Paper Tiger (1975)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Ken Annakin

Writer:

Jack Davies (writer)

Release Date:

5 November 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot:

A somewhat prim and proper Englishman is hired as the tutor to the son of the Japanese ambassador. His life changes when he and the boy are kidnapped by terrorists for political purposes. |

Plot Keywords:

Boy | Japanese | Tutor | Terrorist | Tall Tale

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe.

Cast

David Niven	...	'Major' Walter Bradbury
Toshirô Mifune	...	Ambassador Kagoyama
Hardy Krüger	...	Müller
Ando	...	Koichi Kagoyama
Irene Tsu	...	Talah
Ivan Desny	...	Foreign Minister
Miiko Taka	...	Mme. Kagoyama
Jeff Corey	...	Mr. King
Patricia Donahue	...	Mrs. King
Ronald Fraser	...	Sergeant Forster
Jeannine Siniscal	...	Foreign Minister's Girl
Kurt Christian	...	Harok
Mika Kitagawa	...	Ambassador's Secretary
Eric Soh	...	Pathet
Salleh Ben Joned	...	Sokono (as Salleh Joned)

Runtime:

Germany:99 min | USA:99 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Euan Lloyd Productions

Trivia:

Toshiro Mifune is dubbed by David De Keyser

Soundtrack:

My Little Friend

Niven lifts an all too familiar tale

By this time in his career, debonair British actor David Niven was making films purely for the money. This effort was strangely different from other entries under this guise. The story of a dreamer facing the consequences of his masculine boasts is entertaining, and draws on his performance in Separate Tables.

There is a certain sadness, watching Niven as one of life's losers trying to make amends with one last act of heroism, full of pathos and regret. The film itself is nothing spectacular, but Niven manages to rescue it from oblivion, and credit where credit's due, he almost succeeds.