Double Face

  
Double Face

 

She's just like her mother... rich, moody, wicked.

 

Shortly after marrying his wife, Helen (Margaret Lee), John Alexander (Klaus Kinski) discovers that she is having an affair with her friend Liz (Annabella Incontrera), but divorce would mean financial ruin. Despite this, John is distraught after Helen is killed in a car crash and when he finds a strange but flirtatious woman, Christine (Christiane Krüger) in his home, he is in no mood for games. But when Christine shows John a sexy movie featuring herself with a mysterious veiled woman, John becomes obsessed - the other woman is wearing Helen's ring and has the same scar on her neck as John's late wife! If the film was made just a week before, does that mean that Helen faked her death? Or has John's grief made him lose his grip on reality? Either way, his search for answers will lead him on a dangerous path!

  

Double Face (not to be confused with The Double) treads the same ground as some other, more widely-known gialli and I'd say that while it's more coherent than Spasmo, it's not nearly as well-made as Perversion Story. Even though the body count is low, the mystery is baffling and the nudity is abundant, making this an eminently watchable bad movie. 

• The script, based on the novel "A Face In the Night" by Edgar Wallace, was co-written by Lucio Fulci (which may explain some resemblance to Perversion Story).
• Luciano Spadoni, who plays Inspector Gordon, was also the set and costume designer in this production.
• Two years after this production, Klaus Kinski, Annabella Incontrera and Margaret Lee would reunite on screen in Slaughter Hotel.
• None of the titles really make sense. "Double Face" would make more sense if there was a Vertigo-esque identity switch and the lesbian affair is a minor sub plot, making "Liz & Helen" just as out of place. The title "Puzzle of Horrors" belongs on a film with more gore and far more murders.

 
What the Hell Am I Watching?

What Double Face lacks in good writing it makes up for in crazy moments. For example, the wild hippie warehouse party where two motorcyclists have an indoor jousting tournament, ripping off an article of clothing from a dancing girl with each pass.

Then there are the hilariously inept special effect sequences, which cut from footage of real cars and trains to HO-scale models crashing into each other.

Something that confused me from the start: John is trapped in his unhappy marriage with Helen because of financial necessity, but what advantage does Helen gain in staying married to John? Why does she insist that they stay together?

Finally, who handcuffs a suspect without frisking him for weapons first?

Fashion Moment

In the scene preceding Helen's car crash, we see that she's ready to shuffle off this mortal coil in high style, wearing a chic white dress, gold chain belt, go-go boots and a rich oiled leather coat draped over her shoulders.

    

Later, Liz vamps it up with some Elizabeth Taylor realness in this sexy off-the-shoulder low-cut fringe number.  Perhaps her shredded white dress is worn in memory of her dead lover?

 

  

Date for a Murder

Date for a Murder

"...but I can assure you I'm no Sherlock Holmes."

Vince Dreyser (George Ardisson)  is an American security expert working for rich clients in Italy. When he runs into his college buddy Walter (Hans von Borsody), they make a plan to meet up again a few weeks later in Rome, but Walter never shows up. Concerned for his friend, Vince starts investigating and discovers a web of murder and corporate espionage. To complicate matters, Vince has also agreed to be bodyguard to a freewheeling young mod named Fidelia (Halina Zalewska). While keeping Fidelia out of trouble, Vince tracks down the clues and dodges bullets alongside disapproving, by-the-book Commissioner Giunta (Günther Stoll). Is Walter dead? What was he mixed up in? And why do all the people with the answers Vince needs keep getting murdered?

Date for a Murder is a pretty good pre-Argento Giallo, with some good action sequences, tight suspense, and a focus set firmly on the mystery, rather than on blood or sex.  The story culminates in an epic chase scene through a hospital, which turns into a car chase through Rome's suburbs and finishes with a suspenseful standoff at a meat packing facility. 

• There seems to be a "reflection" motif, as characters are frequently seen in mirrors. They're even more commonly obscured on screen, filmed behind reflections in glass, blinds, flowers, and screens.
• Early in the investigation, two mobsters try to dispatch Vince Norman Bates-style by knocking him out, putting him in a car and staging an accident. But rather than sinking it in a lake, they set it on fire and roll it down a cliff. 
• Vince gets his own "House" moment – after reaching a dead end and giving up on the case, he sees something unrelated which triggers an epiphany, allowing him to solve the case.
• The original title, Omicidio Per Appuntamento might be better translated as Murder by Appointment. The working title of the film was Si Muore Una Sola Volta, or You Only Die Once – no doubt a wink at a similar James Bond title and a reference to Vince's role as, essentially, a freelance secret agent.

What the Hell am I Watching?

As I mentioned, this move is straightforward, bloodless and nudity-free. The only wacky, off-the-wall moments come from Fidelia's complicated and outrageous fashion sense, as illustrated by some of her many wigs. Here are just a few:

 

This is the "Mia Wallace."

 

This is her Phyllis Diller look at the local disco.

I call this look "Leia on Hoth."

And finally, there's the "hairy basketball hoops," a.k.a. "Minnie Mouse on acid."


Fashion Moment

Let's take a moment to recognize cinematographer Franco Delli Colli. His compositions are artful and his warm lighting gives the movie a real human touch. But he's not afraid to mix it up with some shaky verité handheld work in order to give the disco a raucous vibe and imbue the rooftop chase with a giddy sense of vertigo.  Here are just a few examples of his interesting lens work:

Notice the low angle and the harp in this last shot - no doubt an homage to Mario Bava's classic Blood & Black Lace.

What Have You Done to Solange?

What Have You Done To Solange?

"Don't worry, Uncle. I promise I won't go near the river banks today. Bye!"

Enrico Rosseni (Fabio Testi) is a handsome, popular teacher at London's St. Mary's Catholic School for Girls. His wife Herta (Karin Baal) is also a teacher there, but their marriage is strained and Enrico has been having a secret affair with a student, Elizabeth (Cristina Galbó, credited as Christina Galbo). During one of their secret rendezvous, Elizabeth witnesses the murder of a classmate – but she and Enrico can't come forward without revealing their affair. With his tarnished reputation and no solid alibi, Enrico is a suspect in the case, but things turn quickly as more schoolgirls are murdered in the same brutal manner. Now Enrico must investigate on his own to discover what dark secrets link the victims. Who would want these girls dead and why? Are they as innocent as they appear? Could one of the school's priests be the killer? And how does a mysterious girl named Solange fit into the puzzle?

Besides having a fantastic title, What Have You Done To Solange? is an engaging, twisty, and complex thriller, ending in a place you'd never suspect. It also features something rare and wonderful in depicting the complex, grown-up relationship between husband and wife Enrico and Herta. They start the movie as ice-cold enemies, even taking separate cars to the same job, but the mystery unexpectedly brings them closer and, by working together to solve the case, they re-discover their love for each other. Watching a relationship re-kindle over the course of a movie is the stuff of serious art films and here it is in a giallo alongside Porky's-style scenes of a peeping Tom in a girls' shower and teenagers getting stabbed in their lady parts.

• The screenplay was based on a novel by Edgar Wallace
• The original Italian title (Cosa Avete Fatto a Solange?) uses the plural form of "You," which doesn't translate exactly into English. The closest we can get would be the colloquial What Have Y'all Done to Solange? It's a subtle difference, but it changes the meaning of the title dramatically.
• Ennio Morricone's score expertly transitions from a gauzy love theme to eerie dread and tense action.
• The main staircase of the school sort of does a half-twist, but I'm counting it as a spiral staircase anyway.
• The title, as I said, is brilliant. Using the unusual name "Solange" and taking the form of a question creates a sense of intrigue and anticipation before the movie even starts. Then the title character isn't even mentioned until about an hour and 12 minutes in, creating an even greater sense of mystery.

What the Hell am I Watching?

Not to give too much away, but there's a gruesome and upsetting flashback scene that takes place in a kitchen.

This movie's most jaw-dropping move is making an adulterous pedophile its hero and somehow redeeming him in the end. In that sense, he's sort of like Norman Bates in Psycho – the deranged sicko for whom we're compelled to root.

Fashion Moment

Herta starts the movie stern and cold, angry at her estranged husband. Her hair is a tight blonde helmet and she wears crisp, masculine suits.

But as she starts to re-discover her relationship with her husband, her look softens a little.

 

She lets her hair down, has more femenine makeup...

...and we start to see more delicate fabrics and comfortable-looking, casual clothing.

 

Brava to costume designer Elisa Gut for engineering a complete character arc through Herta's wardrobe.