Il segreto del vestito rosso

From Silvio Amadio, director of the Gialli "Amuck" and "So Young, So Lovely, So Young", comes this passable international-intrigue thriller with an engaging cast. It attempts to be a sophisticated crime mystery in the Hitchcock vein, and is reasonably entertaining if never anything great.

Hunky American star Hugh O'Brian ('The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp') is cast here as Dick Sherman, an American reporter working in Rome. Re-entering his life is Shelley North (Cyd Charisse, "Brigadoon"), who was there on vacation with her husband Bill, an engineer. Bill has gone missing at roughly the same time as a stranger has been found murdered near a fountain. Dick works to solve the case along with the inspector (Alberto Closas) assigned to the case.

As a mystery, this is nothing special, with a resolution that falls short of real satisfaction. We're supposed to be caught off guard by the reveal of the antagonist, but it would have worked better if the whole mystery were better explained. As it is, it does feature the requisite number of red herrings, and it does have some fairly exciting scenes.

Mostly, it's an effective visual experience. Other than the fact that the ladies (also including Juliette Mayniel and Eleonora Rossi Drago) are lovely, it's well handled in an aesthetic sense, with colourful 2.35:1 photography. The film is additionally enjoyable as something of a travelogue - there are many attractive Italian location shots. We even get to see inside Italy's famed Cinecitta Studios, which is the real treat.

O'Brian may not make anybody forget Cary Grant, but he comes off pretty well as the likeable, earnest hero. In fact, he comes off better than leading lady Charisse. The supporting cast is fairly strong, with some striking character faces among the other players (including a comedy relief pair of bumbling thieves who happen upon an important plot element during their escapades).

"Assassination in Rome" is nothing one has to go out of their way to see, but lovers of crime mysteries in exotic settings are sure to get some value out of it.

Six out of 10.

Americans William and Shelley North (Cyd Charisse) spend their vacation in Rome. But Rome proves to be an unlucky destination for an American marriage . Shortly after his arrival, William disappears somewhere, and his wife attempts unsuccessfully to find him. The worried wife starts a desperate search for him . An old flame who is a journalist in Rome comes to her aid . He's called Sherman (Hugh O'Brian) , a close friend of Shelley North, who conductes her own investigation into the disappearance of her husband . While cooperating with a friendly police inspector , Baudi (Alberto Closas) shows up a murdered person by the Fontana de Trevi . It quickly turns out that William may be involved in the murder .

A Spanish/Italian thriller that doesn't belong to ¨Eurospy genre¨ but it's a crime-thriller in Alfred Hitchcock style with intrigue , thrills , red herrings , twists and turns . The suspenseful script is the work of Giovanni Simonelli and director Silvio Amadio himself . Simonelli is an Italian screenwriter born in 1926, who in 1990 together with Lucio Fulci directed the horror film "Hansel e Gretel". In his rich career, he wrote scripts for more than 70 productions. The storyline of the film is interesting enough and with every minute more and more intriguing and addictive. Despite the very calm pace of the action , the film does not let you get bored or tired and keeps you in suspense until the very end, when the mystery is solved . The director has assembled a very experienced cast . Most of the actors employed already have a great deal of experience . The main character Shelley North was nicely played by Hollywood star Cyd Charisse. The actress was born on March 8, 1926 in Amarillo, Texas. She started her career in the early 1940s , being especially known for her musical films . She was a famous and successful actress , known for Silk Stockings(1957) , ¡Viva Las Vegas! (1956) and Band wagon 1955 (1953). Although one of the greatest female dancers in the history of the movie musical, her singing in films was almost always dubbed , most notably by Carol Richards in Brigadoon (1954) and a young Vikki Carr in The Silencers (1966). She played her last role in 2008 , that same year, she died in Los Angeles on June 17. In her career, she has appeared in more than 50 productions. She also performed very successfully on stage . The main male character was finely played by Hugh O'Brian who brilliantly performed a stubborn journalist . He was born on April 19, 1925 in Rochester, New York. He began her extremely wealthy career in the late 1940s and played 114 roles , being especially known for his TV character as Wyatt Earp . In 1976 O'Brien played the last character killed on-screen by Wayne in The shootist (1976) (Wayne's last film). He performed regularly until the end of her life. He died on September 5, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. Alberto Closas appeared as Inspector Baudi in the film. The Spaniard was born on October 3, 1921 in Barcelona. Another very talented actor who ended his career with 90 movies to his credit. He appeared in films and television series from 1942 to 1994. The excellent actor acted until the end of his life, which was interrupted by lung cancer . The artist passed away on September 19, 1994 in Madrid. The journalist Erika Tiller was carried out by the Italian actress Eleonora Rossi Drago. Born on September 23, 1925 in Genoa, in the Liguria region, the actress has already played more than 50 roles. In addition to cinema, she also acted in the theater. Throughout her rich career, she has starred in 65 productions. Her career lasted from 1949 to 1970, when she retired from acting. On December 2, 2007, she died in Palermo, Sicily. Being a Spanish/Italian co-production showing up here and there notorious secondary actors from Spain : Beni Deus , Manuel Alexandre , Alberto Dalbés , Antonio Casas , Carlos Casaravilla and Italy : Mario Feliciani , Franco Giacobini , Juliette Mayniel ,Memmo Carotenuto , Gina Rovere, among others.

Cameraman Mario Pacheco was responsible for the colorful photography mostly shot in Rome . During his twenty-year career, he has worked on the set of fewer than 50 films. The cinematography is the highlight of the film, and the film was primarily shot in Italian outdoors and interior at Cinecitta. The soundtrack is the work of a brilliant composer, pianist and conductor: Armando Trovajoli. He was born in Rome on September 2, 1917. In his incredibly rich career, he composed music for almost 220 films. The multi-nominated and award-winning artist was also awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Class III-Commendatore in 1995. In 2000 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Class I-Cavaliere di Gran Croce. The motion picture was professionally directed by Silvio Amadio , though it gets some flaws , gaps and failures . Silvio was a fine artisan who worked in various jobs in the cinematic industry , such as : Makeup Department , Second Unit Director or Assistant Director , production and finally , filmmaking . As he directed all kinds of genres , such as : ¨Sex Comedies¨, many of them starred by his wife Gloria Guida : Il medico... la studentessa or Los caprichos de Gloria , Quella età maliziosa, Peccati di gioventù or Pecados de juventud , Oltraggio al pudore , La minorenne ; ¨Thrillers¨ : Il segreto del vestito rosso , Il carabiniere , L'ammutinamento , Alla ricerca del piacere . And he made Sword and Sandal movies as Seven thunderbolts or Le sette folgori di Assur or War Gods of Babylone (1962) and also realized another hit Peplum titled ¨Minotaur the wild beast of Creta¨ his greatest hit. Rating Il segreto del vestito rosso(1965) : 5.5/10 .

I admit, Cyd Charisse was the main reason why I wanted to see this movie. Being the year 1965, when the film was made, she is no longer the super-sexy young woman she was 10-15 years before, when she showed off her glamorous legs in films like "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), "The Band Wagon" (1953), "It's Always Fair Weather" (1955), "Viva Las Vegas!" (1956), "Silk Stockings" (1957), "Party Girl" (1958), "Black Tights" (1960). Here she is still beautiful, but looks, at only 43 years old, more like an old woman. The film is what I would call a romantic thriller, neither very much, nor too much. In two secondary roles, two more beauties appear, the Italian Eleonora Rossi Drago and the French Juliette Mayniel. Watch it if you love them!

A body is found near a famous landmark in Rome. At the same time an American goes missing and his wife, "Shelley North" (Cyd Charisse) wants to find him. So she turns to an old flame named "Dick Sherman" (Hugh O'Brien) who happens to be an editor for the local newspaper, "the Rome-American Daily". During the course of his unofficial investigation he comes upon drugs, espionage, gambling and murder. Anyway, while not the best mystery film ever made, this movie still has enough twists and turns to keep most people interested for the most part. I thought Hugh O'Brien turned in a decent performance as did Cyd Charisse to a somewhat lesser degree. Again, while it certainly wasn't a blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination it was decent for the period in which it was made and I think most people who enjoy films of this genre will probably be satisfied. All in all I rate it as about average.

A film wich stays in the mean among the Eurospy sixties wave. For Hollywood doesn't seem to seek to offer much choice for actresses above 40, Cyd Charisse makes here a very remarquable prestation as Shelley North, a wealthy American in Rome, in a production which stands far below her standards. Driven in an espionage plot around the usual microfilms of military secrets, Shelley worries about the sudden disappearing of her husband Bill (Alberto Dalbes, Paranoia/A quiet place to kill), and is helped to find him by her former lover Dick, a journalist (Hugh O'Brian), and his colleague of the fashion column Erika (Eleonora Rossi Drago, Nelle pieghe della carne).

Developments are far to be nervous and the story goes on on a rather dull pace, but false leads, around an elegant mafia boss (Mario Feliciani, Maigret a Pigalle) or a couple of suspicious friends (Philippe Lemaire and Juliette Mayniel, Solamente Nero), allows the suspense to endure, and the duet of comics Memmo Carotenuto and Franco Giacobini brings a welcome funny counterpoint. The postcard mood is for its part respected with Dolce Vita's Trevi Fountain, ruined panoramas of Rome and water trip through Venice under doves flight.

Lacking of any efficiency, Dick must recognize that he is "the biggest idiot in the whole world", the police officer Baudi (Alberto Closas) has to reduce himself to wonder "how come I didn't think of it before", while the so-called "secret of the red dress" indeed seen from time to time is to remain nebulous. But the film also looks towards the giallo issue, with a good final chase of a masked murderer bearing ambiguous identity through spiral staircase and steep roof, foretelling the later to come by the same Amadio (Il sorriso della iena and Amuck/Alla ricerca del piacere), and allowing the plot to find a resolution.