Il segreto del vestito rosso

This one has some Giallo elements (the title with the colour in it, a mysterious murder, loads of style) but may well be one of them spy-thriller type things too (I know nothing about that genre). I'll tell you one thing, though - it's a bit of patience-stretcher even though it's gorgeous looking.

A woman reports her husband missing while on holiday in Rome while a tramp finds a corpse propped up at the Trevi Fountain. A handsome American reporter gets involved with both cases (especially as the woman is his ex!) and starts to find links between them. Meanwhile, two burglars find they've burgled an already ransacked flat but find a strange package in the heel of a shoe. Also there's a fat guy going around spying on folks and there's a cop with a bad stomach also on the case. And the mafia too - I forgot about them. And a hooker. And another one of the reporter's ex-girlfriends. And another one of them too. And an ex-drug addict painter.

The woman lists all the people she knows in Rome: a strange couple and an even stranger old man who kept pestering her husband. After a flashback at the Coliseum, and a visit to the Cinecitta (where an extremely camp man comes onto our reporter!), everyone heads off to Venice to catch up with the mystery there.

As I said, this is a very fine looking film and not too bad a mystery, but considering the other films surrounding it chronologically it could have used a bit more bite, and probably a better explanation (more than "So THAT's who it was"). I still have no idea who the fat guy was in relation to anything else, and he tried to kill the hero about ten times! Maybe I wasn't listening. There are a few twists in here that are pretty good, and the death of the killer turns up in Argento's Cat O Nine Tails (and I'm gonna come right out and say it, a lot of stuff from these early films turns up in Argento's films, but who cares?).

I wish they wouldn't smoke so much in these films. I used to love smoking in Rome - nothing better than a 'Diana' or an 'L&M' on a veranda at night listening to all them cars beeping at each other. Best way to end a hard day's sightseeing and eating. I used to always hit my head of the shutters on the way back in because I was too stupid to lift them up high enough. Now it's caravans in Flamborough and weak lager and fresh air.

Only so-so, this rather pedestrian thriller is from the director of a couple of decent giallo, Amuck and So Young, So Lovely, So Young. They are not great examples of the genre and this is somewhat less appealing. Hugh O'Brian at least tries and is never as wooden as Cyd Charisse who seems to barely understand what she is to do and unprepared every time she has to speak. Just watchable, this film is in fact saved by its fascinating location shooting in Rome, where we even get to go inside the famous Cinecitta film studios and the excellent and surprisingly natural sequences in Venice. The only other thing going for this is that it is available at a very decent price in a rather attractive DVD package.

Cyd's husband has disappeared while on holiday in Rome and she enlists the help of the American Embassy to locate him. A drunk stumbles upon a dead man at Trevi Fountain. The dead man's apartment is robbed by a couple of inept thieves. Hugh is a newspaper editor in search of a story and learns of former lover Cyd's dilemma and decides to get involved. Enjoyable Italian made thriller with lovely on location photography. Hugh with the help of the inspector eventually ties these pieces together. But not before having to sift through a number of red herrings to get to the motivation behind Cyd's missing husband and the murder. The story is a bit difficult to follow but it moves along at a good pace and will keep your attention.

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!