Review of Claude Chabrol Collection, The: Volume 2

Introduction

I don`t really know that much about Claude Chabrol, not being a connoisseur of film by any description. I know he`s French and has made 69 films since 1958, and to be honest that`s all I want to know. Chabrol is considered a master in the mystery genre of films and is credited, apparently, with starting off the whole `nouvelle vague` French film movement, which all sounds a little vague to me. Besides, I`ve just had to sit through The Road To Corinth, known also as La Route De Corinthe or alternatively as Who`s Got The Black Box? None of which really sum up the film as the first two titles don`t really make sense and we already know who has the black box(es) so there`s no real question to be answered.

The Road To Corinth is part of The Claude Chabrol Collection - Vol.2, and comes along with 5 other films. It`s a whopping 636 minutes long across the boxset but you`ll have to read the corresponding reviews to find out if the whole thing is any good (although seeing as that was up first, you may already have done. Sorry…).

OK, the gist of the film is quite simple. A famous (in this film at least) magician whose name I forget, with his name plastered all over his white convertible, is smuggling black boxes into Greece to jam NATO radar. After being caught by the internal security services in a really simple and stupid way, the magician commits suicide by cyanide before divulging his plan and creating a massive security operation.

Robert Ford (Christian Marquand) is the lumbering and extremely talkative secret agent entrusted, for reasons unknown based on his performance, with finding and recovering the black boxes. When Ford is killed, his wife Shanny (Jean Seberg) takes it upon herself to complete his mission, much to the chagrin of Ford`s rather lazy boss Sharps (Michel Bouquet), who would much rather comfort the widow. Ford`s sometime partner, Dex (Maurice Ronet) pops up now and again to help Shanny out, along with a shortlived and rather bumbling Greek lorry driver called Josio (Paolo Giusti).

Up against Shanny is stone tycoon Kahildes (Saro Urzì), whose devious plan is to ship the black boxes in carved masonry. Helping him out is a suave and debonair hitman (Antonio Passalia), who likes pistols with barrels a mile long for easy concealment in his jacket and also relaxes by reading women`s magazines before despatching his victims. Oh, he wears white as well which is a great colour for a hitman.

Still, Shanny is a grieving widow with no sooper dooper spy training and Kahildes and his organisation are the Greek equivalent of SMERSH or THRUSH so there`s no competition really. Or is there?!?

Video

The picture is pretty decent considering the age, no real problems with artefacts or print damage. Maybe the odd bit here and there, but perfectly acceptable overall, athough some of the editing leaves a little to be desired.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo soundtrack with good, if not always accurate, subtitling.

Features

Nowt.

Conclusion

I`m not sure if this is a spoof or is meant to be serious in a 60`s espionage type way. It`s not a great film, in fact it`s not even that good. It`s bad, but bad in such a way that it`s actually really funny. The Road To Corinth is full of pretentious and nonsensical dialogue that just had me laughing most of the way through the film. This is almost like watching an episode of The Man From Uncle without the sense that the whole thing is tongue in cheek, and without Robert Vaughan and the sublime David McCallum either. Still, we have Jean Seberg to distract us and how. She reminds me of a young Sharon Stone and I could sit and watch her forever, she is an incredibly striking presence and rises far above the ludicrous script to make us actually care about her character despite not really being interested in anything else going on.

So, in summary, a film that probably takes itself far more seriously than its intended audience. Don`t watch if you`re expecting something good or serious, but if you`re in need of a laugh then this might well do you. Sadly you`ll need to buy the rest though as this film doesn`t seem to have a solo release. Although that may not be a bad thing either…