Sócio de Alcova

In CARNIVAL OF CRIME, an architect (Jean-Pierre Aumont) takes a vacation with his beautiful, young assistant (Tonia Carrero), leaving his wife (Alix Talton) behind. When he returns, his wife is missing. Mystery ensues.

Sort of.

Unfortunately, a big chunk of time is gobbled up by a subplot involving two macho-mustache-wearing mercenaries, endlessly bickering in the Brazillian rain forest. These two men have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film. They're nothing more than one long, dull distraction!

Apparently on the trail of some revolutionary, they come across more like a pair from some failed 1970's cop show. They're way ahead of their time considering when this movie came out!

As if this unnecessary "bonus" footage wasn't brain-scalding enough, the other story about the missing wife -remember her?- is drowned in a hideous guitar soundtrack! At times, it's reminiscent of the primal twanging found in MESA OF LOST WOMEN!

The actual mystery just isn't that effective anyway, making it irrelevant whether whatshername is found or not.

Watch only if you enjoy the pain of "thrillers" without thrills of any kind...

You get a bad feeling when the credits begin and the quality of the film is as poor as this one is; very dark and grainy. However, the credits prove to be the highlight of this stinker. The story is poorly written with a very weak plot. The acting itself isn't too bad but the actors have nothing to work with. In essence, the story involves a harried but brilliant architect who has won a contract for "Building 11" in the new capital of Brasilia. He is surrounded by a neglected and unfaithful wife, a female assistant who is after him, a drunken, lecherous colleague who fancies himself a ladies man, a pathetic mother-in-law and her gigolo, and a couple of enigmatic household employees. What plot there is involves our hero trying to get his building done on time, keeping track of his wife, and falling in love with his comely assistant. Dramatic developments and how they are dealt with round out the movie. The most remarkable feature of this film is a sequence of two undercover operatives or vigilantes stalking a Brazilian revolutionary in the jungle. The only possible connection this boring and poorly acted sequence has with the rest of the movie is the mention that this bad guy is upset because Brazil is spending millions to build a new city while people around it are starving. It is a bizarre and totally disconnected intrusion into the movie. The only redeeming feature of this disaster is the on location shots of the then under-construction city of Brasilia and of some location shots in Rio. These provide a nice time capsule of the new capital and the old in the early 60s. Maybe the best way to deal with the misfortune of having this DVD is to turn off the sound and just watch the 1960s Brazilian landscape.

It's odd to find fault with the fact that the full 91-minute version of this movie has been released on DVD instead of the cut-down 83-minute U.S. theatrical print, but this movie is the exception that proves the rule. The extra 8 minutes in the Brazilian version released in 1962 under the title Socia de alcoba, has nothing to do with the movie whatever. It's a completely extraneous episode in which two killers talk endlessly as they stalk their prey in the jungle. Not that this murder mystery is all that exciting in the original, despite a great deal of lensing on actual Brazilian locations. True, Jean-Pierre Aumont (who has the advantage of dubbing his English dialogue with his own distinctive voice) does his best to stir up a bit interest in the character's efforts to escape the police while he finds the real killer, but unfortunately he is stymied by a plot that takes forever and a century (particularly in the DVD version) to get under way and a total lack of talent in the directorial chair.

The Plot.

Mike, an architect, is married to Lin, a beautiful and unfaithful woman.

Returning from a trip, he finds she's disappeared.

When he tries to locate her, he also learns about her many affairs, and he gets closer to Marina, his efficient assistant, who helps him solve the mystery.

Disclaimer. I saw a horrible print of this film. Scratchy, dirty and really bad sound. I had to turn the sound up to 40 just to hear it (it's usually on 13 or 15). It was also a sort of blurry transfer and my DVD is a 4K Blu Ray that usually makes regular DVDs look fantastic.

Anyway, this was a Crown International release. The musical soundtrack is horrible. It's annoying. It's got that mandolin sort of twanging that Some of the 60s Orson Welles movies had, but none of the talent to make you forget about it!

The plot is very hard to follow and frankly, a couple times i thought I was in Ed Wood territory. The fact that this is the same director who directed some Gilligan's Island, It's About Time and The Brady Bunch says it all

It horribly directed and the acting is non existent. There is a 10 minute scene with two killers in the jungle talking and talking and talking and nothing happens. It's idiotic.

Skip this puppy. You've been forewarned.

This incoherent thriller has a story which surrounds an architect whose wife is murdered, meaning he is the chief suspect. Its seriously forgettable stuff with little in the way of energy or imagination. It was in fact an early release from b-movie distributers Crown International Pictures but this one was from a period before they started to get any good at this game. It is a very sub-par and tedious production indeed, which seemingly was based on a novel by Winston Graham, who wrote the very good Marnie which of course was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock into an equally excellent movie. Needless to say, Carnival of Crime isn't even in the same ball-park. It's only plus points truthfully come from its exotic Brazil location work.