Anna: The Pleasure, the Torment

While I can't really rave about this move, I also certainly can't say it wasn't interesting. On one hand, it is a typical "poliziani", a hard-boiled and violent Italian crime thriller about Mafia criminals and corrupt or vigilante police, but on the other hand, it is also a women's picture featuring no-clothes-horse Edwige Fenech in one of her more dramatic (as opposed to hysterical) roles.

Fenech plays Anna a young, naive provincial woman who falls in love with a brutal and abusive gangster who, at the behest of his godfather (top-billed Richard Conte)involves her first in smuggling then in prostitution. She tries to leave the life after her mobster hubby goes to prison. She gives birth to a son and falls in love with a respectable doctor, but of course her past soon catches up to her.

This is a rather schizophrenic movie. It is has the typical violence of a poliziani, and Fenech performs her usual quota of nude/sex scenes (the most interesting scene though features not Fenech, but a bizarre stripping clown--that's right, a clown). The ending though is incredibly sappy and tear-jerking. I can't imagine anyone who liked the early part of the movie liking the end and vice versa. I suppose it could be a good date movie for women who want to see Fenech emote and men who want to see Fenech undress (it beats the hell out of a Renee Zellweger romantic comedy, anyway).

Although director Giuliano Carnimeo and European sex symbol Edwige Fenech had teamed up to make one of the pulpiest Italian thrillers of all time, "The Case of the Bloody Iris," in 1972, their next collaboration, 1973's "Secrets of a Call Girl," is hardly a giallo at all. Rather, I would categorize it more as a romantic crime melodrama, in which Edwige gets to show that she's more than just a pretty face (oops...I guess I'm damning with faint praise; make that "incredibly beautiful face"). Her role here as Anna, an innocent coffee shop cashier who falls for the brutish charms of a Mafia thug, really gives her a chance to show the world what all the giallo fans knew before: that she is also an intelligent, subtle and highly skilled actress, as well. Her Anna is soon forced by the Mob to run drugs and turn tricks, but amazingly, she retains her stunning looks even after repeated beatings from her man Guido. Anyway, this film is extremely fast moving (almost too much so for its own good), covering a lot of ground in just 95 minutes, and ultimately gets a tad soapy in its final 1/3, when Anna gets involved with the surgeon who saves her son's life. Carnimeo's direction is surprisingly flashier here than in his previous giallo effort, and composer Luciano Michelini's lovely title tune should have become a standard on the order of "Doctor Zhivago"'s "Lara's Theme." Another treat for me in this film is the presence of one of my favorite actors, Richard Conte, here playing another Don Barzini-type role as the Mafia headman. Whotta class act! My heartiest thanks again to the fine folks at No Shame for another great DVD of a lost Italian classic, with nice subtitling and interesting extras. Keep 'em coming, guys!

Anna (Edwige Fenech, Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer, excellent giallo from the same), is a young pub cashier in a small asleep provincial town (Bergamo), when arrives Guido, a gangster (Corrado Pani, Interrabang), seeking for "a bit of fresh air" after tough fights. She falls under the charm of the bad boy with a smart sport car, whom male glance quickly captives her hunted doe eyes, and as he "can do whatever he likes with her", he brings her to the big city (Milan) to lead the bright life of the mob. But there she has soon to prove her fidelity to the big boss (Richard Conte, The Godfather) by working as a luxury prostitute. Getting pregnant, she manages to flee in Rome while her violent lover is being arrested. Here she meets Lorenzo, a nice doctor (John Richardson, I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale), who cures her son, and they ineluctably fall in love.

Shall she be able to choose between life (Lorenzo) or death (Guido)? «What will be the real Anna like?» Wandering her states of mind among the dangerous games of the mafia, Edwige Fenech gorgeously performs in a sensitive role in which she stands for all the possible figures of a woman. The distribution, with a bunch of these solid Italian actors of the time, will help her to accomplish her destiny.

It's very rare that any of these Euro-Crime films carry much emotional weight but this one does and I'm ashamed to admit it made me shed a tear, and I'm not leading up to a punch line like 'of laughter!'. Director Carnimeo and actress Edwige Fenech play this one absolutely dead straight...even the ditzy model from The Case of the Bloody Iris is here, and she's deadly serious too!

Edwige plays Anna, a cashier in small town Italy who is bored and wants to see more of the world. Enter Guido, a total jerk who also happens to be a mafia boss. He's hiding out in the town while things cool off in Milan as he's switched allegiance from gangster Zucco to gangster Richard Conte, and both Guido and Anna hit it off right away, even though on the second date Guido slaps her around a bit. That should be fair warning right there for Edwige, but the lure of money makes her head off to Milan with Guido.

Guido at first showers Anna with cash but before you know it he's talking her into smuggling drugs into Switzerland and she's witnessing Guido murder a turncoat working for Zucco. As usual in these films Richard Conte is the voice of reason and says to Guido that it was probably a bad idea gunning someone down in front of Anna, and probably forcing her into prostitution was a bad idea too and for some reason Anna gets pregnant and wants to keep the baby despire Guido's beatings. Zucco is still lurking around too so when Guido gets busted Anna runs off to Rome to have her kid and forget about Guido, and maybe Guido should have listened to Conte's advice about leaving her be....

Although Edwige gets to show here that she's much more than a pretty face (and body), what with the torment in her eyes and the despair when her kid gets sick, the one thing she can't do is look like she's just given birth! She looks like she's stepped off the catwalk in Milan and picked up a random child. Despite her poor choices, we can't help but root for Anna as she meets Mr Hunky Doctor, whilst knowing as she does that happiness is fleeting. I did laugh however when she dumped the doctor, then phoned him to say that he'd left his scarf at her house and that she can bring it over the next day, which then cuts to the doctor driving to her house at about 100mph.

It's first comes the love, then comes the heavy stuff. We do get to see Edwige without her make up (and she looks even better! What's happening?) but this film kicks your soul in the ass for the last fifteen minutes, and probably is Edwige (and Guiliano Carnimeo's) best film. Don't sit down expecting a laugh though. As usual with Carnimeo, the film looks great too. This is no cheesy film.

SECRETS OF A CALL GIRL is an odd little Italian drama, playing out in part as a Eurocrime movie complete with Richard Conte as a mafia boss. However, for most of the running time this is a slow-moving character drama involving Edwige Fenech's unlucky in love girl, who falls in with a real creep of a character before finding love elsewhere - but is it too late? Drug smuggling and prostitution are the order of the day here, none of it particularly appealing, and as usual the only thing they know to do with Fenech is make her strip. The ending is unique, I'll give it that.