Alicia I love this movie so much

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Leofwine_draca POPPIES ARE ALSO FLOWERS is a surprisingly decent little international thriller made in the Bond mould - Ian Fleming wrote it and Terence Young was even called in to direct. The film's progeny is of interest, given that it was a propaganda piece made by the United Nations to show off their abilities. E.G. Marshall and Trevor Howard play a pair of UN investigators hoping to stop an opium smuggling gang operating out of Iran, and their detection leads them to a number of slippery customers based around the world. I only know of Marshall through his roles in the likes of CREEPSHOW, so it was a surprise to see him playing an action hero here and even more of a surprise that he makes a decent stab of it. There's not a wealth of action but the train-set climax more than makes up for that with some great fight scenes. The film is well worth a watch for Bond fans looking for a pseudo-enterprise in the same mould, and an endless array of both international and Hollywood stars keeps you involved in the story: Yul Brynner, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith, Anthony Quayle, Eli Wallach and even Rita Hayworth all show up to good effect here.

Comeuppance Reviews Rather than write a plot description, simply look at the cast list above. That would be the main reason anyone would want to watch "The Opium Connection". Well, I guess I'll do it anyway.Two guys from the U.N., Lincoln and Coley, played by Trevor Howard and E.G. Marshall, respectively, go to Iran to investigate the death of one of their fellow agents. Apparently, he was dealing with Iranian drug lords and attempting to buy whole poppy crops. To track the opium and see where it leads, they spike it with radioactive materials. This leads them from Iran, to various glamorous and not-so-glamorous locations all over Europe, and meeting many, many people along the way. And who is the mysterious woman they keep running into, Linda Gayle? Will they capture the head drug lord? Will they give the U.N. a good name? Yes, it's an international production, but with all those guest stars and locations, it's easy to turn into a sprawling, convoluted mess. How can the movie stay focused when every minute they have to go to a new place to introduce a new character? You get TWO performances by Trini Lopez, "Lemon Tree" and La Bamba", but my favorite appearance in the movie-long game of "spot the guest star" was by Eli Wallach. His scenery-chewing performance really stood out. But I guess he had to do something big to stand out in the muck and the mire.But I'm making it sound worse than it really is. For instance, this is probably the only movie where you'll see the credits "based on a story by Ian Fleming" and "Executive Associate Producer Del Tenney" together. That should give you a really good idea of the vibe of this movie. Because Terence Young directed other Fleming-based movies (i.e., James Bond), there is a scene where they introduce a Geiger counter that looks like a cigarette case (they test it by all handling a radioactive cigarette...can they do that?) but there is a junky sensibility at work too.I know the actual U.N. was somewhat involved in the production of this movie, so perhaps this was all a P.R. thing to make it seem like the U.N. ISN'T a corrupt, anti-Semitic, do-nothing waste...so they figured, "let's make a staid, bland time-filler, but fill it with older stars!" Typical for the U.N., this plan DID NOTHING to help them.The sound on the VHS tape under review, released on the Simitar label, is buzzy and terrible, but maybe because it is in EP mode. But it does have cool, nicely rendered box art.A Sunday-afternoon programmer type of film, "The Opium Connection" seems like the thing you might catch on channel 9 or channel 11 on a rainy day back in the 80's.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

ma-cortes The film begins in Iran where an agent (Stephen Boyd) deals with an opium smuggler (Hugh Griffith) . Later on , two United Nations agents (Trevor Howard, E.G. Marshall) arrive in Teheran airport and reunite with Iranian authorities (Yul Brynner , Omar Shariff , Jack Hawkins). They scheme to chase the smugglers by means of opium full of radioactive element and a 'Geiger counter set' to place it . The colonel (Brynner) along with a riding posse heads desert to crack the opium bandits , as they climb a mountain and attack . After that , the tracks lead to Napoli where encounter the radioactive opium and a suspect named Locarno (Eli Wallach) . Other clues lead to Stromboli club (there fights a wrestler woman , Senta Berger) , a ship commanded by a drunk captain (Anthony Quayle) , Niza , Montecarlo Hall (where sings La Bamba the actor-singer Trini Lopez) and a magnate named Serge Marco (Gilbert Roland) . At the end happens some spectacular struggles into a train ('From Russian with love'-alike).Trevor Howard and his partner Edgar G Marshall are a couple of hard-noised narcotic detectives who stumble onto what turns out to be one of the biggest opium rings of all time , involving mastermind well played by Gilbert Roland . Trevor Howard's portrayal is good and the teamwork with E.G. Marshall is special . Based on a story outline by Ian Fleming who died before he could complete the script . Production with quite budget by United Nations to get funds for world fight against drug , however did not obtained success at the box office ; furthermore uninterested collaboration of actors and technicians . Colorful cinematography by Henry Alekan , Terence Young's usual, and atmospheric musical score by George Auric . All characters , places and events in this film are fictitious : any similarity to any persons, places or events is purely coincidental and based on an Ian Fleming story , shot on location in Iran , Napoli , Niza, Monaco.This dope-trade thriller is professionally directed by Terence Young and being dedicated to the memory of Adlai Stevenson, the American politician who was US Ambassador to the United Nations. Terence realized three of the first four James Bond films , as ¨Dr No¨, ¨From Russia with love¨ and ¨Thunderball¨, such successful blockbusters were hard to continue , though he attempted in search of more box office hits . His biggest film was , beyond doubt , ¨Wait in dark¨ with Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna . However , his last period was largely unsuccessful , full of failures and duds as ¨Amazons¨ , ¨Klansman¨ , ¨Blood line¨, ¨ Inchon¨, ¨Jigsaw man¨, ¨Takeover¨ , though some action scenes remained undiluted.

bkoganbing Poppies Are Also Flowers is an all star amalgamation of two previous films on the narcotics trade. Sharp eyed fans of the cinema will spot plot elements from those two Forties era films, To The Ends Of The Earth and Port of New York. Of course both those films were infinitely better.Still a whole bunch of international stars lent their names and got a fat paycheck for this muddled episodic film which tries to make E.G. Marshall an action star. Talk about ridiculous.Best in the film by far are Yul Brynner as an Iranian general and Rita Hayworth as the dope addicted wife of Gilbert Roland who is one of the villains. Roland plays it rather straight and that ever present twinkle that I love in him is missing. The filming was done on actual locations including some of the harder to reach regions of Iran. Of course that was back in the day of the Shah's pro-western government and you can see photographs of the Shah in some of the shots. I also liked Hugh Griffith as I always do with those wild eyes of his, the wildest this side of Jack Elam. Griffith just dusts off his Sheik Ilderim portrayal from Ben-Hur and hams it up to beat the band. There wasn't much else the man could do, he knew he was in a Thanksgiving special.