Des garces pour l'enfer

There exist two types of Italian gialli. The coolest type of giallo handles about masked psycho-killers with black gloves butchering people - preferably pretty young models - with sharp objects. The slightly duller but usually more stylish type of giallo handles about convoluted murder conspiracies complete with sexual intrigues, betrayal and triangular relationships. "The Flower with Petals of Steel", belongs in the second category. Even though the plot is wild and wickedly far-fetched, the film contains too many dull moments. The story revolves around Dr. Valenti. Although a busy surgeon, Dr. Valenti still has time to entertain several mistresses. He accidentally murders one in his apartment, with a hideous type of plant-statue, but is cold-blooded enough to professionally dissect her corpse and make it disappear. The girl's sister (played by giallo-regular Carroll Baker) and a sly homicide inspector are on the doctor's tail, and then he's also getting blackmailed. The film has one or two unforgettable sequences (most notably a lesbian scuba-diving highlight) and the bizarre plot is intriguing enough to keep you gazing at the screen until the finish, but overall it's disappointing and not at all recommended to anyone (except giallo-completists)

Gianni Garko and the deadly pitfalls of modern interior design

This giallo by Gianfranco Piccioli is about the psychogram of a middle-aged man who finds himself in a very special, exceptional situation.

The wealthy doctor Andrea (Gianni Garko) can be a real prick, but perhaps that's why he's so successful. One day he gets into an argument with his beautiful girlfriend Daniela (Paola Senatore). A scuffle ensues in which Daniela accidentally bumps into a plant sculpture with steel leaves that decorates the doctor's apartment. Yes, modern art can have its pitfalls. Especially when it comes with a seventies design. A short time later, the astonished Andrea realizes that his girlfriend is dead. What to do? Give up everything? For an unfortunate accident? Andrea, who has strong nerves, disposes of the body. Everything goes well, but the difficulties are yet to come. Andrea's ex-lover Evelyn (Carroll Baker), who is also Daniela's half-sister (of all people!!!), is worried and calls in the police (Ivano Staccioli as an inspector). As if that wasn't unpleasant enough, Andrea is suddenly being blackmailed anonymously. How could anyone have found out about the fateful accident? Andrea is at a loss, and then things get more and more serious...

This Giallo is primarily the introduction of the main actor Gianni Garko (*1935), who is otherwise better known from various spaghetti westerns. But he also cuts a good figure as a successful doctor and an unscrupulous bon vivant. Carroll Baker, actually the uncrowned queen of the giallo, is not quite as central here, but is convincing as in all of her Italian films. Umberto Raho and the attractive Pilar Velazquez can be seen in other roles.

You shouldn't necessarily expect logic and a stringent plot from a giallo. The world of giallo is always free of morals and full of tricky twists. The special thing about this film, which is worth seeing, is that the focus is on the psychogram of a successful man who is all too sure of himself.

An acceptable Giallo in which our starring becomes involved in a dangerous game of sex, lies, blackmail, treason, double-crossing and death by tacky 70s home decor. A wealthy doctor Andrea Valenti (Gianni Garko) accidentally kills his mistress, then the surgeon falls victim of blackmail. Dr. Andrea Valenti is a prestigious surgeon who works in a hospital in Rome and has a lover, Daniela, and a beautiful secretary (Pilar Velazquez) .Her wife, whom he is thinking of divorcing, has just left the asylum where she was confined for years. Evelyne Graffi (Baker) and Daniela (Paola Senatore) are not only stepsisters, but also lovers. Evelyne who was also romantically involved with Andrea in the past - encourages the relationship only because Andrea frequently gives Daniela money, but that doesn't stop her from being insanely jealous whenever the two are together. The well known surgeon Andrea Valenti accidentally kills his mistress in the course of a heated argument, Andrea pushes her, and she falls on some decorative plants with metallic leaves, fatally injuring herself. The leaves of that artificial plant are pointed and sharp like knives, and Daniela dies instantly. Fearing that no one would believe it was an accident, Andrea decides to make her body disappear. Since he is a surgeon and has extensive anatomical knowledge, he prepares to dismember the body in the bathtub, using his scalpel and other professional tools. He then carries the pieces in plastic bags to the trunk of his car, being observed in the process by a gossipy neighbor. He transports the remains of the body to the crusher of a garbage dump, and he watches, somewhat calmer, as the "evidence of the crime" turns into puree. Along the way, the surgeon carries out undisguised attempts to get rid of his stalkers. Later, a killer commits other gruesome murders in cold blood. Who could it be behind the blackmail?.

A passable and attractive dramatic thriller with a surprising premise, twists, turns and red herrings, being competently paced and made in Gialloesque style . A Giallo/thriller about a alleged murderer whose lover dies with a metal sculpture of a flower, later he tries to cover-up his crime never realizing he's being watched by someone lurking, then he begins receiving menacing phone calls from an unknown witness. The film contains violence, thrills, chills, grisly killings and lots of nudism. Although there is not much intrigue because we know from the first moment who the murderer is, therefore no necessary assumption what in other films of the Giallo genre it does happen, here the film focuses on an embarrassed doctor and his followers, stalkers and cops , developing between them a game of cat and mouse in which the police usually tends to lose. Stars Gianni Garco who surprisingly gives a good performance as the disturbing and bewildered doctor. A psychological giallo from Italy that can compete with the best representatives of other best known Italian directors. Very interesting and tense giallo with an atypical approach for the genre. Normally it is not discovered until the end who the murderer is, and yet in this film we know from the first moment that the author of the "crime" is our protagonist. The plot develops from his attempts to evade the investigations of the police and the uncomfortable Evelyn. In reality, in this Italian-style thriller there has not even been a murder: Daniela's death, after stabbing herself with the "steel petals" has been purely accidental. But who would believe it, taking into account the terrible relations he had with her wife?

Luckily for her, Dr. Valenti is about to call the whole thing off. The fact that we know in advance what has happened does not diminish the intrigue of the story in any way. That's way this plot structure is reminiscent of the episodes of the famous series "Colombo", with Peter Falk. There, too, the viewer knew who the murderer was, and the plot revolved around the investigation of the colorful detective, and the "mistakes" that the suspect could make by giving himself away. Revolving around the supposedly guilty homicidal doctor and guess who the real murderer is until an incredible and surprising plot twist that is the best part of the movie. "The Flower with Steel Petals" stars Italian-Croatian Gianni Garko as the protagonist, in the role of the beleaguered surgeon Andrea Valenti. Gianni Garko is a regular in the polizzieschi and Italo subgenres, especially Spaghetti Western with his character as the unforgettable Sartana. For her part, Evelyn is played by the American of Polish origin Carroll Baker -real name Karolina Piekarski, muse of Umberto Lenzi y she starred a lot of Hollywood fims, then she emigrated Italy where starred sex comedy a various Giallos. This American actress won a great triumph with Baby Doll (1956), after she did some Westerns. Being historically or aesthetically significant her performances : Giant (1956) and John Ford's How the West was won and Cheyenne Autumn . Signed a contract with Paramount Studios in 1963. She was given roles originally slated for Paramount starlet Stella Stevens - Harlow , The Carpetbaggers and Sylvia . The studio felt Baker was a more experienced dramatic actress and just as alluring. Then , Carroll was to Italy where she performed a lot of Giallos and softcore films , such as : "L'harem , The sweet body of Deborah , Orgasm , Paranoia, The Devil with Seven Faces, Knife of Ice, Death at the Deep , End of the Swimming Pool , Il Corpo, The Private Lesson, The Virgin Wife" .

The sometimes hypnotic soundtrack was composed by Marcello Giombini, author of the frightening film music for Joe D'Amato's controversial "Anthropophagus" and habitual composer of Spaghetti Westerns and Rafael Romero Marchent movies. The motion picture was professionally directed by Gianfranco Piccioli. Rating: 6/10. The picture will appeal to Giallo fans.

Being a latter-day entry in Carroll Baker's Italian giallo tenure, coupled with its essential lack of reputation (probably ascribed to the involvement of an obscure director – one of only three he helmed), I was surprised to learn that the title under review was held in higher esteem by the "Cult Filmz" website than the American star's renowned collaborations with Umberto Lenzi; in hindsight, I agree with this estimation, since I had always found that series of movies average at best (though, in all fairness, I still have one more to check out i.e. SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE [1969] and which I will do presently). Incidentally, despite her top billing, Baker is not the protagonist of the film – in fact, she is just one among a bevy of fetching females with whom leading man Gianni Garko interacts (in more ways than one) throughout. This suggests a reasonably convoluted plot line and, in fact, the revelation offered here is among the wildest (as the whole resolves itself with a bit of lesbian underwater sex!) I have seen within this genre…though I felt the added ironic twist (which sees the culprits not getting away with it after all) unwarranted and a miscalculation! For the record, two other unexpected elements here are the sheer fact that a surgeon would allow himself such an impossibly intricate love life, which would surely prevent him from functioning properly within his chosen – and ultra-delicate – profession, and also that the (hardly handsome) cop on the trail of the assassin would fall for one of the suspects, the not-so-young-anymore Baker (whose drop in stature in this case eventually numbers her among the murder victims themselves)! While the film maintains a frustratingly unhurried pace – albeit offset by a good Marcello Giombini score – along the way, like I said earlier, the premise is woolly enough to keep one engrossed trying to unravel it!; by the way, the subject of the Argento-like title is the weapon that unwittingly brings about the original killing (which party's face is cleverly concealed until the climax).

Following a usual day at the office, a surgeon finds his life thrown into turmoil when the suicide of his mistress at his home launches a wave of people attempting to blackmail him for the crime they believe he committed and he must try to clear his name before they get to him.

This here was quite a decent if entirely uneventful giallo. One of the main problems with this one is the fact that just not a whole lot actually happens worth caring about in here as very little of this is worth the investment. Considering the mystery/thriller aspect is so prominent in this one, the fact that there's just not a whole lot of interesting elements present here makes for quite the bland effort when it features such uninteresting material to work with. Going from the bland and plodding investigation scenes of the police inspector who is just such a bland figure that his scenes are not that interesting while the scenes of him going around trying to find out who's attempting to blackmail him doesn't make for a good or even enjoyable time. That he's not all that interesting a person to spend time with, openly treating women like prostitutes there to serve his needs only and is completely uninterested in them for any other means, berates and beats them constantly and acts with such an air of superiority to everyone else around him that it's hard to assume anyone would even want to be around him so this makes for quite a troubling set of circumstances required to get into the film. Also problematic is the fact that there's so many needless twist and plot-turns throughout here as he attempts to find the source of his mysterious blackmailer and how he goes about attempting to cover up what he did that there's just so little about what's going on in here that makes any kind of sense. Going from the investigation of the doctor to his lovers' spats with his different mistresses and finally ending up at the insane asylum looking for the repressed nymphomaniac is such a series of leaps and jumps that it makes no sense why the story goes off in such a wild series of tangents to get there, further hindering the film's overall stance. Given that all these factors contribute to a bland, sluggish entry without a whole lot of enjoyable points, it's really a disposable effort with only a few noteworthy elements here. One of the film's early highlights is the actual scene of him dismembering the deceased lovers' body utilizing his surgical skills to great effect, keeping everything involved mainly through suggestion and on-screen reading of his thoughts rather than any kind of graphic, explicit disposal of the body. The grisly outcome of the whole affair is certainly memorable, as well as the forthcoming grinding up the body that occurs here which is quite a fine moment within here. It does have a decent stalking moment in the apartment late in the film where the killer bumps off a witness, but beyond these elements the only other worthwhile part here is the solid nudity from those well- equipped to provide it that was usually the case for these films and is all that really holds it up.

Rated Unrated/R: Language, Full Nudity, Violence and a sex scene.