Aggiungi una trama nella tua linguaWhen a beautiful actress returns from a short trip to London, a mysterious man begins to stalk her. As she slowly turns the corner, she sees him and faints. Hours later she awakens, unable t... Leggi tuttoWhen a beautiful actress returns from a short trip to London, a mysterious man begins to stalk her. As she slowly turns the corner, she sees him and faints. Hours later she awakens, unable to recognize her own husband and friends.When a beautiful actress returns from a short trip to London, a mysterious man begins to stalk her. As she slowly turns the corner, she sees him and faints. Hours later she awakens, unable to recognize her own husband and friends.
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Recensioni in evidenza
A regular but tense and mysterious Gialli with usual gloved killer carrying out a criminal spree . Customary Giallo in which thrilling events , intrigue , twists , turns and stabbing scenes show up lurking and threatening throughout buildings , streets , parks and other locations from Belgium . Stars the beautiful but mature Anne Heywood as a woman who is stalked by a contract killer, being shocked by a former murder , having amnesia, and doesn't remember anything about the earlier deeds . Anne Heywood had a long career and in her maturity she played exploitation movies with various lascivious and sordid characters , including nude scenes , such as : Good look Miss Wyckoff , The Lady of Monza , The Nun and the Devil, The first time on the Grass and Ring of Darkness . Along with Telly Savalas , the popular Kojak , here on the other side of the law as a hit man who attempts to eliminate a potential witness . They are well accompanied by a good but not very known support cast , such as : Ruggieri, Piazza, Willeke Van Ammelrooy and Rosella Falk .
It displays an anticlimatic musical score by Stelvio Cipriani in his usual style with plenty of synthesizer music typical of the Seventies . Enjoyable and colorful cinematography by the famous Joe D'Amato or Aristide Massaccesi . Being shot on location in Gaasbek castle , Lennik , Theatre Royal Monnaie Brussels , Brugge West Vlaanderen, Ostend , Flanders , Bruges , Belgium . The motion picture was regularly directed by Alberto de Martino , as it has some shortcomings , flaws and gaps . Martino was an acceptable artisan who directed several films of all kinds of genres around the Italian B-series , as he made the following ones , Peplum : Medusa against the son of Hercules , Triumph of Hercules , The Invincibles , Seven Spartans , Rivolt of the Seven, Invincible Gladiator . Eurospy : Operation Lady Chaplin . Warfare : From Ardenne to Inferno . Terror : Hyden Park, Holocaust 2000 , Miami Golem, Horror , AntiChrist. Thrillers : Puma Man, Rome like Chicago , The man with Ice Eyes , The Consiliere . And Spaghetti Westerns : Django shoots first , One Hundred thousand Dollars for Ringo, The Seventh Cavalry , among others .
Alberto De Martino is not one of the better known Italian directors, and judging by the films I've seen from him; I have to say I'm not really surprised about that (despite the excellent Formula for a Murder). The acting is not really up to much either, with British actress Anne Heywood failing to impress or inspire sympathy in the lead role, while Telly Savalas does not deliver the kind of performance that previous roles have shown he can deliver. The cinematography and locations used are both surprisingly bland, which is a shame. The film reminded me somewhat of Mario Bava's disappointing Lisa and the Devil (not just because both films feature Telly Savalas), although Bava's film has a lot more going for it than this one does. Music is often an important part of this type of film also and there have been many memorable scores written - again, however, you will not find one here. It all boils down to a dull finale and overall, unless like me you are a big fan of the genre and ultimately aiming to see every Giallo ever made; I would highly recommend giving this film a miss!
But the cat Ranko with his compulsory black gloves and switchblade knife starts to stalk the mouse Eleanor in a threatening way. Was she herself a murderer? Does Ranko work for a hidden somebody? Was Peter's death really accidental? Who should be the bad genius of Eleanor's life? We wander with her through the labyrinth of her disjointed thoughts where past, present, fantasies and plays mix up concealing all issue. Her relatives try to help her to get out her state of "chronic anxiety verging on paranoia" and to gather the pieces of "the mosaic of her memories": her husband George (Giorgio Piazza), her lover Thomas (Osvaldo Ruggeri), her doctor Chandler (Antonio Guidi), her sister Dorothy (Willeke van Ammelrooy), and Peter's sister and owner of the theater Margaret (Rossella Falk, from Piu tardi Claire to Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso).
On his side Ranko the killer doesn't waste time and begins to add corpses to extend his hit score. And as an actress must perform on stage, Eleanor will be back at her theater for a spectacular final confrontation, allowing the real tragedy to join the played ones. Finally the killer is not so much on the phone, but the title must have been chosen to match with great Hollywood standards like Dial M or Sorry Wrong Number. Even if the film lacks in some way of rhythm, punch and thrill, it stays classic within the style in this very heart of the giallo wave, and does achieve at last its mission. (Viewed in an Italian 1h38 version.)
Of course, considering all the above points, you'd think that I'm extremely biased and couldn't possibly write a properly objective review about "The Killer is on the Phone". Not true, in fact, because even though I'm incredibly happy that I was finally able to watch this movie, I do reckon that it's merely just a mediocre effort that probably won't even make my giallo top 50. The main shortcomings here are definitely the slow pacing, the unnecessarily complex and illogical plot and – most of all – the lack of violence and perversity. Theater actress Eleanor Lorraine spots a bald and uncanny man at a drinking fountain and faints. This was the same man who murdered her beloved husband five years ago, but because of the shock she suffers from amnesia and doesn't remember anything that happened in the past five years, including the killer's identity. The killer – Ranko Drasovic – doesn't know Eleanor's memory is gone, so he starts stalking her and plans to get rid of the witness. Meanwhile, Eleanor's surrounding also face many issues. She doesn't recognize both her new husband and her lover, and she has forgotten all her lines of the stage play that premieres the next Saturday. The script surely has a lot of potential and features a handful of great ideas, but the elaboration is poor and implausible. Eleanor suffers from a severe case of amnesia, yet everybody allows her to wander around town on her own and hold private investigations without offering her help or support. The killer has numerous of opportunities to eliminate her quickly but prefers to observe her endlessly, instead probably just to stretch the running time. Oh, and by the way, so much for the film's title, as the killer only calls her house once and that sequence is rather irrelevant because there isn't an actual telephone conversation going on The last 10- 15 minutes feature a few suspenseful moments and typically absurd giallo-twists, including the chase behind the theater scenes and the truth regarding her husband's death, but it's not enough to save the film. Stelvio Cipriani provides a marvelous musical score, as usual, and furthermore this film only proves that Bruges is a beautiful city; 36 years before the blockbuster hit "In Bruges" did the same.
I appreciated the twists in the mystery which is more of a "why" than a "whom" but you have to really wait for that ending.
I generally delight in spooky atmospheric fare, but this film comes across more like a drama than a Gothic horror, and I did not particularly like the main character which made it difficult for me.
Still, L'assassino...e al telephono is solid and I can't in good faith knock it as a whole.
Lo sapevi?
- QuizThe tagline "TELLY SAVALAS on the other side of the law!" suggests this role is contrary to what audiences had come to expect of Savalas, as a cop champion for good, which would come to full fruition the following year, in his wildly successful "Kojak" television series.
- BlooperThe falling object (girder? light-box?) that knocks the piano that pins Ranko in reality would not have been heavy enough or properly positioned relative to the piano to have knocked it over.
- Citazioni
Airline Ticket Clerk: OK, sir, KLM flight 102, tomorrow morning at 10:30. I see that it's finally been decided. Indecision is not just a woman's prerogative.
Ranko Drasovic: Is that so funny to you?
Airline Ticket Clerk: I wasn't laughing sir, just smiling.
Ranko Drasovic: I don't like men who smile at me. I always think they're fags.
- ConnessioniReferenced in Black Christmas (Un Natale rosso sangue) (1974)
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Dettagli
- Tempo di esecuzione1 ora 43 minuti
- Mix di suoni
- Proporzioni
- 2.35 : 1