What's Up, Tiger Lily?
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
What's Up, Tiger Lily? is the first film directed by Woody Allen. He also wrote and appeared in this 1966 comedy, which utilized clips from Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (literal English title: International Secret Police: Key of Keys, 1965, [1]), a Japanese spy film. Instead of translating the film, Allen added completely original dialogue that had nothing to do with the plot of the original Japanese film. By putting in new scenes and rearranging the order of existing scenes, he completely changed the tone of the film from a James Bond clone into a comedy about a secret egg salad recipe.
This style of replacing a foreign movie's soundtrack for comic effect has since been used in television shows like Kung Faux, Spike TV's MXC, and movies such as Troma Entertainment's Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters and Steve Oedekerk's Kung Pow! Enter the Fist. Fractured Flickers, which predated Tiger Lily, dubbed silent films with comedic dialogue. Some have also suggested the film as a possible inspiration for television's Mystery Science Theater 3000, wherein old "B-movies" are accompanied by a humorous running commentary throughout.
Louise Lasser served as one of the voice actors for the "new" soundtrack.
During post-production, musical numbers by the band The Lovin' Spoonful were spliced into the movie against Woody Allen's wishes. This helped convince Allen that he should secure creative control for all his future projects.
