Nudes on Credit (1963)

Nudes on Credit (1963). 46m

“This film apparently attempts to simulate the film-making of a bye gone era. However, it is never quite clear what the era is. The music is clearly that of the late 50s / early 60s, as is the clothing and furniture. But the characters talk and act like they are in a 30s screwball comedy. The protagonists are happy-go-lucky amateur conmen who stumble onto a suitcase full of credit cards and coded papers apparently belonging to a defecting Soviet agent. The conman live high on the dead manu0026#39;s credit while cartoonishly nefarious Russian hit men stalk their trail. The past is lovingly reproduced with apparently actual footage of scenes from London and San Francisco of the prior decades interspersed with set pieces carefully designed to simulate not the actual period so much as the times as they appeared in vintage films. But the background shots often seem from the 30s rather than the 60s, as does the occasionally blurry black and white film. Ultimately, the movie seems little more than an film-school exercise in reproducing a period film. It has nothing original to say in its own right, is not funny enough to qualify as a comedy by modern standards. If the creators only had a concept worthy of their considerable technical skill, this film would qualify as something more than an entertaining exercise in cultural archeology.”