International Secret Police: Key of Keys

International Secret Police: Key of Keys (Kokusai Himitsu Keisatsu) (1965)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Senkichi Taniguchi

Starring: Tatsuya Mihashi, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Tadao Nakamaru, Susumu Kurobe

From: Toho

A.K.A. the movie Woody Allen comically dubbed for his debut What’s Up Tiger Lily? I’ve never viewed Lily before despite knowing of it for years. Yesterday when I reviewed Manhattan, a mutual left a comment stating they only had seen Lily, a film they were not a fan of. I responded and they responded back where they recommended the Toho spy film Key of Keys, part of the International Secret Police series. One Google search later, what a shock it was to discover—Key of Keys was available on archive.org w/ English subs. I knew right then & there what to check out last night.

Tiger Lily has never been viewed by me; in the past the premise would have been of interest-less so now. Besides, from hearsay the film (dubbed into a tale involving an… egg salad recipe) has aged even worse than egg salad left in the heat. Thus, I can only discuss this Toho flick in its original form, the 4th in the series.

Our lead Kitami gets involved in a case involving the residents of an island wishing to overthrow the colonizers inhabiting their land & 10 million dollars locked in a safe. Both Akiko Wakabayashi & Mie Hama of You Only Live Twice fame assist Kitami—much to his delight. You see, our lead is so HORNY, he makes 007 look almost chaste in comparison. No kidding, he literally peeks through a keyhole at Wakabayashi in the bathroom as she’s taking a bath!

The film is decidedly uneven as it juggles through its various plot points and at times uses sets that don’t look too good in HD. Those points duly noted, I was still entertained as Kitami and his two ladies have an uneasy alliance with a gangster; they have a common cause but of course can you trust a gangster?

There’s enough intrigue, escapes, wacky characters (my favorite being a guy best described as “the world’s most demented bartender”. He was one step away from constantly drooling!), cobras and heists to be an entertaining time. The other pictures in the series are said to be better—good luck in me attempting to track those down in any form, let alone subtitled or dubbed; they otherwise can’t be found online whatsoever.

The film has more English spoken and white people in the first half than expected; this did lead to one of my favorite tropes: WHITE PEOPLE DANCING. Those people were definitely white, meaning “no rhythm whatsoever”!