Sergio Martino's second Giallo (Italian Thriller) does not star Edwige Fenech as stated in the Booklet for 'The Strange Vice of Mrs.Wardh', but is led by her co-star in that film, George Hilton. Starring alonside him in this altogether much lighter-looking movie is Swedish actress Anita Strindberg, a woman who started her Italian cinema career in Lucio Fulci's famous Giallo 'Lizard In A Womans Skin'.
It's an altogether much more wordy affair that is more difficult to accurately follow than it is easy to let wash over you, and it's this trick that makes it as hard to pin-down as such a movie is intended to be.
Lisa Baumer is a bored housewife. Married to an older man, living in London, the keeper of a lover and the prey of an ex-lover, she is shocked by the news phoned through to her whilst in bed that her husband's plane has exploded on its way to Tokyo. Separate lives they may lead, with her husband's business in Greece and his regular flights abroad, but she remains shocked and disturbed by what has happened. The huge insurance payout goes ahead, and Mrs.Baumer heads to Greece to pick it up - in cash. She then plans a flight to Tokyo herself. And it's at this point the story really begins as (shock! horror!) the money goes missing.
All the characters on the outside of the plot at this point readjust themselves and become the central characters in the narrative. George Hilton (as Peter Lynch), this time in a more substantial role as an Inspector from the Insurance Company that paid out Mrs.Baumers $1m policy, turns up to investigate possible fraud. Cleo Dupont, a local reporter for a Newspaper, arrives with a pack of others also intrigued by the goings on. Inevitably Cleo and Peter are drawn to one another, and as they attempt to both investigate the series of grisly murders going on around them and figure out what happened to the money, they are increasingly drawn into the complicated affairs and events started by other people.
Also in the mix are Mrs.Baumer's husband's lover, Lara Florakis (a bitchy and bitter woman) and her 'Lawyer' as she calls him, Sharif - a hefty and scarred man who has a talent for making people disappear. Interpol are involved too, in the shape of Inspector Stavros (played by Luigi Pistilli), and a range of local police and other connected characters. All these performances are suitable for the film and its genre, as they mix the subtle elegance of European adults from Italy and other close-by countries. Sometimes the put in a little bizarre behaviour, but this adds to the oddness of the narrative, its characters and how they all intermingle.
This time around the story is a much more dialogue-led affair (but expect the usual and frequent nasty deaths that are very light on dialogue, instead balancing it out with pacey action). It was this, for me, which made for all the wrong-footing I experienced. Giallos clearly intend to manipulate the emotions heavily, and it's usually done largely by the unusual camera techniques, shot selection and sexualised murders on display. However, in this film writer Gestaldi (primarily it's his work), knowing that Giallo is a visually dominated genre with the plot and dialogue often so secondary, shifts his dialogue to the front of the line. All of the clues and details are hidden away in a tangled web of words that can deceive you into thinking the logical thoughts of those involved are reasonably formed. Although we should know better than to think things can ever be total resolved until the end of this kind of narrative, he managed to lead me into doing so.
The film is largely set in Greece, the location of Mrs.Baumer's husband's business. This time, the large majority of the action felt as though it took place in daylight, with frequent forays into the night time, and to the explicit and nasty murders. One thing which really stood out for me was the use of the sound of what appeared to be a zip being undone rapidly when over-dubbing the sound of the killers' knife slashing skin or (more effectively) cutting a throat. It's a nasty sound to use - very effective though. Some classic Giallo-styled moment are in there - some nice slow-motion photography that has a huge 'wow' factor to it. A nice scene lit by one green light that makes everything appear either black or green - a very Argento-esque moment that is another way of making the visual element of the film hard to truly get a grasp on.
My main problems with the disc aren't in the mastering of the sound or the image. Both of those elements are absolute perfection. The mistakes are here: there's a slice of dialogue not subtitled at the beginning when Lisa Baumer is talking on the telephone (in a telephone box, not the initial telephone call), a later line of dialogue which sticks on screen long after it's needed about half way through, and a few lines which skipped past at incredible speed. As far as I know these two NoShame discs are final production copies, as they are printed discs in the final printed sleeves and even have the 'Uncut for the first time in the USA' sticker on the front. It's a shame, as I thought the subtitles would have been checked and rechecked. I don't know of any DVD-player technical issue which could have caused this either.
The other mistake, potentially only unfortunate, and a sign of the limited budget at their disposal is the in the Making-of featurette. It's clearly geared towards Italian viewers, and as such makes references to obscure films and filmmakers, real-life crimes which have a connection to the story and so on. This makes some of the information hard to understand or appreciate. Having said that, these are small moments in an other wise fascinating film and background story.
One thing that stood out only when I viewed the 30-minute featurette on the disc was the gem that reveals why both films (and potentially other examples of films of the time) are located internationally, and why actors of foreign birth are in there. George Hilton is from Uruguay, Anita Strinberg from Sweden, Edwige Fenech is French; and the films are shot in England, Spain and Greece. Well, the financing was done partly with foreign money and there were sometime foreign crew members involved, and there are other advantages to shoots abroad too - an exotic and escapist feel for a primarily Italian audience. It's this exotic mix that is a large part of the charm of the film.
Overall, I prefered the first of the two I've reviewed for NoShame - 'The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh'. It's a shame there are slight mistakes in the subtitles on both discs. The image and sound quality are absolute perfection. The titles on offer now and in the future have more than got my attention. Both very much recommended if you find yourself interested.