Edgar Wallace: Das Geheimnis der grünen Stecknadel

I was completely enthralled by this picture. This has to be not only one of the best Giallo's made but one of the best horror films. It has it all, beautiful woman, graphic murders, copious nudity, dubious dubbing, great suspense and a great musical score. All fans of the genre should not miss this one.

OK, this film isn't a masterpiece, but hardly any films are. Like most giallos, it's sometimes boring and hard to get through with long segments of talking. The murders were mostly brief and not as violent as they could've been, but still there was a somewhat original way they were carried out (I won't spoil it for anyone.) Really, I prefer Dario Argento and Mario Bava when it comes to giallo, but seriously, you have to be fair when judging this film and not compare this director to the greats, like Argento. So I suppose you could call this one of the better 'non-Argento' giallos. The film itself is definitely worth taking a look at, but don't expect much. At the very most, it's worth a 7/10, which is still a pretty good rating.

What a remarkable film! In spite of high expectations and entirely praising comments by fellow Horror fans, Massimo Dallamano's "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange" aka. "What Have You Done To Solange" of 1972 was still capable of astonishing me with its brilliance. This complex and mesmerizing film delivers cinematic perfection in every aspect and stands out as one of the most ingenious Gialli ever made. I am an avid fan of Gialli, and this is an absolute must-see for every fan of this great (sub-)genre. "What Have You Done To Solange" is not only essential to those who share my enthusiasm for Italian Horror cinema, however. Be it the convoluted plot, the ingenious camera work, the brilliant score by Maestro Ennio Morricone or the constant, tantalizing suspense - there is not a single aspect that is not brilliant about this stunning film, that I highly recommend to any suspense-lover in general.

Henry Rossini (Fabio Testi), a married Italian teacher at a Catholic London private school for girls, has an affair with one of his students (Christina Galbó). When they are having a romantic boat-ride on the Thames, the girl suddenly yells that she has just seen a knife. Henry first laughs her claims off as hysteria, until the body of another girl, also one of his students is found right at the exact same spot the following day. It is not long until other murders of girls occur, all carried out in the same, horrid manner...

The film is not as gory as many other brilliant Gialli (such as Dario Argento's films), but the manner in which the murders are carried out is more than a bit nasty. The film has one of the most compelling plots ever in Horror cinema, and is stunningly suspenseful from the very beginning. The eerie atmosphere is even intensified by a brilliant and mesmerizing score by none other than the great Ennio Morricone. The brilliant cinematography was done by Joe D'Amato, the infamous 'king of sleaze' himself who shocked audiences in the 80s when he directed gruesome productions such as "Antropophagus" and "Buio Omega". The performances are also excellent. Fabio Testi, who is famous among fans of Italian genre-cinema, mainly for starring in crime and police flicks, stars in his most memorable role here. Karin Baal is excellent as his German wife, and Joachim Fuchsberger delivers a solid performance as the investigating police detective. Great performances also come from the sexy female cast, most memorably from Camille Keaton, who is best known for the infamous Exploitation shocker "I Spit On Your Grave" of 1978.

Like two other excellent Gialli (Argento's "Bird With The Crystal Plumage" and Lenzi's "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids") this was heavily cut and sold as an Edgar Wallace film in Germany. People in German speaking countries: Avoid the mutilated German version and get uncut international versions instead. This is brilliant suspense cinema at its finest and an uncut version is absolutely essential! I could go on praising this film forever, but instead I will end my review with a recommendation: Get "What Have You Done To Solange" as soon as you possibly can! It is easily one of the most compelling Gialli ever made and absolutely essential for every Horror-lover to see! 10/10

In London, the Italian gym teacher Enrico 'Henry' Rosseni (Fabio Testi) is having a love affair with his eighteen year-old student Elizabeth Seccles (Christine Galbo), who is the daughter of the owner of the Catholic School where he works and she studies. His estranged wife Herta Rosseni (Karin Baal) is the mathematics teacher in the same school. On Sunday afternoon, Rosseni and Elizabeth are in a boat in a grove and the girl glances at a knife and a man hunting down a woman. Rosseni believes she is giving a pretext to avoid him and does not pay attention to her. On the next morning, Rosseni learns that a teenager was murdered in the river bank in the grove and he drives to the location. Inspector Barth (Joachim Fuchsberger) goes to the school since the victim Hilda studied there and soon Rosseni becomes the prime suspect since he protects Elizabeth, who could give an alibi to him. When a second student is murdered, Elizabeth recalls that the killer where a black soutane worn by priests. While the police investigate the suspects, Elizabeth is killed and Rosseni decides also to investigate. He teams up with Herta and the find the name of the mysterious Solange Beauregard. They seek her out but what might have happened to Solange?

"Cosa avete fatto a Solange?", a;k;a "What Have They Done to Solange?" , is an intriguing giallo with a totally unpredictable story full of mystery and tension. The erotic plot is well-written with many twist and suspects. The conclusion surprises the viewer and it is worthwhile watching this film that is not dated. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O quê Vocês Fizeram com Solange?" ("What Have You Done to Solange?)

Note; On 10 Jun 2020 I saw this film again.

This is not only one of the best, but also one of the most important Italian gialli in that it forms a nexus with a two other genres of film that influenced or were influenced by the gialli. This was a West German co-production, nominally set In England, and (very loosely) based on an Edgar Wallace novel which connects it to the West German "krimi" series, a more obscure series than the Italian gialli but a clear influence on the latter. Stylistically, this colorful and garish film is much more of a giallo than a krimi, but influence is there, and it features Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Bal, who were both popular actors in the earlier krimis, in supporting roles .

Perhaps even more interesting is the connection between this movie and the American/Canadian slasher films. Along with "Bay of Blood", "Schoolgirl Killer", "Torso", the Spanish film "La Residencia" and the British film "Assault", this was one of the European films that received the widest release stateside and probably had the greatest influence on the early slasher genre. This movie kicked off what could be called the "schoolgirl gialli". Unlike the other gialli, which focused on decadent adult European jet-setters, but like the slasher films, the "schoolgirl giallo" had seemingly innocent adolescent protagonists being picked off by a deviant, but often moralistic killer. But while the slasher movie victims were merely guilty of promiscuity and other typically irresponsible teen behavior, their schoolgirl gialli peers were engaged in behavior that one hopes even in Europe at the time wasn't typical--ie. teen prostitution, sex orgies, back-alley abortions.

Even though it was made years earlier, this movie is actually a lot sleazier, but also much better made than the vast majority of slasher films. The "hero" is a gym teacher at a private girl's college who witnesses one of the murders. The problem is he was schtupping one of his students in a rowboat at the time! It greatly helps though that this character is played by the very likable Fabio Testi. It also helps that none of the girls is especially believable as a "sixth former"--the victims, who are dispatched in very unpleasant (and full-frontal) fashion are too voluptuous to be believable as teenagers, while the two female leads--Spaniard Cristina Galbo and American Camille Keaton, were actually both in their early twenties at the time and at the very height of their very considerable beauty. Most importantly, however, this movie is very well-made and stylistic with an excellent musical score. Director Massimo Dallamano ranks right up there with Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, and Sergio "Torso" Martino as one of the true masters of the Italian giallo thrillers.

For what it's worth I personally own over 120 Italian gialli, and though I would be loath to rank all of them, I would certainly put this one in the top five.