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
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion - Official Trailer
https://youtu.be/yHjG3QjhWf0
