Vierne's 1961 version is slightly off the mark...

Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece (1961)

With October’s cinema release of the Speilberg/Jackson production of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011), Herge’s immortal boy reporter is certainly going to receive a huge boost in popularity. To cash in on this potential phenomenon, the various film and TV versions of the character will probably get re-packaged and re-released to a new generation of fans. Among the movies due for a new lease of life is this rarely-seen live-action French production originally known as Tintin et le mystere de la Toison d’Or.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Vierne, and with the approval of Herge, this is a very brave stab at bringing Tintin into a live setting. Rather than adapt one of the albums, the filmmakers have wisely opted for a brand-new story featuring all the familiar characters. The end result is very much a part of the Tintin universe.

After being left a ship by a recently deceased friend Captain Haddock (Georges Wilson) and Tintin (Jean-Pierre Talbot) go to Istanbul to claim the inheritance. The ship itself is worthless but after being offered a large sum of money from a shifty local businessman, it seems there is more to this broken-down old tub than meets the eye. After further investigation, Tintin and Haddock learn of a hidden treasure that is linked to the boat. The adventure begins!

This earnest but ultimately flawed film is a partially-successful attempt to recreate the panache of the comic books for the big screen. There is a lot to recommend but sadly it doesn’t quite work.

It’s certainly a well-made production with a decent budget that covered location filming around Athens and Istanbul. Photographed with strong visual flair by cinematographer Raymond Lemoigne, the film makes excellent use of colour and décor, which includes early examples of aerial and underwater photography. Clearly Lemoigne tried his best to capture the comic’s visual style. Thanks to Lemoigne’s superb efforts, the Greek and Turkish locations are vivid and striking; it’s interesting to see what life was like in these countries in the sixties. The film has a great sense of place and time, especially when you consider Istanbul would be used later in From Russia with Love (1963) – Tintin got there before 007! It has a few dated moments (heavy guitar twangs and sharp-suited villains straight out of The Man From Uncle), but overall it has a very fresh and picturesque look.

In fact so much care was put into the background work, the rest of the film’s falls off the mark. The thin story is underdeveloped and much of the humour looks forced, giving the impression it might have worked better if everything was played straight. This may be the fault of the English dubbing. But as French humour is rather mystifying to the Brits, it’s unlikely the original foreign-language version would be very entertaining. On saying that, the film has enough basic faults that cannot be blamed entirely on the dubbing. The action scenes are poorly handled and there are some sluggish moments that needed much tighter editing.

It’s always difficult to discuss the acting as the dubbing makes it difficult to evaluate the performances. Tintin’s voice ideally matches Talbot but Haddock’s voice isn’t quite right; perhaps that has more to do with many English fans remembering the Captain’s distinctive Irish brogue from the TV series. Haddock’s make-up is not very convincing; he looks like a waxwork version of Robert Newton (now HE would have made a brilliant Captain Haddock!). Wilson is a fine French character actor who has filmed internationally, but sadly he has trouble registering emotion behind the big false nose and beard.

Although Talbot is physically ideal, his schoolboy looks are a little too old for Tintin. It’s difficult to find any actor who can do justice to a very ageless, androgynous cartoon character, and while Talbot has a likeable charm, he doesn’t quite cut it as the boy reporter. Perhaps this is one character that really should remain in a cartoon world.

The make-up on Professor Calculus is equally unconvincing. In fact it looks rather creepy, but at least his scenes are brief. Georges Loriot made his name as a clown but doesn’t get to perform any slapstick. When the bumbling detectives Thompson and Thomson turn up, one had high hopes of some inspired comic moments, but sadly they are not as amusing as one would have hoped. The end credits bill the actors who play the Thom(p)sons as “Incognito”. They are not mentioned in IMBD and Wikipedia so I wonder who they really are!

The film boasts a quite strong continental cast of supporting actors. Veteran French actor Charles Vanel has a nice cameo as a monk. Making his film debut in 1908, Vanel has appeared alongside Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955) and starred in the classic thriller Les diabolique (1955). He remained a busy working actor until his death in 1989 at the age of 96! Effectively cast the heavy Angorapoulis, Marcel Bozzuffi is best-known actor in the cast. As Pierre Nicoli, the hit man who chases Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1972), Bozzuffi went on to make high profile film appearances in Valdez is Coming (1973), The Marseilles Contract (1974) and The Passage (1979) before his untimely death in 1988 at 59.

As Inspector Scoubidouvitch, Egyptian actor Dimos Starenios has also appeared in international ventures such as The 300 Spartans (1963) and The Greek Tycoon (1978). Further down the cast list as Nestor the butler is French comedy actor Max Elloy, who had a leading role in Laurel and Hardy’s last film Utopia (1951).

Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece was successful enough to produce the sequel Tintin et les oranges bleues (Tintin and the Blue Oranges – 1964). Talbot repeats his role, as does Max Elloy, but different actors play Haddock and Calculus; at least the actors playing the Thom(p)sons are credited. The film wasn’t quite as successful and plans for a third live action film were scrapped. A lifelong Tintin fan, the Belgium-born Talbot retired from acting shortly afterwards to become a teacher. To this day his still receives fan mail from all over the world.

Although it is not likely to satisfy many of the die-hard fans, Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece is not a worthless film by any means. It was a valiant attempt to bring the character to life. Although it didn’t quite work, the filmmakers deserve full marks for trying. Well done fellas!

See also:

Can Spielberg and Jackson do justice to the look of the Tintin comics?

Tintin, the movie: will it work?

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