Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Mild
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- irreverent
- surreal
- cult movie night
- comedy double feature
What critics said
Critics broadly recognize the film's inventive mismatched-dubbing premise and sustained comic absurdity, while finding its deliberately chaotic execution uneven.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Japanese spy film's soundtrack is deleted and replaced with an unrelated English comic storyline.
Woody Allen appears as the projectionist and the plot suggests that audiences and projectionists may affect the mission.
An international spy mission hinges on recovering an egg salad recipe rather than a conventional secret weapon or document.
A Japanese spy caper is transformed into an English-language comedy through incompatible dialogue and reordered scenes.
Films like What's Up, Tiger Lily?, and why
Casino Royale
surreal spy spoofing, rapid-fire comic dialogue, and playful genre deconstruction
Our Man Flint
irreverent spy parody built around exaggerated villains, sexual innuendo, and comic missions
The Purple Rose of Cairo
meta-cinematic comedy that exposes and manipulates film conventions
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
absurdist espionage humor and deliberately artificial genre play
Movie Details
- Directors
- Woody Allen, Senkichi Taniguchi
- Release Date
- 1966-11-02
- Runtime
- 80 min
- Rating
- 5.4 / 10 (218)
Cast
- Tatsuya Mihashi
- Akiko Wakabayashi
- Mie Hama
- Tadao Nakamaru
- Susumu Kurobe
- Woody Allen
- China Lee
- John Sebastian
- Zal Yanovsky
- Steve Boone
Common questions
- What is What's Up, Tiger Lily? about?
- Woody Allen turns a Japanese spy caper into a gleefully nonsensical English-dubbed adventure about criminals battling over an egg salad recipe.
- What is What's Up, Tiger Lily? like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of What's Up, Tiger Lily? as brisk, its intensity as mild and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is What's Up, Tiger Lily? violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in What's Up, Tiger Lily? as mild.
- What did critics think of What's Up, Tiger Lily??
- Critics broadly recognize the film's inventive mismatched-dubbing premise and sustained comic absurdity, while finding its deliberately chaotic execution uneven.
- Which films are like What's Up, Tiger Lily??
- Films with a similar feel include Casino Royale, Our Man Flint, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.
- How long is What's Up, Tiger Lily??
- What's Up, Tiger Lily? runs 80 minutes.
