Champagne Rose is Dead

Paranoid, psychedelic and delirious Cold War thriller and dark anti-spy farce.

Jason, a burnt-out secret agent with a silent sidekick, decides the espionage racket is boring, and likely to get him killed. He quits the organization CORPO, dodges his boss's assassination attempt, then retreats to a Dutch country estate where his mistress Binji and three servants are waiting. But Jason gets pulled into the orbit of MOB, a sinister data-and-media conglomerate, all surveillance, mind-games, and manufactured illusion. Jason wants out entirely, but is condemned to fly forever, stuck in planes and airport transit lounges.

Swedish-American director and composer Calvin Floyd is a really cool, unsung hero. He insisted on making genre films, especially horror, (but with a message) in a Sweden obsessed with social realism and Ingmar Bergman. Needless to say, he was rarely appreciated by the critics of the time. His directorial debut was a co-production between Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands.

His long-time cinematographer and producer was Tony Forsberg, DOP on films like Exposed (1970), Dagmar’s Hot Pants, Inc (1971), Love Play (1972), Flossie (1974), When the Raven Flies (1984), Sunday’s Children (1992), and first assistant camera man on Fanny & Alexander (1982).

Francis Matthews is famous for his title role in the TV series Paul Temple in the 60s and 70s, as well as British horror like The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Corridors of Blood (1958) and Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966).

The film was restored by The British Film Institute.

directed by: Calvin Floyd
starring: Francis Matthews, Ton Lutz, Victor IV, Devi Morman, Phoa Yan Tiong, Jan Butlin
1970 / 85 min / 1.66:1 / English DTS-HD MA 1.0