Year of Release: 1974Country of Origin: UK, USA
Director: Blake Edwards
Cast: Julie Andrews, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quayle, Dan O'Herlihy
Plot outline: Rival Cold War diplomats fall in love in the Caribbean (IMDb).
The Tamarind Seed is an espionage thriller. The plot is quite involved but seemed a bit too full of contrivances to really be taken as seriously as it wanted to be. The pacing was a bit problematic too - it just dragged on too slowly in parts. The final plot twist was utterly predictable, though kind of in a good way (you’ll see what I mean). The music was rather repetitive and thus mildly annoying rather than atmospheric. However, there were good aspects to it, and overall I did enjoy it. It focused more on the human element than many espionage movies do, which is good. Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif played their parts well, and there was a good supporting cast including Anthony Quayle (head of MI6) and Sylvia Sims. The main characters were quite interesting, though I never felt that the movie really delved beneath the surfaces of their characters. It might have worked better if it had taken itself a little less seriously - director Blake Edwards seems less at ease with this serious style of film, though it is still a creditable attempt (perhaps he is a victim of his own success in this regard). There were some decent action scenes and some intriguing moments, just too much not-very-much-going-on situations in between. Overall it did help the movie that both Andrews and Sharif have such a screen presence, though their characters did seem to lack a certain chemistry together. Overall The Tamarind Seed is a movie worth watching, but is a bit too slow-going to be truly great. (CD)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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