Runtime:
106 minutes
Directed
by: Massimo Dallamano
Starring:
Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, Cristina Galbo, Joachim Fuchsberger, Gunther
Stoll
From:
Several Italian and West German companies
This is a giallo classic, and for a good reason:
It's
been awhile since I've seen any giallo pictures so I figured it would
be a good idea to see one that was highly regarded; as I've twice seen
now director Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters?... and
heard this was even better, that made my choice easy. Well, this was
even better than Daughters, and even sleazier.
After all, the lead is a bearded Fabio Testi and he's a professor at an all girls Catholic school (and it's the equivalent of high school in the United States; the film is set in the UK) and he's having an affair with a comely young lass; as the actress playing her was of age, I can say that Cristina Galbo was rather attractive in the film. Anyway, several of the girls at the school are murdered, and typically in a rather gruesome-not to mention phallic-fashion. Testi becomes a suspect and as it's a giallo, he investigates. Note that Fabio's wife here isn't ugly herself; sure the character is cold at first but she is a blonde German lady who is also a peach of a woman.
It is easy to see why this is so highly regarded among genre fans; besides it being well-made with great cinematography throughout (w/ a great POV scene where you see the killer murder a key character), and a deeper than expected story where things are complex but it isn't convoluted as can sometimes happen in '70's Italian cinema, it has many of the hallmarks you'd expect from a giallo: a mysterious killer dressed in black & wearing black gloves, a knife being used, a person falsely accused, threatening telephone calls, flashbacks, etc. A nice Ennio Morricone score always helps, but it was a good score he had here.
It does take time to find out who the titular Solange is, yet it works for the telling of this story. She was played by an actress who starred in a very controversial movie late in the 70's; for this motion picture, it is in the final act when you realize just how sleazy this giallo is. I was glad when there was a scene which I took for comedy, which was when a minor character suddenly freaking out and going from 0-100 in a snap of your fingers; it was hilarious watching him go totally OOT. If you want to start watching these films, this one needs to be on your list.
After all, the lead is a bearded Fabio Testi and he's a professor at an all girls Catholic school (and it's the equivalent of high school in the United States; the film is set in the UK) and he's having an affair with a comely young lass; as the actress playing her was of age, I can say that Cristina Galbo was rather attractive in the film. Anyway, several of the girls at the school are murdered, and typically in a rather gruesome-not to mention phallic-fashion. Testi becomes a suspect and as it's a giallo, he investigates. Note that Fabio's wife here isn't ugly herself; sure the character is cold at first but she is a blonde German lady who is also a peach of a woman.
It is easy to see why this is so highly regarded among genre fans; besides it being well-made with great cinematography throughout (w/ a great POV scene where you see the killer murder a key character), and a deeper than expected story where things are complex but it isn't convoluted as can sometimes happen in '70's Italian cinema, it has many of the hallmarks you'd expect from a giallo: a mysterious killer dressed in black & wearing black gloves, a knife being used, a person falsely accused, threatening telephone calls, flashbacks, etc. A nice Ennio Morricone score always helps, but it was a good score he had here.
It does take time to find out who the titular Solange is, yet it works for the telling of this story. She was played by an actress who starred in a very controversial movie late in the 70's; for this motion picture, it is in the final act when you realize just how sleazy this giallo is. I was glad when there was a scene which I took for comedy, which was when a minor character suddenly freaking out and going from 0-100 in a snap of your fingers; it was hilarious watching him go totally OOT. If you want to start watching these films, this one needs to be on your list.
No comments:
Post a Comment