No Fleecing Here
Out of the blue a letter arrives for Captaine Haddock (Georges Wilson) as an old friend has died and in his will has left him his boat, The Golden Fleece, which is docked in Istanbul. With Tintin (Jean-Pierre Talbot) and his dog Milou along to help, Captaine Haddock heads off to Istanbul only to discover the boat they have inherited is a rust bucket which is worth next to nothing. So when someone offers them a lot more money than the boat is clearly worth Tintin becomes suspicious. And the when someone tries to kill Haddock the pair find themselves on another adventure to discover the mystery behind their Golden Fleece.
Other than watching Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" I have never really had anything to do with the character of Tintin although I do have some strange recollection of their being a Tintin comic book at my childhood dentists, a place I try hard to forget. But whilst my association with Tintin is slim I was actually looking forward to watching "Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" because I am old school and prefer watching actors and stuntmen at work rather than seeing the results of some powerful computers.
But before I get to the story it has to be said that Jean-Pierre Talbot delivers the look of Tintin quite spectacularly and I don't just mean the tuft of blonde hair as he naturally looks like the cartoon character. At the same time Georges Wilson delivers the look of Captaine Haddock as well as the over the top mannerisms with a fun amount of gruff frustration going on. It is a big part of why "Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" because it gets the look right. It also has to be said that there is also a strange added amusement to these characterisations as this was made back in 1961 and so we have scenes of Captaine Haddock with a Shisha pipe whilst also a scene of him discarding wrapping paper in the streets. You smile because these things whilst minor would never pass now in a movie made for children.
Aside from the characterisations well the storyline is simple enough so that you don't need to be a Tintin fan to enjoy it with is classic adventure set up. We have the mystery as to why the boat is valuable, the danger as Haddock and Tintin find their lives in danger and the adventure of getting to the bottom of things. That is it but it is enough to work and even keep a grown up entertained despite Tintin always being something for a younger audience. Although we are talking a movie from 1961 and some of the action has that incredibly staged feel going on especially when Tintin fights anyone
What this all boils down to is that "Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" might be over 50 years old but it is still a lot of fun. In fact for old school entertainment fans there is something more appealing about watching this than there is watching Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn".
