L'intrigo

International mishmash from a novel by Doris Hume Kilburn involving American secretary Shirley Jones with handsome, mysterious count Rossano Brazzi in Naples. Shirley's abroad doing research with her boss, an urbane art curator; Brazzi is their host who resides in a cliffside Italian villa. Their rocky first meeting quickly turns to romance, despite an ex-lady friend hanging about, as well as Rossano's unstable daughter, a shut-in who insists to Jones that she's Mrs. Brazzi. French-Italian co-production, distributed Stateside by Universal under the title "Dark Purpose", has enough red herrings and suspenseful clinches to make it mildly enjoyable. Jones gets to be a bit sexier here than in previous films (with the exception of a matronly hairdo); matching up well with Brazzi, Shirley has some sass at the beginning, though her character's declaration of love comes too soon, after which she becomes a simp heroine. Brazzi, who must have been tired of playing Euro-cads by this time, is alternately fatherly and patronizing--to everyone!--but the dark streak in his character suits him well this time. George Sanders is typically pithy as Shirley's boss, and the editing and music score are both up to par. **1/2 from ****

Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting this bizarrely loopy international production as "Dark Purpose." It is full of secret passages, loonies in the attic, marital deceptions, fits of hysteria and mysterious deaths -- plus some slavering dogs. The TCM print is gorgeous-looking, but, alas, the soundtrack is horrendous, rendering a good half of the film unintelligible. Wonderful locales and interiors, but abysmally ham-fisted direction by George Marshall and Vittorio Sala. Doris Hume Kilburn wrote the novel that has lifted elements of women in domestic peril from most of the genre from "Jane Eyre" through "Midnight Lace." A very nice performance by Shirley Jones is sadly undone by an over-the-top George Sanders, a poorly scripted Giorgia Moll and a lazy Rossano Brazzi.

George Sanders ' and Micheline Presles's parts are almost pointless,the former introducing his assistant (Shirley Jones ) and the latter is used as a deus ex machina who reveals the truth in fine.

A bizarre story of amnesia in a baroque mansion where a count (Brazzi) lives with his daughter(Georgia Moll); who since her accident , is mentally -ill and mistakes her father for her husband ; when the aristocrat falls for the young assistant, the story turns Freudian ,as the girl got jealous and is not prepared to share her would be husband .

Brazzi is ideally cast as the Italian noble ( like in "the barefoot comtessa" ) with a darker side to him (present in "legend of the lost" ); not a giallo ,but an entertaining little thriller .

In this American-abroad-in-peril the quite breathtakingly beautiful Shirley Jones plays a young secretary who arrives in Italy with Britton insurance agent George Sanders (noless!) to evaluate the stunning estate of Count Paolo Barbarelli (played with merit but without real imagination by Rossano Brazzi). She soon finds herself more interested in the clichéd aristocrat charms of the Count than in his art collection. However all is not as it seems, and sneaking around the house is the Counts eerie daughter, allegedly traumatized after the death of her mother in an accident a few years back. Questions mount and plot thickens as Shirley pursues a friendship with the girl, and roams around the big estate where a mystery seems hidden within the architecture it self. All in all this is an entertaining romp for those with a taste for stylish Hitchcockian thrillers of the 60's, and what it lacks in originality it makes up for in the charm of the cast, good paced direction and lavish imagery.

Art expert Ray Fontaine (George Sanders) and his assistant Karen Williams (Shirley Jones) travel to the Amalfi villa of Count Paolo Barbarelli (Rossano Brazzi) to appraise his collection and the unworldly Karen soon begins to fall for the suave Count's Continental charm. Unfortunately for their budding romance, Paolo's got a jealous mistress who doesn't want to be discarded and a crazy daughter who insists she's his wife. Obviously someone's lying about something but for what dark purpose?

Troy Haworth's new book on the Italian giallo, SO DEADLY SO PERVERSE, contains an entry for this film but Adrian Luther Smith's "giallo bible", BLOOD & BLACK LACE: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO Italian SEX AND HORROR MOVIES, doesn't so is it or isn't it? Well, like Mario Bava's THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, it's got an American abroad free-falling into a vortex of mystery, intrigue, and murder but that alone shouldn't be its only qualification. If it were, then why isn't Doris Day's MIDNIGHT LACE or Jean Seberg's MOMENT TO MOMENT considered gialli as well since they also use European locations as a scenic backdrop for a "Hitchcock Lite" mystery from an American director using actors just past the cusp of their Hollywood stardom. As entertainment, DARK PURPOSE is the weakest of the three and capitalizes on Rossano Brazzi's SUMMERTIME romancing of tourist Katharine Hepburn but with completely different results this time out.

Despite an Oscar, Shirley Jones isn't much of an actress but handles her "lady in peril" role as well as can be expected and George Sanders has little to do besides wander around the villa dispensing caustic comments. Sophisticated Micheline Presle is also on hand but doesn't have a whole heck of a lot of screen time, either. 6/10 ...and giallo geeks beware.