Steve Martin, in one of his most likeable portrayals, is the soft-boiled private detective trying to solve what must be the most baffling case any Chandleresque private eye can have faced.

He investigates the death of a noted scientist, philanthropist and cheesemaker; and around every corner of the twisted trail await (literally) Alan Ladd, Bette Davis, James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck and more.

The plot vaguely concerns Nazis on a South American island, but don't listen to a word of it. Wallow instead in the splendid pastiche music by Miklos Rosza and the use of Humphrey Bogart as the hero's confidant and leg-man.

Rachel Ward has bags of class as femme fatale Juliet and the script displays a delightfully zany sense of humour - we especially liked the promise of a sequel with 'possibly Juliet in the nude', but sadly it never happened.