Allen plays a Jew living in a mysterious European country (circa 1930?) who foolishly gets personally involved in the chase for a killer on the lose.
Once again Allen shows that he can get anything he wants made, even if it has all the potential of a documentary about a day in the life of ball bearing maker from New Jersey. This is really back-of-an-envelope cinema at its worst and seems designed (b&w, silly location, drawn out plot, art house look and feel) to actually keep people away.
This is a total mishmash of styles and content with so much vagary and stupidity that you quickly become as lost as Allen himself. Why would a coward go out chasing a madman down spooky streets in the middle of the night? Crazy! He follows the movie making convention of saying he regrets it straight away (and then again and again and again!) - but this doesn't explain anything Woody!
In this world of smoke and mirrors he meets a few bizarre characters and the world is put to rights (while making amusing asides), but is this really enough? Naturally he has enough clout to bring in talent in minor roles and we do get a few jumps and bumps (ALA Bob Hope), but hardly enough to warrant the ticket price.
The film was a major box office flop, but I feel Allen was making the thing to make sure that people stayed away and kept away in any case...
Once again Allen shows that he can get anything he wants made, even if it has all the potential of a documentary about a day in the life of ball bearing maker from New Jersey. This is really back-of-an-envelope cinema at its worst and seems designed (b&w, silly location, drawn out plot, art house look and feel) to actually keep people away.
This is a total mishmash of styles and content with so much vagary and stupidity that you quickly become as lost as Allen himself. Why would a coward go out chasing a madman down spooky streets in the middle of the night? Crazy! He follows the movie making convention of saying he regrets it straight away (and then again and again and again!) - but this doesn't explain anything Woody!
In this world of smoke and mirrors he meets a few bizarre characters and the world is put to rights (while making amusing asides), but is this really enough? Naturally he has enough clout to bring in talent in minor roles and we do get a few jumps and bumps (ALA Bob Hope), but hardly enough to warrant the ticket price.
The film was a major box office flop, but I feel Allen was making the thing to make sure that people stayed away and kept away in any case...