Panic Button

A lot of strange characters in a movie which tries to be funny but fails many times even if the plot was not so terrible. This comedy is part of the large circle of those comedies which, although not filthy, fail in their objectives.

Directed by George Sherman and Giuliano Carnimeo - I've been diving deep into his films, including They Call Me Hallelujah, They Call Him Cemetery, his Sartana movies and The Case of the Bloody Iris - Panic Button is an example of the movies that Jayne Mansfield had to hunt down after her 20th Century Fox contract ended. French entertainer Maurice Chevalier and Mansfield play actors who are picked to be in a new production of Romeo and Juliet. Eleanor "Woman of a Thousand Faces" Parker and Mike "Mannix" Connors also show up. This tale of mobsters getting involved with Shakespeare was never really successful anywhere that it played. In the U.S., it was on double bills. And hey - it has one total review on Letterboxd other than this one.

A laugh-less low water mark in the very long career of Maurice Chevalier. He's a washed up actor hired to appear in a television version of ROMEO & JULIET (his co-star being none other than Jayne Mansfield) that is an almost certain disaster. The backers of the production are looking for a losing proposition as a tax shelter. Though the premise is pretty similar to the later Mel Brooks masterpiece THE PRODUCERS, this film lacks any of that classic's wit or subversiveness. Instead, it's a labored, lame brained mess that wastes Chevalier, Eleanor Parker and Akim Tamiroff and makes very ill-use of the great Mansfield. It's directed by George Sherman and Giuliano Carnimeo. Blech.

Not even the label of "camp" can save this one. A precursor of The Producers, but without its sparkle or satiric bite. Chevalier does everything short of winking at the camera--a sad final chapter to his career. The project ends up resembling the intentionally bad TV pilot that the film is about.

If one ignores the pathetic quality of the actual film stock used to bring this to the screen, If one ignores the sad overacting of Mr. Chevalier, If one ignores the convoluted plot, If one ignores the eccentric direction, One will find some redeeming qualities in Panic Button: The scenes of Europe, a more innocent Europe, a different mannered Europe were handled well. I really felt transported to the early 60's. One is able to observe the way that our sensibilities have changed in such few years. We observe that the sophistication of moviemaking has come a very long way from those days. I watched this movie with not as much cringing as other reviewers. I tend to discern some of the good things that directors try to bring to movies. And lastly, I did laugh and I did smile where I should have. So for that, I must at least give Panic Button a "6".