Surprise Package

Yul Brynner does screwball comedy. A devil-may-care gambler and a small-time hood (Brynner) plans to steal an exiled king's crown from a Mediterranean island. A sprightly Mitzi Gaynor plays his girlfriend and Noel Coward is the hapless king.

This is an unimpressive spy-comedy from director Stanley Donen who inserts his specialty, a small song-and-dance number, into the odd proceedings. Gangster Nico March (Yul Brynner) has been ordered out of the United States because of his unsavory activities and back to the Greek island from whence he came (actually Rhodes). Once on the island, various characters enter the picture, including a local, corrupt police chief. Nico decides to send for a bundle of money left in the States but his double-crossing "friends" send him a bundle of feminine wiles instead, Gabby Rogers (Mitzi Gaynor). Obviously, Nico is none too pleased with the lousy substitution for hard cash, though he does not yet realize he is sure to fall in love with her.