Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine (1965)
Directed by Philippe de Broca

Film Review

After the spectacular success of L'Homme de Rio, Philippe de Broca was commissioned to direct a similar frenetic action comedy, again with Jean-Paul Belmondo in the lead role.  De Broca freely adapted a novel by Jules Verne to create a film in the same vein as L'Homme de Rio, but with a bigger budget and with far more liberal use of comic stunts.

Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine is an indefatigable action farce from start to finish, seemingly exploding with some genuinely breathtaking stunts set against some equally breathtaking scenery.  Filmed in such exotic locations as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpar, Bombay and the jungles of Malaysia, you get the impression that no expense was spared (and it wasn't).   This is big budget comic book comedy à la Stephen Spielberg (who himself was allegedly influenced by de Broca's films), a uniquely Broca-esque melange of James Bond and Tintin.  This time, de Broca even manages to hire a real-life Bond girl to partner his lead actor, the stunning Ursula Andress, more than justifying the inclusion of a shameless Bond parody at the end of the film.

There is nothing at all which is remotely profound or believable in this film.  It is an unashamed comic diversion, pure escapism, in which increasingly O.T.T. comic situations falling thick and fast and stunt actors (which include Belmondo) seemingly engage in a battle to the death to out-do each other.  For the viewer, it is an exhausting but thoroughly entertaining romp, although you may feel that you are sitting through a video recording of Around the World in Eighty Days with the play control stuck on "fast-forward".

Film Synopsis

After several failed suicide attempts, the depressive young millionaire Arthur Lempereur agrees to go on a tour of the Far East with his valet Léon, his fiancée and her parents.  Learning that he is bankrupt, Arthur decides to hang himself, but is talked out of it by his accountant Mr Goh, who makes him a deal.  Arthur's death will be assured if he agrees to sign an insurance contract, in which a million dollars will be paid to his fiancée and to Mr Goh, if he dies within the next month.  When unknown strangers start taking pot shots at him, Arthur soon regains his enthusiasm for life.  He and Léon embark on a desperate mission to try to find Mr Goh to persuade him to annul the contract...