Modesty Blaise is a 1966 British spy comedy film directed by Joseph Losey and produced by Joseph Janni, based on the comic strip of the same name by Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway. It stars Monica Vitti as the titular heroine, opposite Terence Stamp as Willie Garvin and Dirk Bogarde as her nemesis Gabriel. The cast also includes Harry Andrews, Clive Revill (in a dual role), Michael Craig, Alexander Knox, Rossella Falk and Tina Aumont (in her film debut). The screenplay by Evan Jones and an uncredited Harold Pinter was based upon a story by O'Donnell and Stanley Dubens. The film's music was composed by Johnny Dankworth and the theme song, "Modesty", sung by pop duo David and Jonathan. It was Vitti's first English-speaking role.
The film's production saw creative clashes between director Losey and Blaise creator O'Donnell over the vision of the final film, Losey wanting to create a "pop art"-inspired spoof of the spy film craze prevalent at the time, in contrast to the relatively serious and grounded tone of the source material. As a result, the film heavily diverged from O'Donnell's comics and story outline in many ways, and includes a number of non sequitur elements including avant garde-inspired editing and production design, musical numbers and deliberate continuity errors.
Modesty Blaise was entered into the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. General critical reception was far more muted, with critics praising the visual style and off-beat tone, but criticising the divergences from the source material, convoluted plot, and perceived "style over substance" direction. Critical reception continues to be mixed decades after release, but the film has gained a cult following.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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