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Sunday, April 2, 2017

The Maltese Bippy (1969)

Partners (Dan Rowan, Dick Martin) in a low budget porno movie company move into a creepy old old house next to a cemetery. When a mutilated and half eaten body is discovered in the cemetery, one of them (Martin) suspects he might be a werewolf. Flush off the success of their hit TV show LAUGH IN, it was inevitable that Rowan and Martin would try their hand at the movies. Directed by comedy veteran Norman Panama (THE COURT JESTER), this is a silly movie but silly in a good way. It's reminiscent of movies like THE GHOST BREAKERS or those Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein/The Invisible Man/The Mummy/Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Universal comedies. The gags are thrown at us right and left in the hopes that some will click and while it misses more often than it hits, I enjoyed it and actually laughed out loud a few times. The film's multiple endings anticipates 1985's CLUE and the cast seems to be having a good time especially Mildred Natwick as the housekeeper. Comedy being subjective and all that, I don't know that as I can recommend it outright but the more adventurous might be pleasantly surprised. With Carol Lynley, Julie Newmar, Fritz Weaver, Robert Reed, Eddra Gale (8 1/2) and Dana Elcar.

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