Madame Sin (1972) User Reviews

Bette Davis' spies.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 18 December 2016]

My DVD describes Madame Sin as 'a prime example of the camp spy genre'; how misleading! Yes, there are some crazy futuristic inventions used by the baddies to achieve their nefarious goal, but the film as a whole is actually rather sober affair, especially considering the impact of the unexpectedly bleak ending.

Bette Davis plays the titular character, a criminal mastermind who lives on a remote Scottish island from where she conducts her wicked money-making schemes. Robert Wagner is ex-CIA agent Anthony Lawrence, who is abducted by Sin's henchmen and used as a pawn to assist in the stealing of a Polaris submarine, which the villainess intends to sell to revolutionaries.

Rather than a garish, cheezy romp full of outrageous set pieces and witty one-liners from the hero, writer/director David Greene plays much of the film surprisingly straight, even going so far as to add an avant-garde vibe to early scenes, taking the film firmly out of the realm of Matt Helm or James Bond. A bizarre electronic score only adds to the off-beat atmosphere.

Depicted as such, the film sometimes feels frustratingly dreary and uneventful: one longs for an exotic location, a desperate shootout or an exciting car chase to alleviate the tedium that occasionally sets in as Lawrence tries to thwart Sin's plans.

High Camp

[ralphsampson · 7/10 · 2 August 2001]

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.

Bette carries it through

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 11 July 2019]

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.

Fu Manchu -- with Betty Davis eyes!

[Bruce_Cook · 26 February 2004]

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.

The biggest sin? Having Bette Davis star in this otherwise cool film!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 25 February 2019]

The idea of "Madame Sin" isn't bad...but casting Bette Davis...that's insane!

When the story begins, a secret agent, Anthony Lawrence (Robert Wagner) is kidnapped in the UK and brought to a manor home. This place is run by Madame Sin (Bette Davis), a half-Asian supervillian much like Fu Manchu or a Bond character. She is rich and evil and has scientists working for her making evil gadgets, such as as sonic device that can kill or render someone into human jelly as well as a machine where she can probe mines and even implant memories!! With this, she plans on making a fortune...sort of a mercenary criminal genius for hire! So why does she need Lawrence? Well, using him, she plans on stealing a Polaris submarine and selling it to a buyer willing to give her a billion dollars for it! Can Lawrence possibly twart her evil plans?

This was originally made as a pilot for a TV series...a series that was never picked up by any of the networks. And, when you watch it you can see why. The basic idea and location shooting are all fine...but having Bette Davis in the role was utterly ridiculous and she looks about as Asian as Lassie! I am sure a lot of folks laughed when they saw this...and it's sad that when the film was made, Davis was essentially doing ANYTHING provided it paid. See films like "Bunny O'Hare" and you'll see what I mean.

The bottom line is that is actually a very cool spy/action film...but is fatally flawed simply because of the casting. Fun to watch...and unfortunately a bit silly.

"I want you to help me hijack a Polaris submarine"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 25 August 2018]

A mysterious figure called Madame Sin kidnaps an ex-CIA agent to help her steal a Polaris submarine. Fortunately she lives on a Scottish island near to a submarine base and fortunately the agent Anthony Lawrence knows the commander in charge of the submarine. There are other plot strands to do with Lawrence's personal and professional past. Madame Sin is aided by the financial wizard Malcolm De Vere and a low lifer called Monk. It is a low budget spy film but I enjoyed it quite a lot. Partly due to the lovely Scottish locations where a lot of it was filmed and mainly due to some of the cast.

Robert Wagner is all right I suppose as Lawrence but he is outshone by the legendary Bette Davis as Madame Sin who is wicked but also amusing and makes even the merest of routine dialogue sound interesting. Denholm Elliott as De Vere and Dudley Sutton as Monk are almost as good. With a stronger script it would have been excellent.

It was the pilot for a television series that never happened which was a shame as with better writing it would have been fun to follow the fortunes of Madame Sin, de Vere and Monk as they plotted nefarious schemes about the world, with the same actors of course. Shame it never happened. As for the character of Lawrence? The penultimate scene tells all.

Bette Davis is watching. Pretend you're busy.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 2 February 2017]

Once again, it's a mod, mod, mod, mod world for Bette Davis who pretends to be a Gale Sondergaard like aging dragon lady in this ridiculously strange spy drama. If you like Bette at her baddest, this is it, and she chews it all up like the last egg roll on the plate. Davis's evilly dressed world criminal has her assistant Denholm Elliott kidnap good guy spy Robert Wagner for a secret mission, and brings him into her art deco world to explain it. If you find yourself losing track of what's going in, you are not the only one transfixed by what looks like left over sets by the "Dr. Philbes" movies. Bette smokes and cackles and talks in that clipped speech that is equally transfixing.

It's funny, however, that Davis talks and talks over and over...about nothing. All of a sudden, she blurts out what she wants him to help her with, and says it like she just wants a dinner companion. But of course, it's a lot more than that, and the needs of a map, diagram or scorecard to figure what this supposed elderly Asian lady is up to. It's obvious that there is great affection between Davis and Wagner, having recently worked together on TV. This was seen as a movie of the week in the states, but it was released theatrically overseas which is reflected in a 90 minute version with 15 minutes additional to the broadcast. The lush location photography would certainly play well on the big screen, but unfortunately it's just not very good.

This should have been a series!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 4 December 2018]

Originally broadcast on January 15, 1972, this film emerged at the tail end of the superspy craze to present a truly insane idea for a weekly series that was never to be: Bette Davis as a villainous vixen who commands an army beneath the Scottish highlands to do her bidding. Imagine if Dr. Evil were the lead in his own show and you have a vague idea of how completely bonkers this movie is.

Arming her men with sonic weaponry and possessing the ability to implant memories that make people do whatever she wants, what the titular vaguely Asian spiderlady wants is to get her very own nuclear submarine.

Helping and hindering her in this plan is Anthony Lawrence (Robert Wagner), whose father was a past lover/adversary of Madame Sin. She's helped by Malcolm De Vere (Denholm Elliot) and a huge army of sycopants, including numerous women who dress like nuns.

If it seems like I am describing a dream I had that is my best film idea ever, this is close. Imagine if Bette Davis were a villainess on The Avengers, but one that - spoiler warning - wipes out every single person who faces her and even dares to imagine kicking the British Royal Family out of Buckingham Palace.

While intended to be an ABC in the U.S. and ITC in the U.K. co-production, this film sadly wasn't picked up. It'd be hard to see this level of quality continued week in, week out, such as shooting everything at Pinewood Studios.

Madame Sin was directed by David Greene, who was also behind the film version of Godspell and big TV event movies like Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man. One of its writers, Barry Shear, was the director of Wild in the Streets.

Ah the 1970's, when spy movies like this would just show up as Movies of the Week and then disappear into the ether, only to remain in our subconsciousness or perhaps a replay on the CBS Late Movie.

Dr. Evil's mum!

[Rueiro · 5/10 · 22 December 2012]

This is worth watching just for the fun of seeing Bette the Great playing a female Fu-Manchu in a straight-face parody of the James Bond films.

The usually wooden Robert Wagner is a former secret agent who seems to have fallen into hard times, we can deduct from his shabby appearance and his wandering down the Dilly as the film starts. He can't even afford himself a fare to fly back to the States, but then he angrily rejects Denholm Elliot's offer of a couple of days work and no questions asked, because he can see the man is a crook in a Savile Row suit. Then, the action begins in pure old Avengers style: Wagner is kidnapped in St. James' Park in broad daylight under everyone's obliviousness -the British always mind their own business, we all know- and flown to a castle in Scotland… and welcome to Madame Sin's secret lair!

Playing Madame must have been fun for good old Bette, plus a cheque with seven figures in her bank account. Wagner seems to be the only actor in the cast who thought they were making a serious movie, because even Denholm Elliott plays tongue-in-cheek with a perpetual grin, and Roy Kinnear's cameo as a foolish passer-by whom Wagner persuades to call the Royal Navy from a phone booth and report that Madame is about to steal one of their nuclear submarines brings a few laughs too.

Nevertheless, it has to be said on Wagner's behalf that he does his own driving stunts in that cute little Mercedes while keeping his hair on, which is something.

Unsold TV-Pilot...A Hoot & a Half with Dragon-Lady Davis Plugged-In...Somewhat Serious

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 20 October 2023]

Although by 1972 the "Secret-Agent" Fad was about Ready to Fade, but a Few Stragglers were Offered Die-Hard "Bond" Fans, even though They Had Run the Gamut on the Big and Little Screen, with the Likes of...

"Our Man Flint", "Matt Helm", "Secret Agent Man", "The Man From U. N. C. L. E", "The Avengers", The Girl From U. N. C. L. E., "Get Smart", "The Prisoner", and Others.

This is Wildly Watchable as Bette Davis is Out to Conquer the World and Fry a Few Brains On the Way, with Agent Robert Wagner Trying to Keep His Head on "Straight".

It's a Lively Affair with Lurid Mad-Labs Full of Brain-Probing Experiments and Sonic Weapons with an Electronic Soundtrack Underneath and a Surprisingly Down-Beat Ending.

It Manages to Retain just the Right Amount of the Overtones of a Cracker-Jack, World-Domination Espionage Flick, Sprinkled with the Absurd that Keeps thing Frisky.

If Failing to Snatch a "Polaris Sub" Doesn't Work Out, Next on Her "Bucket-List" is "Buckingham Palace" and The Crown Jewels".

That could have Filled "Season One", but No One was Buying at this Late Date and the "Spy" Genre Continued to Fade Into "Yesterday's News"

But this is Produced Snazzy Enough and with Davis, Walker, a Good Supporting Cast, some Psychedelica, and Groovy Sounds, it was a Good Try, and...

Worth a Watch.

Not bad but not Good - Skip it in most cases

[cB391 · 4/10 · 21 April 2013]

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.

How To Steal A Starfish

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 11 January 2009]

'Madame Sin' was a late addition to the cycle of James Bond rip-offs that began in the '60's. It was the creation of American writer Lou Morheim and Barry Shear, the latter responsible for directing several 'Man From U.N.C.L.E.' episodes. The script though was by Barry Oringer and David Greene, who also directed the stylish spy romp 'Sebastian' with Dirk Bogarde.

Robert Wagner is cast as 'Anthony Lawrence', an ex-C.I.A. agent down on his luck. He is approached in a London park by Malcolm De Vere ( Denholm Elliott ) who offers him a job. No sooner has he turned it down than two nuns appear, ostensibly collecting charity money, one of whom zaps him with a dandy sonic device. Lawrence is driven off in a fake ambulance to a rendezvous with a helicopter. When he wakes up, he is on the private island of the mysterious super-villain Madame Sin ( Bette Davis ).

The Madame has an underground laboratory in which scientists have perfected a means of mind control. She intends, with Lawrence's help, to abduct the commander of H.M.S. Starfish, Britain's newest nuclear submarine. To act as bait, one of Lawrence's old girlfriends Barbara ( Catherine Schell ) is around...

Stylish romp, camp and fun. I suspect it was Anne Robinson's favourite movie once as the Madame seems to be the inspiration for her 'Weakest Link' persona. Bette Davis goes through it all puffing cigars, wearing blue eyeshadow and what appears to be one of Ena Sharples' old hairnets. The script alas does not give her any memorable lines, hence she never once exudes the menace required for the role. She was far more sinister in 'The Anniversary' in 1969.

Wagner plays 'Lawrence' in much the same key as 'Al Mundy', his character in 'It Takes A Thief'. Denholm Elliott steals the show, and Gordon Jackson and Dudley Sutton also light up the screen. Gabriella Licudi ( 'The Liquidator', 'Casino Royale' ) is one of the evil nuns.

Enjoyable though this is, one wishes it had been made for the cinema on a bigger budget. It cries out for explosive set pieces but does not get them. Brian Eatwell's sets dazzle though, and it concludes with an original twist on the normal 'Bond' style endings.

It was intended as a back-door pilot for a series that was never made. Pity. I would have liked seeing Madame Sin going after the Russian Crown Jewels.

campy spy movie with bette davis

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 2 March 2024]

Bette davis was already 64, and would do "nile" six years after this! She's madam sin, who kidnaps lawrence (wagner, between thief and hart to hart). He's a retired agent, whose help they want in stealing a new model submarine. Step one is to kidnap and brainwash the sub's captain. Lots of cheap and cheesy sound effects, which quickly get tiresome. Some fun co-stars. Denholm elliott, who we all know as coleman, from trading places. And catherine schell, who played some HUGE roles before and after this. Take a moment and check out the parts she played in very well known films and series. It's campy and silly, but good. Kind of a james bond knock off film, with davis as the evil villain. Bette davis plays herself, as she always does, with her stilted speech. Directed by david greene, who had also directed godspell and roots.

Wayland Flowers gave the world a slightly more enjoyable Madame than Bette did.

[Poseidon-3 · 17 April 2007]

Filmed in the United Kingdom with a reasonably solid cast of mostly British professionals, this spy caper nonetheless remains a pretty dull affair, enlivened not too frequently by bursts of unintentional hilarity. Wagner plays a secret agent, captured and forcibly recruited by Davis, as the title character, to steal away an important naval commander (Jackson) and help brainwash him into steering a submarine into her clutches. Aided by Elliott, she coerces Wagner into taking part in her misdeeds by using his missing and presumed dead girlfriend Schell. Filmed amid windy and expansive fields and seasides, the film has the benefit of authentic locales to keep it from looking like a standard bit of studio-manufactured tripe. However, too much of it is bland and tedious for it to make much of a mark, even with the always interesting presence of Ms. Davis. Here, her sometimes exaggerated features are frozen in a quasi-Asian mask of taut expression and heavy duty eyelashes (and a sizable dollop of baby blue eyeshadow) and she's always clad in black from head to toe, except for the occasional bit of jewelry. As is common for her at this stage of her career, she becomes winded easily and takes breaths in odd places of her dialogue as she shows Wagner around her compound (which sometimes resembles the inside of the big metal ball at Epcot Center), her black chiffon scarf continually being flitted about as she maneuvers around. Wagner (who was friends with Davis through his marriage to Natalie Wood) is low-key and laconic through most of it, his character being frequently assaulted one way or another and otherwise worried about the issues confronting him. Elliott provides a nice touch of élan in an unchallenging role. Schell's role is very small and doesn't give her the chance to make much of an impression, though she doesn't embarrass herself. Comedy favorite Kinnear has a bit as a father who is manhandled into making an urgent phone call for a character who has suddenly become deaf. The deaf aspect of the plot makes it somewhat unique, though often it is responsible for more titters than drama. The terrain, which bears an odd resemblance to the area where "The Birds" was filmed, is interesting up to a point, but the endless, endless shots of people driving and running in the grass eventually begin to cause a loss of interest. Despite her distinctive and striking appearance, Davis isn't really given anything particularly memorable to do and thus the film becomes rather forgettable.

Bette Davis is the bomb

[obiwankenokie · 7/10 · 10 April 2024]

The music is distracting, Wagner is meh, the story is not awful although simple and not nearly as exciting as the producer thought it would be. Movies like this help me understand the value of Tom Cruise, because that's what Robert Wagner thought this was. Anyway Bette Davis proves why she is a super star. Several perfect line readings, one liners that slay! If this movie were 10% more camp with better music it would be iconic.

Robert Wagner plays a former spy, all butt hurt because his girlfriend dumps him. He gets kidnapped in the first reel by Bette Davis' goons and is flown to a Scottish island castle. She is Dr Evil. She has kind of an Asian look but not yellow face, just some old rich evil genius who rocks an Asian inspired look.

Interesting, original!

[RodrigAndrisan · 8/10 · 5 December 2019]

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!