Il diavolo a sette facce

After a series of close encounters, a woman enlists the help of her attorney and his friend to help her when a group of diamond thieves are convinced she has their stolen loot and that it's her twin sister who's really to blame, but no matter how much she tries to do so their quest to get the jewels back puts them all in danger.

This was a decidedly disappointing and uneventful Giallo effort. Among the few positives here stem from the initially intriguing storyline that starts off the film rather well. Immediately engrossing us in the threat by having the aborted abduction and reveal about not just the thugs on her trail but the reason for it as the duplicity with the twin who's the real target is the kind of fine introduction needed here. It gets to the action and setup from the start as that's all given barely ten minutes in which soon brings about a series of fine double-crosses and intense confrontations that try to pepper in some action into the proceedings as the thieves grow increasingly more intent on their misguided mission. Alongside a fun finale with some decent chases and action involved, there are some positives in this one. There are some issues to be had here that hold this one down. The main gist of the film is that once the initial setup has been revealed there's not a whole lot that happens that's interesting here. The inability of the thugs to recognize the twin duplicity has befallen them making them immensely underwhelming and non-threatening who carry on with their plans despite no real evidence of what's going on. As they try to catch up to her and the charges trying to keep her safe, their inability to recognize everything they're saying comes off more as a means of continuing the story than anything else. This ends up leading to a large assortment of scenes that are just not interesting with either these uninspired shakedowns or lifeless romance sequences featuring the couples coming together for the first time which drag this out. As well, there's also the wholly underwhelming series of action scenes that are far more lackluster than expected. Instead of the traditional stalk and slash which is usually found in these kinds of films, the use of gunplay and shootouts for everything renders this without the kind of body count or general feel associated with the genre as this type of action doesn't leave a good impression. Even worse is a cringe-inducing car chase that's criminally inept and flat-out embarrassing, rarely having the cars on-screen together in the same shot and trying to undercut everything by having not just the outside traveling shots but the interiors within the car shown through sped-up footage. It's immensely obvious with all of the unnatural behaviors and jerking going on and all come together to lower this one overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

It could perhaps be argued that "The Devil With Seven Faces" shouldn't even be categorized as a giallo, but even though the gore is largely missing (most of the killings are simple shootings), many of the other typical characteristics of the genre are here: the colorful title, the convoluted, twisty and often nonsensical plot (one bit with an apparently dead old lady whose body disappears makes no sense at all!), the music, the European locations, the general "feel", and George Hilton as a charming/shady character. Carroll Baker is several cuts above the average giallo heroine (and boy does she have GREAT LEGS), but on the whole this film is merely passable. Still, those who enjoy the genre and have learned to accept its flaws should probably check this one out. (**)

"The Devil has Seven Faces" isn't a giallo, but admittedly it looks and sounds more like a giallo than most genuine gialli do. Now that was a weird sentence! Allow me to elaborate. The enticing title, the starring of George Hilton and Carroll Baker and the Stelvio Cipriani musical score have got written "GIALLO" all over it. Without even knowing what the plot is about, these elements are enough to convince all avid fans of Italian cult cinema that we're dealing with a bona fide giallo here. The plot, however, is that of a crime-thriller/mystery movie. There are no heavily breathing perverts with black gloves massacring scantily dressed fashion models here. Instead, "The Devil has Seven Faces" is an overly convoluted diamond heist thriller full of double-crossing and untrustworthy characters. Beautiful businesswoman Julie Harrison's life gets turned upside down when she suddenly receives threats, harassments and unwelcome visitors. It seems like her twin sister Mary stole a valuable diamond in London and vanished. Now the fellow jewel thieves that her sister double-crossed are mistaken Julie for Mary and terrorize her. She seeks help with a befriended lawyer Dave Barton and his hunky friend Tony Shane. Even though the men do everything to protect her, Julie's life is increasing danger. "The Devil has Seven Faces" is a fairly adequate Italian thriller, but like so often the case with these films, the screenplay tries to be overly clever and misleading, resulting in one too many convoluted plot twists. The film is also too talkative, especially during the first hour, and contains only a handful memorable moments of action, including a shoddy car chase and a tense confrontation inside a windmill. Speaking of windmills, for some reason the majority of the film (or at least all the exterior sequences) are shot in The Netherlands. I have no idea what the added value of that was, because it's weird to see all the road signs and newspaper clippings in Dutch. There are quite a number of shootouts and suggestive killings, but this definitely isn't a gory film. It's not even at all sleazy even though the cover image illustrates Carroll Baker in lingerie. Cipiriani's music is sensual and very lounge-like as usual.

If you are expecting a good giallo from the title (Il diavolo a sette facce), especially with George Hilton (The Case of the Scorpion's Tail), and Umberto Lenzi's favorite, Carroll Baker (So Sweet... So Perverse, Silent Horror, Paranoia, A Quiet Place to Kill), you will be disappointed.

There is no blood and gore as most of the killing take place with a gun. It is a straight-up crime thriller.

It also stars Golden Globe winner Stephen Boyd (Ben-Hur).

Lots chasing around and some torture as everyone is trying to find a million dollar diamond. Some real excitement towards the end in a windmill. Not a lot of thrillers use windmills. There is Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, as well as The Black Windmill. which also involves diamonds.

Enjoyable action flick.

This film was one of two videos featuring Carroll Baker that I found in a resale shop in Portland, Oregon. The reason I say this is that they both seem to be specialty videos dubbed from international sources and initially sold on a "request only" basis. Being a fan of La Baker, I was anxious to try both. This movie was lensed by a director primarily known for peplum and spaghetti westerns, but manages a nice steady clip and passable performances from the international cast. The plot involves Baker and her "twin sister" with international jewel thieves and a missing diamond. It appears that the criminal element believes Baker is her sister, involved with the potentate whose gem was stolen. Baker approaches solicitor Stephen Boyd and sidekick George Hilton for protection. Those with even a cursory knowledge of Italian gialli know that "all-is-not-what-it-seems" and perhaps knowing this will dilute some of the surprises.

The music is gloriously overblown Morricone-esque lounge, and Baker's blue wig worn at seaside is worth the price of viewing. If you can find this film, I recommend viewing for the sheer brilliance of having an action pursuit taking place in and around a windmill! The setting has been used before and since (most memorably in Black Windmill), but creates a nice frisson not usually associated with Italian thrillers.