Monte Carlo (1986) (TV)

Director:

Anthony Page

Writers:

Peter Lefcourt (writer)
Stephen Sheppard (novel)

Release Date:

9 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Singer | Gambler | Nazi | Based On Novel

Cast

Joan Collins	...	Katrina Petrovna
George Hamilton	...	Harry Price
Lisa Eilbacher	...	Maggie Egan
Lauren Hutton	...	Evelyn MacIntyre
Robert Carradine	...	Bobby Morgan
Malcolm McDowell	...	Christopher Quinn
Philip Madoc	...	Properi
Leslie Phillips	...	Baldwin
Peter Vaughan	...	Pabst
Henri Garcin	...	La Coste
Clément Harari	...	Schimmel
Rainer Hunold	...	Gunther
Steve Kalfa	...	Marcel
David Quilter	...	Graham
Jean-Paul Denizon	...	Cafe Patron

Runtime:

Brazil:200 min | USA:200 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Collins-Holm Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Katrina performs "The Last Time I Saw Paris". The movie opens in 1939; the song was written in 1941.

My first impression was way out

This is a spy story set around Monaco at the time that France fell during the second world war.

My copy is an ultra low cost DVD, which I bought because Joan Collins is on the cover. Except that it took watching it a second time for it to feel worth watching. It felt empty, filled with lots of bad acting. I only looked the second time because my DVD crashed halfway through and I put it to one side on the off chance that I might have nothing better to do sometime. That happened and, okay.

I do not know how my reaction that first time happened. It is happening with me now with Lindsay Lohan and Emily Ann Lloyd and it has also happened with me with a lot of other stuff too. The comments I write are real to me, just they might not be real re reality. That does not stop me from having opinions, unfortunately. No way do I understand this aspect of personal reality.

The DVD crash was a mechanical thing solved by playing it on a more compatible drive. That is also something that happens occasionally and not just with budget price disks or second hand disks.

*

The DVD sleeve mentions that this is a TV mini series. My disk has the episodes joined together so that one would not otherwise know that it originally ran in separate parts. It lasting three hours will be due to this origin.

This does not have the appeal to me of the other two Joan Collins I have, that is Annie 2 of 1995 and Cartier Affair of 1984, but those are both comedies and this is a war drama of epic duration. It is a lot better than my first impression said.

I assume that Monte Carlo will be more approachable when seen in the original context of a series. My second viewing I did watch it over three days, an hour a day. When I watch it again I will do the same thing, but if I do it will be because of such as Annie 2 and Cartier Affair.

I find the scenery to be of special interest, me not knowing Monaco or the south east coast of France.