This isn't auteur Woody Allen, this is incredibly early and silly Woody Allen and it's hilarious. He took a cheap Japanese James Bond type movie, mixed up the scenes and redubbed it into English but having changed the dialogue completely. So while the original movie dealt with a spy story the new one deals with the ultimate egg salad recipe because he who owns it controls the world. Yes, that's right. You now have people fighting and searching for an egg salad recipe. And that's pretty much it. The situations are made all the more ridiculous from what the characters are now saying. Things like the hero Phil Moskowitz, a fine Japanese name if I ever heard one, calling his foes names like "Saracen Pig" and "Turkish Taffy" as he fights them. The aptly named "Cobra Man" who sounds a lot like Peter Lorre and he's getting his cobra ready to marry a chicken. And who can forget the High Macha Of Rashpur, a totally real sounding place and they're on the waiting list for a country and as soon as there's an opening, they're in.Above all else, don't try to take this seriously.

It may be anachronistic to look at Woody Allen's directorial debut. 'What's up, Tiger Lily is a clever conceit: buy a Japanese action film, then reduce it with other dialog, and in English. Such an idea may have appeared novel a half-century ago, and Allen has moved on although his humor has in some ways remained jejune. However in 1965, a year before Tiger Lily, Allen wrote and had a role in a farce 'What's New Pussy Cat?' that has retained its freshness and drollery yea these 51 years. In comparison, Tiger Lily seems old; flat, shop warn. It is a curiosity piece in the Allen list of films. The New York humor shines through; the seemingly nonchalance of Allen as he keeps his distance in commenting on the film. Tiger Lily brought him to prominence as a film maker, and that in itself is worth noting. For the curious zap through the film, it has lost any freshness it once hand. It's a haunted house, a curiosity, a museum relic,

Many years before 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' popularized making fun of bad films to a whole new generation, Woody Allen - in his first 'directing' gig - had a field day completely re- dubbing this unintentionally silly Japanese spy film into a very intentionally silly comedy about the desperate search for the recipe for the perfect egg salad.It has a few dry spells, and I thought the spliced in musical numbers by 'The Lovin' Spoonful' were pretty embarrassing in a now dated attempt to make the film 'hip'.But where it's funny, it's very, very funny. And not only are there a slew of choice new lines, but the voice talents are all excellent, really capturing the awful, stiff voice acting we all got used to hearing in cheaply dubbed imports. A one-of-a kind comedy, and worth checking out if you're in a silly mood, or are any sort of fan of Woody Allen's non-sequiters and wit. Yes, it's adolescent compared with where Allen would go just a few years later, but that doesn't mean it's not a lot of fun!

What’s up Tiger Lily: 7 out of 10: Long before Airplane or Mystery Science Theater 3000 or even my own mix-up of an uncut bootleg of Chōjin densetsu Urotsukidōji and Led Zeppelin II (Blows Pink Floyd and the Wizard of OZ out of the water.) there was What’s Up Tiger Lily.A very young Woody Allen acquired the rights of a Japanese James Bond knockoff called Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (Literal English title International Secret Police: Key of Keys) and dubbed in his own dialogue.The film starts with some non-dubbed footage involving bondage, a shootout, and a circular saw. Then Woody appears with an interviewer what he has done with the film. The film then restarts Woody’s dubbing in place and with the exception of two short interruptions by Woody (both very funny) It is the Japanese import with a new script and story.The dub itself is quite funny and well done. One can definitely see the roots of some of Woody Allen’s comic themes in this work. The overall story of the world’s greatest egg salad recipe is quite well done and the voice work is applicable and fits the on screen characters well.What’s Up Tiger Lily benefits from good source material to work with. Longtime fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 know that even the best riffing can suffer from deadly boring source material. (Red Zone Cuba for example). What’s Up Tiger Lily’s source material is colorful, action packed, and has a very attractive cast. In fact I would love to see the original source material.On the down side, since the film is dubbed, when the movie has no dialogue the experience can drag. Unlike an Airplane or a Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffing session, What’s Up Tiger Lily isn’t a 10 jokes a minute affair. Even more detrimental the Lovin Spoonful show up periodically to present an unrelated music video. This both dates the effort horribly and kills the flow of the humor.What’s Up Tiger Lily is a must see for fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and of Woody Allen’s early comedy. (And fans of the Lovin Spoonful I guess).One should pay respect to ones elders and it is a very fun time.