MY NAME IS MODESTY: A MODESTY BLAISE ADVENTURE

US, 2003, 78 minutes, Colour.
Alexandra Staden, Nikolai Coster- Waldeau, Raymond Cruz, Fred Pearson, Valentin Teodosiu, Eugenia Yuan.
Directed by Scott Speigel.

In the 1960s, there was a colourful film version of the Modesty Blaze comic strip, directed by the unlikely candidate, Joseph Losey, American expatriate because of the blacklisting, making films in the 50s and 60s in England. It featured Monica Vitti in the title role, the supporting cast included Dirk Bogarde. It was filmed in the style which was later to become more popular, comic-strip style.

This version is presented by Quentin Tarantino, the kind of film that he probably liked to rent out when he worked in his video store. While it eventually does have some action, there is a great deal of talk in conversation, as well as in the important flashbacks to tell Modesty’s story and her origins.

British Alexandra Staden is Modesty, the adult. However, we see her first as a young girl, in the wars and devastation in the Balkans in the 1990s. She is ragged, hungry, encountering some soldiers who are kind to her and give her some food. As the film progresses and Modesty encounters the arch-villain, a young Nikolai Coster- Waldeau, Miklos, robbing the owner of a profitable casino in Morocco, killing him, massacring guards, taking hostages and killing some of those, a ruthless man who says he is avenging his father’s death. He decides that he will play roulette with Modesty supervising, as we have seen her do in the casino, fixing the wheel when a vain high-flyer wins too much, and then loses it all, under the supervising eye of the casino owner.

The bet while they play is that he will let a hostage go and she will answer questions honestly about her background.

The little girl escapes with a Professor on the run, a wise man, who becomes her father-figure, instructing her about life, teaching her to read, drawing on Mallory’s Mort d' Arthur, the book that he carries with him. The film shows their varied adventures, escaping from soldiers, wandering through Turkey, surviving, sometimes with difficulty, and she growing up with education and mastery of languages.

When the Professor is killed in an attack, she is hungry, adrift in Morocco, picks a wallet in the marketplace and is noticed by the owner of the casino who then takes her under his wing and offers her a job.

Modesty does mention in passing that she was trained in Asian martial arts – and, when Miklos, thinks he has the upper hand, she brings her abilities into vigorous and instant action, fighting with Miklos, who eventually falls over balustrade into the main area of the casino.

This is a straight to video, straight to DVD film, short in running time, spending a lot of time on the interaction between Modesty and Miklos, their battle of wits, introducing some violence in the attack on the casino owner and his murder, some callous violence against the staff in the hotel, Modesty taking moral control, getting Miklos to allow a wounded staff member to be taken to hospital, supporting one of the workers who suffers from low self-image, who also stands up to the attackers, gaining in herself-image.

The brief film is an enjoyable action pastime, comic-strip style, and an addition to the cinema of Modesty Blaise.