Up to His Ears

Up to His Ears (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine, 1965) is a French-Italian adventure comedy directed by Philippe de Broca, available to watch online on iFILM. Arthur is a bored young millionaire who has run out of reasons to be alive — so he hires an assassin to handle the problem discreetly. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays this with the kind of careless grin that makes even a death wish seem charming.

The catch: the moment the contract is signed, Arthur wants to live. What follows is a headlong chase through Hong Kong, up into the Himalayas, across the Yang-tze River and into a runaway balloon, with Ursula Andress as Alexandrina providing both a reason to survive and an additional source of complications. De Broca made this as a loose follow-up to That Man from Rio — same breathless pace, same refusal to take anything seriously, same Belmondo doing his own stunts with apparent delight. Stream Up to His Ears (1965) online on iFILM.