Woody Allen's black-and-white pastiche offers expressionistic frolics with a few light laughs for those in the mood. In a mittel-European town of the 1920s, a killer lurches through the fog strangling his victims. Woody's Kleinmann (little man, get it? ) staggers in bewilderment between vigilante factions while seeking to evade the long arm of the law and clutches of the killer. Mia Farrow, is in it too as the sword-swallower who flees from her adulterous clown lover (John Malkovich) and likewise wanders the streets two footfalls ahead of the killer. Waiting for guest appearances by Madonna, Lily Tomlin, Jodie Foster, Kate Nelligan and others helps to stave off tedium from time to time, though authentic Allen one-liners are as thin on the ground as the dry ice is thick 'You're not really a coward, a yellow-belly, a worm? ' asks a colleague. Woody gulps. 'No but you're in the right column.' The best line, though, goes to Jodie Foster. 'I've never paid for sex in my life,' Woody protests. But she is much wiser. 'Oh,' she says lightly, 'you just think you haven't'.

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