Your enjoyment of this movie is likely to be proportional to your affection (or otherwise) for the likes of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "The Avengers", Dean Martin's 'Matt Helm' movies, Ken Russell's "Billion Dollar Brain", the original "Casino Royale", etc, etc. The presence of Jean Seberg is certainly a bonus. Try to
imagine a French version of "The Avengers", set in Greece, and you'll have a good idea of what's in store here. The paper-thin plot isn't really worth going into, but the location photography is nice and some of Chabrol's compositions are geometrically interesting. Like other products of its time, for example "The Avengers" and "The Prisoner", "The Road to Corinth" is often funny-peculiar rather than funny-haha. One particular scene, in which Seberg, toying with the idea of prostituting herself to raise $1000, is shown a pornographic film by a man in a limousine, reminded me of the Richard Lester of "Help!", for some reason. Seberg's 'Perils of Pauline-like' brushes with death are great fun. One for the Seberg or Chabrol completist, or for connoisseurs of campy Sixties entertainment.
May 17, 2008
