Review: Madame Sin


Suave former CIA agent Robert Wagner is used (through ear-splitting sonic weapons and hypnotic drugs seemingly only ever found in films of the 1970s) as a helpless pawn by the nefarious title super villain (Bette Davis, as a female Fu Manchu) to capture a submarine. Denholm Elliott is Davis’ sycophantic aide, Gordon Jackson is the duped sub commander, and the inimitable Roy Kinnear is hilarious as a family man on holiday who reluctantly aides Wagner at one point.



Minor 1972 David Greene (“The Shuttered Room”, “Godspell”, the fine TV version of “The Count of Monte Cristo” starring Richard Chamberlain) TV-movie is worth a look simply for its bizarreness (starting with the quasi-Asian make-up job on the film’s biggest star) and interesting cast, of which Grand Dame Bette (clearly having a hootenanny of a time here) and her wonderfully sycophantic sidekick Elliott (making the most out of a barely-there role, and not for the first or last time) are the most impressive. Funny cameo by the inimitable Kinnear, too.



It’s really not very good, the sound FX are nauseating (in that 70s sci-fi kinda way), and although Wagner is fine as the leading man, and really, quite a good casting choice. I just kept thinking I was watching one of those silly “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” TV movies. Scripted Greene and Barry Oringer (“Synanon”), it’s watchable but instantly forgettable despite an excellent cast.



Rating: C+

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