On Woody Allen's first outing as director, instead of making a real film, he spliced two Japanese films and had voice actors re-dub the dialogue so it tells a much different storyline from the source material. However, during the intro where Woody is interviewed, he makes it clear that what happens with the action and what happens with the spoken plot are supposed to be two completely different things, they end up being very similar. Most of what happens mirrors, although more comically(supposedly), what seems to happen in the action.
This isn't even an original idea(it had been done before with silent films). Only a few parts are actually funny and even those aren't that great. I've seen some other Allen films and they were superior in every way to this nonsensical garbage. The jokes are painful. I think a bunch of frat boys could have come up with funnier dialogue that was completely opposite of what was happening in the action.
In fact, I'd rather watch the actual two Japanese spy films with their original dialogue(even if it wasn't dubbed and was in subtitles) than re-watch What's Up, Tiger Lily.
The two best aspects of this "film" are the 80 minute runtime and the striptease by the very "healthy" China Lee at the end of the film. If you are a Woody Allen fan, then I suppose you "must" see this, however, if you are not, totally avoid this film. Watch Mystery Science Theater instead, if you must see something that's similar.
This isn't even an original idea(it had been done before with silent films). Only a few parts are actually funny and even those aren't that great. I've seen some other Allen films and they were superior in every way to this nonsensical garbage. The jokes are painful. I think a bunch of frat boys could have come up with funnier dialogue that was completely opposite of what was happening in the action.
In fact, I'd rather watch the actual two Japanese spy films with their original dialogue(even if it wasn't dubbed and was in subtitles) than re-watch What's Up, Tiger Lily.
The two best aspects of this "film" are the 80 minute runtime and the striptease by the very "healthy" China Lee at the end of the film. If you are a Woody Allen fan, then I suppose you "must" see this, however, if you are not, totally avoid this film. Watch Mystery Science Theater instead, if you must see something that's similar.