CrimeDramaMystery

The Poppy Is Also a Flower

- The story of another war more deadly...more destructive...against the world wide opium conspiracy.

A special United Nations bureau organises a campaign to trace a drug-smuggling ring across Europe to its source on the Afghanistan-Iran border.

Release Date : 1966-05-20

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : CometTelsun Foundation Inc.United Nations

Production Country : FranceAustriaUnited States of America

Alternative Titles : The Opium ConnectionThe Poppy Is Also a FlowerPoppies Are Also Flowers

Cast

Character Name : Maxine

Original Name : Senta Berger

Gender : Female

Character Name : Benson

Original Name : Stephen Boyd

Gender : Male

Character Name : Colonel Salem

Original Name : Yul Brynner

Gender : Male

Character Name : Linda Benson

Original Name : Angie Dickinson

Gender : Female

Character Name : Superintendent Roche

Original Name : Georges Géret

Gender : Male

Character Name : Salah Rahman Khan

Original Name : Hugh Griffith

Gender : Male

Character Name : General Bahar

Original Name : Jack Hawkins

Gender : Male

Character Name : Monique Marko

Original Name : Rita Hayworth

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sam Lincoln

Original Name : Trevor Howard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Himself

Original Name : Trini López

Gender : Male

Character Name : Coley Jones

Original Name : E.G. Marshall

Gender : Male

Character Name : Inspector Mosca

Original Name : Marcello Mastroianni

Gender : Male

Character Name : Captain Di Nonno

Original Name : Amedeo Nazzari

Gender : Male

Character Name : Captain Vanderbilt

Original Name : Anthony Quayle

Gender : Male

Character Name : Serge Marko

Original Name : Gilbert Roland

Gender : Male

Character Name : Martin

Original Name : Harold Sakata

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dr. Rad

Original Name : Omar Sharif

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chasen

Original Name : Barry Sullivan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dr. Bronovska

Original Name : Nadja Tiller

Gender : Female

Character Name : 'Happy' Locarno

Original Name : Eli Wallach

Gender : Male

Character Name : Luisa

Original Name : Laya Raki

Gender : Female

Character Name : Society Photographer

Original Name : Jocelyn Lane

Gender : Female

Character Name : Miss Hatif

Original Name : Luisa Rivelli

Gender : Female

Character Name : Virgia

Original Name : Sylvia Sorrente

Gender : Female

Character Name : Dr. Pineau

Original Name : Howard Vernon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sophia Banzo

Original Name : Marilù Tolo

Gender : Female

Character Name : Self - Narrator (uncredited)

Original Name : Grace Kelly

Gender : Female

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-11-11

The opening dose of earnest monologue from Princess Grace of Monaco gives us a clue as to what we might be in for here. It's a clunkily stitched together series of cameos built around the process of identifying and stopping those bent on exporting opium from Iran to, ultimately via Europe, the United States. Yul Brynner ("Col. Salem") starts off the process working with the Imperial authorities in Iran where poppy farming is completely outlawed. Needless to say, though, if the money was right then there were those who would bend the rules and here we can look "Salah Khan" (Hugh Griffiths - a performance straight out of "Ben Hur"). The police, though, have devised a plan to inject his resin with a radioactive isotope enabling it to be tracked and them to destroy the distribution network. Helping the colonel with his task is the doughty "Sam Lincoln" (Trevor Howard) and as they follow the trail we are introduced to a cast of dozens of famous faces adding their visage, if little else, to the potency of the message set out by HSH at the top of the film. It's quite an interesting theory, the journey is well documented as are the difficulties faced by those trying to thwart this most lucrative of trades, but the style of presentation is so very disjointed and the narrative spends just a little too much time pontificating and not enough time engaging the audience. After about forty minutes I had the gist and the baddie firmly in my sights - the remainder delivered little better than an half-baked "007" adventure (Ian Fleming was involved here too). It is not without it's tragedies - this is not a sterile depiction and characters do get bumped off to illustrate just how ruthless these dealers are - but none of that really enlivened what is essentially rather a dull drama.