Barney Lincoln is a rambling gambling man who scores sensational wins at poker and chemin de fer because he has succeeded in marking the original plates for the backs of all the playing cards manufactured in a plant in Geneva and used in all the gambling joints in Europe. In his gambling depredation, Barney is spotted by Angel McGinnis, the daughter of a Scotland Yard Inspector 'Manny' McGinnis on the lookout for a man to do a job. The inspector enlists Barney's help in playing poker with a shady London character whom Scotland Yard wants to force to financial ruin.
Similar titles
You May Also Like
Reviews
Don't listen to the negative reviews
A Masterpiece!
Blistering performances.
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
For the first 30 minutes of this movie, I wondered what the hell its makers were playing at. True, there is a satisfying sequence wherein printing machinery moves in time to Beatles' music (thank you, Walt Disney), but the film does not really engross our interest until the introduction of Eric Porter's character. At this point, everything seems to improve: The script becomes bright and witty, and even the sets, camera angles, photography and editing suddenly become more interesting. Of course, what really gives the move genuine flavor, is Eric Portman's performance. But it's sad to report that Miss York is not up to her usual high standard, Perhaps the blame resides with director Jack Smight whose over-fondness for close-ups is not always flattering. I can just see Smight arguing with the photographer, Chris Challis, right now: "Who cares if it's not flattering! It will look good on TV – and that's all that counts!" No wonder producer Jerry Gershwin declined a credit!
A fun mod comedy starring Warren Beatty as a wealthy American gambling his way across Europe. Of course, he's cheating (in a very clever way) and raising the suspicions of Scotland yard Inspector Clive Revill and raising the interest of free-spirited Susannah York. Revill recruits Beatty to help him nab nasty drug kingpin Eric Porter. It's all cleverly made, fast moving and very fun. Beatty is terrific and York is a great match for him. They really click, showing much the same chemistry that Beatty would have with Julie Christie in the '70s. Directed with an extremely light touch by Jack Smight and featuring a score by Stanley Myers that mixes pop, jazz and Indian sounds together. Murray Melvin has a brief role as a very efficient policeman. A welcome piece of entertainment considering it follows Beatty's involvement in the lousy PROMISE HER ANYTHING and the head-scratching MICKEY ONE.
"Kaleidoscope" drifts through like a pleasant breeze. Allow yourself five minutes with this light comedy, and you're hooked. Set in 1960's Swinging London and Europe, the film was directed by an American, Jack Smight, in an abstract style that deliberately calls attention to itself. The dialogue is amusing repartee; and the performers seem so offbeat they exist as near comic-book characters. If a viewer feels distanced, then the film's creators have succeeded. It's all pretty much at the same level as that quintessential Sixties caper, "Modesty Blaise" (1966), only a bit less refined and a tad more square.Warren Beatty stars as a card-cheating playboy with romantic pretensions. Before "Kaleidoscope," Beatty had acted in only one other film comedy ("Promise Her Anything," with Leslie Caron). Here, he comes on a little heavy-handed at first, but he soon settles in with the other performers, including Eric Porter, a powerful presence in the role of a sociopathic Mr. Big with a dreadful Napoleon-complex.The movie's high notes arrive on cue. The climax is a high-stakes, winner-take-all poker game, and it's a tight, suspenseful scene. Its resolution will leave you breathless, admiring the good, low-keyed humor of the whole affair. The film's denouement, a kidnap-and-rescue sequence, is almost as clever. This film is not High Art -- not by any stretch of our good will or imagination. But there's nothing wrong with taking pleasure from well-made fluff, especially if we realize the genre's built-in limitations. "Kaleidoscope" is great fun because, like its gambler/hero, it doesn't always play by the rules.With Susannah York as Beatty's chic companion, a Carnaby Street shopowner, and Clive Revill as her Scotland Yard inspector/father.
Ok, so it's not going to win any awards for originality, but Beatty looks the part, Susannah looks beautiful and it all bumps along at a pleasant pace. I'm lucky enough to own a Technicolor print of this film and boy - the colours alone are enough to bring a smile to your face. A real slice of swinging '60s nostalgia.
Top Streaming Movies
