L'Empire de Madame Sin

source: Madame Sin

Madame Sin

Bette Davis was and remains a great actress, a unique personality. I never liked Robert Wagner, but he is the producer of the film... Denholm Elliott, Gordon Jackson and Dudley Sutton are very good actors. Catherine Schell is very beautiful. That's it!

The movie does have some nice ideas - using sonic weaponry etc. that does make it more interesting. It doesn't seem to have anything else that drew me in. Wagner and Davis acted well, and there were a few funny scenes that would draw light chuckles. The plot does have a few twists that does make it watchable but nothing that will make you think or go beyond the story itself. The implausibility of some fight scenes appear a bit confusing, but need to be taken according to the time of the movie being made. If you have an hour-half to spare, this movie won't really help ease the boredom, so best bet would be to skip it. Rating 4/10.

Bette Davis as an insane super-agent and Robert Wagner as her dupe? Why not? Everybody's having a lot of fun. The villains are equally amusing. The whole thing is tongue-in-cheek and high camp, and it always remains true to its own little world. One of the-lets-have-fun-and-not-take-anything-too-seriously-made-for-TV-flicks that ABC excelled in churning out in the early 70's.

Madame Sin will never go down as a great Bette Davis movie. But as with a lot of less worthwhile projects, Bette just turns on the malice and let's it carry the film through. Her role as Madame Sin is an Anglicized version of the Dragon Lady from Terry and the Pirates. What nefarious scheme she has in mind is to steal a Polaris submarine and sell it to some terrorists. To do that she's brainwashed Captain Gordon Jacksonm of the Royal Navy. Trying to stop her is CIA guy Robert Wagner. Bob has his problems dealing with Bette and her bag of tricks including stealing every scene she's in. Bette's fans will enjoy it though don't expect Dark Victory.

Ever wonder what Fu Manchu would look like if Christopher Lee looked just like Bette Davis? Stop wondering, here's the answer. Ms. Davis plays the evil Madam Sin, an oriental villainess who is plotting world conquest from her Scottish castle, fully equipped with laboratory, sonic weapons, hypnotic drugs, etc. She abducts Robert Wagner, an ex-CIA man whom she frames as a defector. Then she dupes him into helping her kidnap a naval officer and steal a nuclear submarine. European audiences paid to see this pilot for an unsold TV series.