This is the film version of a play by Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943. The absurdist humor and the didactic undertone fit perfectly into the spirit of the late 60s, which is kind of amazing, actually. A divers group of evil, crazy venturers want to start drilling for oil in the Chaillot quarter of Paris that is part of the richest district, the 16th arrondissement, and close to the town's landmark, the very big pumpjack. This would turn the whole neighborhood into a wasteland.
Katharine Hepburn, a crazy old "countess" still dressed up for the 19th century, gets wind of it and comes up with a plan to stop them - forever. She wants to lure them into a trap that's a bit like the popular version of the box for Schrödinger's cat. As long as nobody opens the box - and nobody will - nobody knows for sure what happened to them. Did they find a gruesome death or are they still alive? This is supposed to be a comedy, not a horror movie.
There are some remarkable, silly additions to the play. One of the venturers is a Russian commissar, thus making sure that the movie isn't confused with propaganda for Russian style communism. Another one is an evangelical priest, probably because this is a movie about evil men destroying the world and the author wanted to make a personal statement. A really grotesque invention by the author is the way the prospector (Donald Pleasence) is looking for oil. All over Paris he has been drinking tab water, finally he got lucky and tasted oil, at the cafe where the other evil men coincidentally were just discussing their evil plans. Then they all savor that tab water, hoping for the taste of money. This is the kind of humor people looking for laughs will find in this movie - it really doesn't work at all.
The movie is strange, talkative, preachy, mostly nonsensical (aka "absurd" or "crazy"). It is socio-critical in a very naive way. In the end, with all its childlike innocence, it is kind of evil itself. It is of historical interest, features many famous actors, but it's a tough chore to get through. It's a very obscure movie, and there are a lot of good reasons for that.
Finally, there is a connection to the play "Arsenic and Old Lace" from 1939. It's about crazy old ladies - there are more than just the eponymous one - with skeletons in their closet, uhm, cellar - but this time it's from the crazies point of view.
Katharine Hepburn, a crazy old "countess" still dressed up for the 19th century, gets wind of it and comes up with a plan to stop them - forever. She wants to lure them into a trap that's a bit like the popular version of the box for Schrödinger's cat. As long as nobody opens the box - and nobody will - nobody knows for sure what happened to them. Did they find a gruesome death or are they still alive? This is supposed to be a comedy, not a horror movie.
There are some remarkable, silly additions to the play. One of the venturers is a Russian commissar, thus making sure that the movie isn't confused with propaganda for Russian style communism. Another one is an evangelical priest, probably because this is a movie about evil men destroying the world and the author wanted to make a personal statement. A really grotesque invention by the author is the way the prospector (Donald Pleasence) is looking for oil. All over Paris he has been drinking tab water, finally he got lucky and tasted oil, at the cafe where the other evil men coincidentally were just discussing their evil plans. Then they all savor that tab water, hoping for the taste of money. This is the kind of humor people looking for laughs will find in this movie - it really doesn't work at all.
The movie is strange, talkative, preachy, mostly nonsensical (aka "absurd" or "crazy"). It is socio-critical in a very naive way. In the end, with all its childlike innocence, it is kind of evil itself. It is of historical interest, features many famous actors, but it's a tough chore to get through. It's a very obscure movie, and there are a lot of good reasons for that.
Finally, there is a connection to the play "Arsenic and Old Lace" from 1939. It's about crazy old ladies - there are more than just the eponymous one - with skeletons in their closet, uhm, cellar - but this time it's from the crazies point of view.