Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? [Too Many Chefs] *** (1978, George Segal, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Morley) – Classic Movie Review 5559

Director Ted Kotcheff’s zesty 1978 thriller is a pretty tasty, dark-flavoured soufflé, with George Segal as Robby, an American fast-food owner in London who chases his ex-wife Natasha (Jacqueline Bisset), a handy lady at dessert time, and is hit by a serial killer of chefs.

It is funny as romantic black comedy if you forget that it is also supposed to be a thriller, and there is a sublime performance by Robert Morley as a gourmet called Max to recommend it.

Segal fares well too, though the French notables Jean-Pierre Cassel, Philippe Noiret and Jean Rochefort are ill used and aren’t too happy, but the British character actors seem much happier. John Alcott’s cinematography, Henry Mancini’s jolly score and Rolf Zehetbauer’s plush set designs are obviously strong assets.

Peter Stone is the ideal writer for this kind of material, basing his screenplay on Nan and Ivan Lyons’s novel Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe. The film is also known as the simpler and catchier Too Many Chefs.

Also in the cast are Gigi [Luigi] Proietti, Stefano Satta Flores, Madge Ryan, Frank Windsor as Blodgett, Peter Sallis as St Claire, Tim Barlow, John le Mesurier, Joss Ackland, Jean Gaven, Daniel Emilfork, Jacques Marin, Jacques Balutin, Jean Paredes, Michael Chow, Anita Graham, Nicholas Ball, David Cook, Nigel Havers, John Carlisle, Sheila Ruskin, Kenneth Fortescue, Strewan Rodger, Derek Smith, Marjorie Smith, Aimée Delamain, Lyall Jones, Eddie Tagoe, Caroline Langrishe, Sylvia Kay and Ronald Leigh-Hunt.

RIP Peter Sallis, who died on 2 June 2017, aged 96.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5557

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