The Curse of the Jade Scorpion: a film that knows how to enchant you with diabolical tricks

I liked it immediately. I believe it was because of the music that introduced it, which is the main soundtrack of the film (the unforgettable Sophisticated Lady, performed by the orchestra of Duke Ellington), but also for the place and the era in which the story is set: the evocative New York of the 40s. It cannot be hidden, moreover (how could it be?), my deep passion for almost all the works of the director and interpreter of this film: Woody Allen. I said almost all of Woody Allen's films, because some of them, although celebrated by critics, have never convinced me.

Nevertheless, back to what we are dealing with: The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, to tell the truth, has many, too many reasons to fascinate the viewer. Atmosphere, plot, dialogues: in the end, one may even get the impression that everything was built - damn good - with a maliciously seductive formula, by using peculiar archetypes of a certain cinema of the past (The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep) that has remained, somehow, at the back of our minds.

The life of C. W. Briggs has always been nothing more than a routine, without any excessive imbalance: he is a skilled and able investigator in a renowned Insurance Agency, who has always completed successfully every investigation. Everything changes when the company hires a new accountant: Betty Ann Fitzgerald. Miss Fitzgerald is good and efficient, but really fussy and with a remarkable tendency to renew things: this is why she considers Briggs a residual of the past, a useless and annoying man; the clashes between the two reach maddening levels, because Betty Ann really wants to force C.W. retirement, supported, in this choice, by the boss, Mr. Magruder, with whom she has a relationship. During a party for one of the employees, Fitzgerald and Briggs are subjected to a bizarre hypnosis experiment by an illusionist named Voltan; Voltan induces them in a trance state and, for the first time, he creates, artificially, a love story between the two adversaries who, once awakened, remember nothing about that event. An inexplicable theft, which occurs in the wealthy Kensington mansion, begins to question C.W.'s investigative abilities, thus giving Betty Ann the opportunity to request her dismissal. However Briggs, convinced that the theft was planned by someone who has access to the agency's data, focuses his suspicions right on Fitzgerald. This way he hides himself in Betty’s house and discovers the difficult relationship she has with her boss, saving her from an attempted suicide because of love troubles. Now one suspects the other but, as a matter of fact, neither of them is really convinced of that. Betty Ann returns the favour to CW, secretly penetrating his house and finding, to her great surprise, the swag that everyone is looking for; consequently she decides to report him to the police; at the same time she witnesses a strange phone call that seems to make Briggs fall in a state of trance, just like the one he had during the illusionist's show.

During the night a second theft is committed and C. W, accused by Fizgerald, is arrested for both crimes; he manages to escape, thanks to the help of Laura Kensington, the naughty daughter of the tycoon who suffered the jewelery theft and who really likes the unlucky detective. Briggs, looking for the most unsuspected place to hide, decides that this shelter must be the home of Betty Ann. Betty agrees to host him, but she is, also, still doubtful. That very night also Fitzgerald receives a phone call that turns her into a human robot: the woman, still in a catatonic state, confirms to Briggs her love for him, but then disappears. The same evening a third theft occurs and Betty Ann, once again, blames Briggs for that.

C. W. is really in trouble and he would not be able to find a clue if one of his usual informants did not give him a name that all criminals in New York whisper, talking about the recent thefts: Polgar. Sharing his information with his office colleagues Briggs discovers that Polgar is none other than the name of Voltan, the Wizard, the one who had hypnotized Fitzgerald and Briggs on the night of the party. Everything becomes, finally, clear: Voltan Polgar, the hypnotist, made sure that C.W. and Betty Ann carried out the thefts for him, phoning first to one and then the other and repeating the words that placed them under his mind control. C. W., with the help of another hypnosis expert who deletes the power of the key word in Briggs' mind, rushes on the trail of his colleague, Fitzgerald; once he finds Betty Ann he saves her, with an act of courage, from the threat of the illusionist and evildoer, Polgar.

Everything ends, it seems, in the best way: C.W. is totally innocent, just like Betty Ann, but the old detective does not feel like staying any more in the agency where he has worked for years. Meanwhile Fitzgerald plans the marriage with her boss, Magruder; this marriage, however, is not considered with enthusiasm by C.W. who tries to convince the woman not to leave, confessing his love to her. Every attempt appears useless and Betty Ann proves to be unshakable, thus forcing Briggs to pronounce the word that Polgar used to trigger the hypnotic state in her. Thus the woman abandons herself to his call and follows him without further delay. The final surprise is that it was not only C.W. to be "defused" by the hypnosis expert, but also Fizgerald who, evidently, was just waiting for a sign from Briggs to leave with him.

The "jade scorpion" that is named in the title is the principle of mental command that Voltan Polgar, the Magician, uses to reduce his victims under his mind control.

I said, at the beginning, how this film manages to win me over: it looks like a film from another time, and to tell the truth it is, to all intents and purposes: Allen was too good at reconstructing the heartbreaking background of that magical era for the cinema in USA: he did it by means of the clothes, the lights, the photography and with the particular treatment of the script made with a style that would have been really liked by John Huston, Howard Hawks or Norman Z. McLeod. Above all, he did it with the soundtrack, which is made up by unmistakably true jazz musicians: in addition to the aforementioned Sophisticated Lady in fact, you can listen to some real cornerstones of jazz, such as Two Sleepy People, Tuxedo Junction, How High The Moon , In a Persian Market, Flatbush Flanagan and Sunrise Serenade.

I did not mention only by chance Norman Z. McLeod, as he was the one who directed the film Road to Rio, played by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and in which the story was about hypnotized people forced to do things against their will. The name of Bob Hope, however, also pops up in another case: the film My Favorite Blonde contains, in its plot, a specific reference to the title of Allen's film. In other words The Curse of the Jade Scorpion seems to be a real, perfectly successful tribute to Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart and to all the cinema of the thirties and forties.

What do you want me to tell you: at a certain age one begins to look back with nostalgia. All those stories that filled our childhood and our youth remain stuck to us, inexplicably, just like a hypnotic induction: it takes little to make us remind things; a face, a word, a particular music are enough to recreate a certain charm. And Woody Allen was truly diabolical in recreating those alchemies. Pretty clever indeed.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Official Trailer

https://youtu.be/yHjG3QjhWf0