Madame Sin

Bette davis was already 64, and would do "nile" six years after this! She's madam sin, who kidnaps lawrence (wagner, between thief and hart to hart). He's a retired agent, whose help they want in stealing a new model submarine. Step one is to kidnap and brainwash the sub's captain. Lots of cheap and cheesy sound effects, which quickly get tiresome. Some fun co-stars. Denholm elliott, who we all know as coleman, from trading places. And catherine schell, who played some HUGE roles before and after this. Take a moment and check out the parts she played in very well known films and series. It's campy and silly, but good. Kind of a james bond knock off film, with davis as the evil villain. Bette davis plays herself, as she always does, with her stilted speech. Directed by david greene, who had also directed godspell and roots.

Madame Sin will never go down as a great Bette Davis movie. But as with a lot of less worthwhile projects, Bette just turns on the malice and let's it carry the film through.

Her role as Madame Sin is an Anglicized version of the Dragon Lady from Terry and the Pirates. What nefarious scheme she has in mind is to steal a Polaris submarine and sell it to some terrorists. To do that she's brainwashed Captain Gordon Jacksonm of the Royal Navy.

Trying to stop her is CIA guy Robert Wagner. Bob has his problems dealing with Bette and her bag of tricks including stealing every scene she's in.

Bette's fans will enjoy it though don't expect Dark Victory.

Now who didn't enjoy Bette Davis doing her very own impression of Fu Manchu"? She's so hammy it's good! Sadly, though, it also features Robert Wagner who was never the most compelling of actors to watch. He's an agent for the American government whom she uses her mind-bending ray upon so that he will help her and her scheming henchman "De Vere" (Denholm Elliott) to pinch a billion-dollar Polaris nuclear submarine from it's Scottish loch base. To that end, she uses her guile and expert manipulation techniques to get him to kidnap his pal "Cavendish" (Gordon Jackson) who co-ordinates all the naval activity and whom she hopes to brainwash into diverting this vessel into the clutches of her evil client. The question is, though, might "Lawrence" (Wagner) have enough cerebral mettle to resist her powerful gadgetry and thwart her cunning plan? What I did enjoy about this is the sheer joy of a star who is out to send the whole thing up. She's having fun - and Elliott actually does quite well too as her dastardly cohort. There's some lovely Argyllshire scenery and plenty of toys straight out of the "Doctor Who" end-of-season sale from 1972. Though there are a few interlopers from time to time, it's really just left to the three of them to tell us this daft story and for my money they do it fine. No, you'll never see it up for an award but I did rather savour the conclusion, her aspirations for Windsor Castle and that malevolent grin on her face could strip paint! Aim low and you ought not to be disappointed.

Ever wonder what Fu Manchu would look like if Christopher Lee looked just like Bette Davis?

Stop wondering, here's the answer. Ms. Davis plays the evil Madam Sin, an oriental villainess who is plotting world conquest from her Scottish castle, fully equipped with laboratory, sonic weapons, hypnotic drugs, etc.

She abducts Robert Wagner, an ex-CIA man whom she frames as a defector. Then she dupes him into helping her kidnap a naval officer and steal a nuclear submarine. European audiences paid to see this pilot for an unsold TV series.

Bette Davis as an insane super-agent and Robert Wagner as her dupe? Why not? Everybody's having a lot of fun. The villains are equally amusing. The whole thing is tongue-in-cheek and high camp, and it always remains true to its own little world. One of the-lets-have-fun-and-not-take-anything-too-seriously-made-for-TV-flicks that ABC excelled in churning out in the early 70's.