Review of Madame Sin

Filmed in the United Kingdom with a reasonably solid cast of mostly British professionals, this spy caper nonetheless remains a pretty dull affair, enlivened not too frequently by bursts of unintentional hilarity. Wagner plays a secret agent, captured and forcibly recruited by Davis, as the title character, to steal away an important naval commander (Jackson) and help brainwash him into steering a submarine into her clutches. Aided by Elliott, she coerces Wagner into taking part in her misdeeds by using his missing and presumed dead girlfriend Schell. Filmed amid windy and expansive fields and seasides, the film has the benefit of authentic locales to keep it from looking like a standard bit of studio-manufactured tripe. However, too much of it is bland and tedious for it to make much of a mark, even with the always interesting presence of Ms. Davis. Here, her sometimes exaggerated features are frozen in a quasi-Asian mask of taut expression and heavy duty eyelashes (and a sizable dollop of baby blue eyeshadow) and she's always clad in black from head to toe, except for the occasional bit of jewelry. As is common for her at this stage of her career, she becomes winded easily and takes breaths in odd places of her dialogue as she shows Wagner around her compound (which sometimes resembles the inside of the big metal ball at Epcot Center), her black chiffon scarf continually being flitted about as she maneuvers around. Wagner (who was friends with Davis through his marriage to Natalie Wood) is low-key and laconic through most of it, his character being frequently assaulted one way or another and otherwise worried about the issues confronting him. Elliott provides a nice touch of élan in an unchallenging role. Schell's role is very small and doesn't give her the chance to make much of an impression, though she doesn't embarrass herself. Comedy favorite Kinnear has a bit as a father who is manhandled into making an urgent phone call for a character who has suddenly become deaf. The deaf aspect of the plot makes it somewhat unique, though often it is responsible for more titters than drama. The terrain, which bears an odd resemblance to the area where "The Birds" was filmed, is interesting up to a point, but the endless, endless shots of people driving and running in the grass eventually begin to cause a loss of interest. Despite her distinctive and striking appearance, Davis isn't really given anything particularly memorable to do and thus the film becomes rather forgettable.