My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.
"The Last of Philip Banter" is a glamorous suspense film that misses the mark. Filmmaker Herve Hachuel tries hard to create another "Last Year at Marienbad" puzzler but comes up with a hyped-up trifle.
An interesting basic story, taken from a novel by the late Franklin Bardin, has Philip Banter (Scott Paulin) as a young man going crazy as he is working in Madrid for his father-in-law Charles Foster (Tony Curtis). His marriage to beautiful Elizabeth (Irene Miracle) is breaking up and returning to the office he is amazed to find a big chunk of a manuscript typed on his typewriter (presumably by himself) which tells a credible melodramatic tle about people in his life.
In a confusing structure, the film presents illustration of what Banter is reading in the manuscript, interspersed with real scenes he experiences, both types of footage having the same characters and actors. Banter seems paranoid, but it also is quite obvious that he is being manipulated, with the connivance of his best friend Bobby (Gregg Henry) and a pretty blonde (Kate Vernon).
There's a decided air of anticlimax by the time all the plot threads are tied up. Finale is not only pat but downright stupid, with the villains falling under a subway train.
Pulin is wholly unsympathetic and a bit tiresome as the nominal hero, while most of the other cast members simply glide through their roles as if involved in a fashion show. In an unsubtle, one-note performance, Tony Curtis telegraphs his nefarious motives and robs the story of its suspense. In a quirky role, Vernon proves far more interesting than lead Miracle. Gregg Henry is unimpressive, but perks things up by singing three of his own jazz-flavored songs on the soundtrack.
Ricardo Chara's visuals of elegant Madrid locations are a bit too distracting for the good of the film overall. English-language dialog for this European production is recorded up to U. S. standards.
"The Last of Philip Banter" is a glamorous suspense film that misses the mark. Filmmaker Herve Hachuel tries hard to create another "Last Year at Marienbad" puzzler but comes up with a hyped-up trifle.
An interesting basic story, taken from a novel by the late Franklin Bardin, has Philip Banter (Scott Paulin) as a young man going crazy as he is working in Madrid for his father-in-law Charles Foster (Tony Curtis). His marriage to beautiful Elizabeth (Irene Miracle) is breaking up and returning to the office he is amazed to find a big chunk of a manuscript typed on his typewriter (presumably by himself) which tells a credible melodramatic tle about people in his life.
In a confusing structure, the film presents illustration of what Banter is reading in the manuscript, interspersed with real scenes he experiences, both types of footage having the same characters and actors. Banter seems paranoid, but it also is quite obvious that he is being manipulated, with the connivance of his best friend Bobby (Gregg Henry) and a pretty blonde (Kate Vernon).
There's a decided air of anticlimax by the time all the plot threads are tied up. Finale is not only pat but downright stupid, with the villains falling under a subway train.
Pulin is wholly unsympathetic and a bit tiresome as the nominal hero, while most of the other cast members simply glide through their roles as if involved in a fashion show. In an unsubtle, one-note performance, Tony Curtis telegraphs his nefarious motives and robs the story of its suspense. In a quirky role, Vernon proves far more interesting than lead Miracle. Gregg Henry is unimpressive, but perks things up by singing three of his own jazz-flavored songs on the soundtrack.
Ricardo Chara's visuals of elegant Madrid locations are a bit too distracting for the good of the film overall. English-language dialog for this European production is recorded up to U. S. standards.