Poppies Are Also Flowers (1966)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Terence Young

Writers:

Jo Eisinger (writer)
Ian Fleming (story)

Release Date:

26 October 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

In an attempt to stem the heroin trade from Iran, a group of narcotics agents working for the UN inject...

Plot Keywords:

Smuggling | Opium | Iran | Narcotics | Naples

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy.

Cast

E.G. Marshall	...	Coley
Trevor Howard	...	Sam Lincoln
Gilbert Roland	...	Serge Markos
Rita Hayworth	...	Monique Markos
Anthony Quayle	...	Captain Vanderbilt
Angie Dickinson	...	Linda Benson
Yul Brynner	...	Colonel Salem (as Yul Brinner)
Eli Wallach	...	'Happy' Locarno
Harold Sakata	...	Martin
Senta Berger	...	Nightclub Wrestler
Hugh Griffith	...	Tribal chief
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Inspector Mosca
Georges Géret	...	Superintendent Roche (as Georges Geret)
Howard Vernon	...	Medical expert
Stephen Boyd	...	Benson

Also Known As:

Danger Grows Wild (UK)
Mohn ist auch eine Blume (Austria)
Opération opium (France)
The Opium Connection (USA) (video title)
The Poppy Is Also a Flower (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

USA:100 min | 80 min (TV version)

Country:

France | Austria | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Optiphone)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Iran

Company:

Telsun Foundation Inc.

Trivia:

One of the film's producers was Edgar Rosenberg, who had just married comedienne Joan Rivers. Rivers, a visitor to the set, writes that Rita Hayworth was a real handful during this time: demanding, incoherent but still looking very glamorous.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Killing Floor (2007)

Soundtrack:

Lemon Tree

Awesome trivia value; lotsa stars

The Poppy Is Also A Flower is an odd movie of great interest to film and trivia buffs primarily for having the coolest, if not largest, international all-star cast, including Yul Brynner, Omar Sharif, Trevor Howard, Gilbert Roland, Angie Dickinson, Rita Hayworth, E.G. Marshall, Stephen Boyd, Anthony Quayle, Marcello Mastroianni, Eli Wallach, Trini Lopez, and Grace Kelly, just to name those I can recall. The film concerns UN investigators tracing irradiated drugs from the poppy fields in Iran through the entire process of smuggling, refining, and sale. E.G. Marshall and Trevor Howard are the main protagonists on the trail of the drugs, which leads through the Mediterranean to Italy and Monte Carlo. Gilbert Roland is interestingly cast as a Mafia boss. Unfortunately the film isn't very effective, almost dull, in spite of super stars in exotic locations, in the first half, until one of the protagonists is caught by the bad guys. Sometimes it seems as if the dialog is dubbed or the soundtrack misaligned, or the acting just a bit stilted, though some is very good, especially Anthony Quayle as a cockney sea captain - he sounds like Cary Grant and looks like Victor McLaglen. The film has a few sights you wouldn't expect to find in any movie: E.G. Marshall hiding under Angie Dickinson's bed; Gilbert Roland watching Trini Lopez sing La Bomba; and Rita Hayworth playing a drug addict. So I'd recommend it if you're interested in the trivia aspects, but not for escapist entertainment.