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MY_NAME_IS_MODESTY

                                             January 22, 2009

It took me years to hear about
this: there was a direct-to-video
submarine release of a Modesty               A tip passed
Blaise film:                                 on to me by:

   "My Name is Modesty" (2004)                    SUN_FISH

   This was intended as a legal
   placeholder: Tarrentino needed
   to do something with the
   property or lose the rights, so
   they commissioned this quickie.

   Hence, it is supposed to be
   remarkable that the writers actually          Written by:
   pulled off a decent Modesty Blaise            Lee Batchler &
   story, which is by far the best of            Janet Scott Batchler
   the filmed attempts to date.

   There is, of course, nothing at all
   remarkable about this fact: if you're
   doing a low budget project that no one has        In the DVD extras,
   anything invested in, it suddenly becomes         an interview with
   possible to do a good job.  You                   Tarrentino and the
   don't have incessant story conferences,           director reveals
   and re-writes by umpteen different                that he has a lot
   writers, and extraneous demands placed on         of respect for
   the story by "stars" and producers...             Roger Corman, in
                                                     particular a
   The low budget necessitated a story heavy         film called "Rock
   on dialog and character, leading up to the        all Night".
   one real fight scene at the close.
                                                        CORMAN
   The stuff that really makes a film work
   are the cheap things... when the
   budget gets too large, it threatens to       UNINTENDED
   undercut everything that really matters.


A possible flaw:

I've heard the complaint that the actress
playing Modesty Blaise is "too skinny"...              Played by:
this is true enough, but misses a few points:          Alexandra Staden
(1) they were filming a very young Modesty
Blaise, and in flashbacks this actress needs
to play the character at an even younger age;
(2) she plays the role with conviction: when
she looks into the camera you see a woman with
some force to her, and this is really the key       For some reason,
thing for someone playing the character.            Hollywood productions
                                                    insist on taking some
                                                    random bimbo and
                                                    pretending that she
                                                    can act tough.
A definite flaw:
                                                         Writing in Venus
They needed to do one scene of Modesty                   Smith when the
Blaise using martial arts skills, but if                 story calls
they followed O'Donnel's history, at this                for Catherine Gale.
early stage in her career she would still
be a street fighter without formal                            THE_VENUS_SMITH
training.

As a patch, they tossed in the idea that her
original tutor Lob also knew the "secrets"
of martial arts masters of the east.

This is a complete violation of Lob's character,
and isn't at all plausible given what we're shown
(when they meet, the young Modesty defends Lob
against some attacking kids).

                                    It would only have
                                    taken another line or
                                    two to cover this.

                                    How about:

                                    "He taught you to fight?"

                                    "I have known how to fight for
                                     as long as I can remember --
                                     Lob taught me to think
                                     about fighting.  He was always
                                     strong on theory."


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