...dopo di che, uccide il maschio e lo divora

1971's "Marta" was among the Avco Embassy brand of foreign horror titles available for television in the late 70s, but little seen since. Stephen Boyd, who died six years after completing this film (age 49), stars as wealthy landowner Miguel, first seen murdering his mother when she walks in on his love making. Marisa Mell, who also died young (in 1992, age 53), plays a beautiful fugitive who has apparently killed a man and finds a place to stay at Miguel's sprawling estate. It doesn't take long for the two to fall into bed together, although Miguel remains haunted by the disappearance of his wife Pilar, whose portrait bears a striking resemblance to his current paramour. The usual police investigation does not intrude much, and the film holds up rather well, despite a somewhat predictable climax. The two leads carry the film, and Marisa Mell does not disappoint with a fair amount of topless nudity. Only recently emerging from its undeserved obscurity, "Marta" aired three times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, paired with second feature "Son of Frankenstein" on May 14 1977, solo appearances on Mar 22 1980 and Aug 1 1981.

This giallo of Italo-Spanish coproduction considerably suffers from a too much jumbled plot set in a very slack rhythm, and the English dialogues which completely betray the right sense of the Italian ones contribute to add more confusion. All this make us stay very far from the standards level, like in Il terzo Occhio, La Notte che Evelyn or Amuck.

Miguel (Stephen Boyd, The Third Secret), a Spanish aristocrat fond of entomology issued from an old family, lives alone in his vast castle guarded by a pack of howling hellish dogs, and only cared by a couple of old servants, Arturo (George Rigaud, Una Lucertola con la pelle di donna) and Elena (Isa Miranda, Ecologia del Delitto). Two years ago, his blonde wife Pilar (Marisa Mell, Una sull'Altra), or Anna as in the Italian version, fled away and disappeared because of the very authoritarian and possessive attitude of Miguel's mother Clara (Nelida Quiroga, Kiss me Monster), since deceased in an accident. Miguel's father was mad and had already ended his life in an asylum.

One day a mysterious woman, Marta (Marisa Mell too, but with dark hair), strangely resembling to Pilar, appears in rush within the castle park, claiming to have killed a man during a fight. Miguel decides to hide her in the castle in order to protect her from the investigation led by the police commissioner Carlos (Jesus Puente, Il Rosso Segno della folia) helped by his assistant (Howard Ross, Cinque Bambole per la luna d'agosto), and Miguel and Marta fall in love together.

But who is exactly Marta and what does she really seek? What has truly become Pilar? Which secrets conceals Miguel about him and his family? Is there actually somewhere a "mantis who kills the male and devours him"? What were in fact the real relationships between Miguel and his mother? Marta will have to decipher the enigma throughout the tangles of the sinuous corridors all along the old castle. (Viewed in English 1h34 version.)

Filmed on location at Castillo de Vinuelas outside of Madrid, Marisa Mell plays 'Marta', a woman who becomes the 'captive' of a wealthy, disturbed bachelor Don Miguel, played by Stephen Boyd, in his vast castle. We find out she is looking for her lost sister Pilar, who used to be Arturo's wife. Both actors do a great job in this film. Stephen Boyd gets to show off his acting chops as the disturbed yet charming Miquel. He is mostly placid and engaging, but the more he reveals about his life, the 'Norman Bates' side of his character starts to seep through. Marisa Mell holds her own vs Boyd as Marta, and the romance that happens with her and Miquel is the best part of the story. At the time, Marisa Mell and Stephen Boyd were real-life lovers, so the love scenes they have together on screen are genuinely electric and very sexy (with frequent Marisa Mell nudity!).