Afterwards, there were people with their mouths open going 'My God, we've never seen this much violence in an Allen movie.'

In fact, the shots of lower Manhattan that accompany the opening credits are as seductive as any city tour in an Allen movie.

The Allen movies have established public personas that are not easily put aside.

She went on to star in two further Allen movies: Scoop (2006) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).

MGM owns most of the 30 Allen movies available on video, and plans to spread them over several boxes.

Leonard Maltin gives the film two stars, calling it "meandering," with "echoes... of earlier, better Allen movies".

He and Ms. Taylor, a casting director who has peopled almost every Allen movie since "Bananas," are old friends.

Sweetland, a company of mostly European investors led by Mr. Safra, took over the financing of the Allen movies.

She stars in his movie "Match Point," opening later this month, as an alluring but demanding ingénue, and she recently completed another Allen movie as well.

On the face of it, no films comparable to the Allen movie are scheduled to be released at this time.