A doppia faccia

It has to be said that Riccardo Freda wasn't the greatest Italian director to ever live and, as such, his films don't tend to rank among the best of the genres he's worked in. Double Face is not one of the best Giallo's ever made, though it's a hell of a lot better than Freda's later The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, and it's a pretty decent genre entry in its own right. As is the case with most Giallo films; the central focus of the plot is on murder, but rather than following a string of murders as many of these films do; this time the focus is on just one murder and the investigation into said crime. The plot centres on John Alexander, a successful business man whose wife just happens to be a lesbian. She is, unfortunately, killed in a car crash towards the start of the film and John then encounters Christine; a sexy and uninhibited blonde seductress who seems to have a keen interest in him. One thing leads to another, and John ends up seeing a blue movie starring Christine and, apparently, his wife! The mystery then builds as John comes to believe that his wife is still alive.

The stand out star of the film is definitely Klaus Kinski. It's quite odd seeing him in this role as I'm so used to seeing him play the bad/insane antagonist, whereas here he finds himself in the hapless victim role. Kinski keeps it together well and while this performance isn't as great as the ones where he gets to go over the top; it has to be said that he gives a solid performance in the lead role. He is joined by fellow German Christiane Krüger, who takes up the role of sexy leading lady well and the central cast is rounded off by Margaret Lee, who appeared in a handful of Giallo's, including Slaughter Hotel and The Killers Are Our Guests. The film is never overly exciting and sometimes it seems too content to just wallow in the plot; but there are some interesting scenes to help fill out the running time. The film is set in London, although it wasn't shot on location and that fact clearly shows. The final ten minutes are the best of the film as the plot finally reveals itself and mostly makes sense. Overall, I cant say that Double Face is one of the best Giallo's ever made; but it's good enough and certainly worth seeing.

Liz and Helen, a mod-Gothic mystery from Riccardo Freda, has some points in common with one of the director's earlier films, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock. Each concerns a man who believes his wife to be deceased, only to be confronted by creepy evidence to contrary. Then, too, there's the extravagant, romantic atmosphere, thunderstorms, and lurid melodramatic scenes.

Distinguishing Liz and Helen, however, is its Swinging London setting, complete with a disorienting visit to a hippie dance club with colored lights, topless birds, motorcycles, and psychedelic music. The attentive viewer will be further unsettled by the questionable motivation of its protagonist, straight-laced but tortured industrialist John Alexander, played by a simmeringly earnest Klaus Kinski.

The production values aren't consistently impressive. In one scene Kinski pretends to be pummeled by people clearly not in the same room, and the English actor who dubs the lead is laughably un-Kinski. Still, Liz and Helen does more than compensate for its shortcomings with mood and stylistic flair. Recommended to the open-minded and those wanting to see Kinski do something other than glare crazily, eat bugs, and kill people.

This London-based giallo starts off with a Keystone cops-type sped up car chase that ends with a toy train crashing into a toy car. We shortly afterwards see Klaus Kinski and his wife badly superimposed onto a ski-slope pretending to slide down a mountain. I'm guessing the budget for this one wasn't too high, but at least it lends a daft edge to this film.

Fugly Klaus Kinski isn't too happy that his wife hates him and clearly parades her lesbian lover in front of him all the time, which makes him the prime suspect when the car she's in crashes and explodes. The real question is, Klaus hated his wife, but is he the one that killed her? We follow our subdued Klaus around London as he searches hippy filled freak out dens looking for answers.

It's in one of these stinking holes full of unemployable idealistic morons that Klaus discovers his wife starring in some sort of porno film. Her face is covered, but a scar on her neck and a distinctive ring are enough proof for Klaus. He hooks up with a hippy chick to continue his search and gets a good kicking in a porn studio for his trouble. However, as shifty as Klaus looks, someone else may be up to something - why else would Klaus be being drugged?

We get a calmer Klaus here, but you still get the usual traits from him too - staring, glowering, looking etc. Nothing is quite revealed until the end so feel free to nap through some of the film - I had a feeling I did, and didn't seem to miss anything either. This isn't the best Riccardo Fredda film - If you want giallo, try his incredibly daft and enjoyable Iguana With the Tongue of Fire and if you want horror, my preference is the Ghost. Boob fans however will not feel let down by this one.

In an alternative universe, Klaus Kinski would have been the ideal actor to play Mark E Smith of The Fall.

If we did not know when this film came out we could easily tell with a potential error of no more than +/- 12 months. The psychedelic elements put it in a 1967-1970 interval and the lesbian love scenes rule out the early part of that interval.

Klaus Kinski being cast against type is certainly quite memorable, but when I think of this film I mostly recall the special effects for the train crash. Or rather the lack of them! Although the moment is brief it is blatantly obvious that we have a crash of a model train, and even more clearly a burning model train. This is the special effects school of early Japanese Godzilla movies!

There are some cigarettes smoked in this film. In fact, the amount featured might have blown the budget, as some of the special effects are more than a little rough. Not to worry, we have top-billed Klaus Kinski playing a man apparently being driven mad, so we're in for some enjoyably extreme theatrics, surely?

Well actually, no. Kinski is at the most restrained I've ever seen him. That powerhouse of rolling eyes and bared teeth is subdued and on his best behaviour - or as much as you can be given the circumstances. It's strange seeing Kinski in the Edwidge Fenech/Dagmar Lassandra role (Nora Orland's incidental score has definite echoes of his subsequent work on 'The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh', starring Fenech in the titular role).

A fairly standard giallo, which has moments of great interest - usually involving Kinski.