to some of the..."unique" offerings he happily put his name on!) composer/writer/ directing auteur Jess Franco holds back on his trigger-happy zoom-ins to compose a swift Comedy Spy tale. Not a Horror/Thriller like the IMDb genre label,the zany Jazz score by Uncle Jess gives Fina's unplanned spy mission a profession (!) sheen over the double-crossing spy murders and an explosive final chase sequence. With some of his flicks having unintended humour, Franco shows himself to have a keen eye for staging Comedy, via very funny showcases of Fina's "singing",her attempt to keep the body of a dead spy hidden from a conveyor belt of clueless fellow spies, and going from (suspected) near-death, to romance,with a kiss from a fellow spy.Unofficially adapting Edgar Wallace's novel Sanders of the River, the screenplay by Uncle Jess slyly acts as a sequel to his very good 1962 Krimi La mano de un hombre muerto,with a Von Klaus family member being the centre of attention,as Fina searches old,isolated locations (a recurring theme in Franco's films) for clues on what Klaus has left behind that all the spies are after. Clueless to all the subtle nods and handshakes,Franco plays Fina's fish out of water status to a hilarious level, filled with Fina tripping into every would-be death trap put in front of her. Whilst Howard Vernon returns to cackle as a new member of the Klaus family, Lina Romay hits Fina with a real relish, thanks to Romay joyfully missing Fina's attempts at hitting a high note, and screaming from the shot of blood on the shoes.