Mani di velluto

It's kind of an interesting story how I got into watching 70's Italian sex comedies. Like many other people, I'm a big fan of Italian gialli and Italian crime thrillers, and I followed a couple of the alluring actresses that appeared in those--mainly Edwige Fenech and Gloria Guida--into some of their other Italian films (even though these were much less likely to be legitimately released and/or available in English-friendly editions). The vast majority of 70's Italian sex comedies are quite stupid and the only thing they really have going for them is a generous helping of female nudity. At some point though, I got to actually kind of LIKE these movies, especially the ones featuring comedians like Lando Buzzanco or Renzo Montagnini, but even some of the more infantile Italian buffoons like Alvaro Vitali or Lino Banfi have their moments. I've seen very little of the work of Adrian Celentano, who probably has the most laconic style of any of the male Italian comedians of that era, but this is by far the best of his movies that I've seen.

Like your better Italian comedies, this one actually has a PLOT! Celentano is an engineer who has invented a kind of theft-proof glass that has wreaked havoc in the criminal underworld. By chance, he meets a beautiful female thief (Eleanora Giorgi) who robs him on the subway and then later takes care of him after he gets in a bicycle accident. He gets mixed up with her crazy family, who are all thieves, and pretends to be a thief himself, all the while trying to hide his true identity.

This movies is actually pretty entertaining despite being in Italian and having pretty much no female nudity. Giorgi is a little higher class then most actresses that appeared in these movies (even if she rarely leaves her clothes on for an entire movie like she does here). She is actually quite good in this. Olga Karlatos (most famous from Lucio Fulci's "Zombi") doesn't have much to do though as Celentano's wife. The sexiest actress though might be Ania Pieroni, Centano's mistress in this, who had small but important parts in Fulci and Dario Argento movies (she was the original "Mother of Tears" in "Inferno"). She is smoldering hot in this movie even with her clothes on, but if you want to see a lot, um, more of her check out "Stay the Way You Are" where she plays the college roommate of a young Nastassia Kinski, but never actually shares the screen with her because I'm pretty sure it would have melted the celluloid in the camera. But enough rhapsodizing about sexy Italian actresses--suffice it to say this movie has a good cast, a good story, and is pretty entertaining (even in Italian). I'd recommend it.

Engineer Quiller is the inventor of bullet proof glass that puts jewel thieves out of work and threatens to ruin an insurance company because jewellers no longer bother to get insured. This made Quiller a rich industrialist. Since he is played by Adriano Celentano, we are also treated to the usual self-mocking pseudo-machismo. However, Quiller's private life is in a shambles.

Tilli, played by Eleonora Giorgi, is a talented pickpocket and part of a lower class family of specialized criminal professionals. There seems to be nothing much wrong with her private life, other than too much routine and the occasional (routine) trouble with the police. She has a giving personality and dreams of a life on the side of someone like gentleman thief Arsène Lupin -- a literary figure who could be seen in the popular French television series Arsenio Lupin (1971) around that time.

Based on this constellation, the plot of a romantic crime comedy almost writes itself. The plot is in fact as good as the constellation promises, and the execution is great as well. It is certainly not subdued, but in retrospect it somehow feels that way. Maybe this is because you would expect this kind of comedy to go over the top all the time, which it doesn't. There is comical exaggeration, but not to the degree I would have thought, and the physical humor never turns into the slapstick type. This is why I am calling the film very nice rather than, for example, hilarious. This might actually be a general feature of Italian comedies from that time.

In places I was reminded of the Olsen Gang, which I think also owed its inspiration to Arsène Lupin. But where that Danish series transferred the basic idea into the petit-bourgeois milieu, this film lives from the tension brought by a twisted Cinderella plot.

Overall, this is a unique little gem that is well worth watching, and then perhaps re-watching after a while.

I was very enjoyed! :) funny, subtle, NON-hollywood movie with talented actors and Adriano Celentano, of course! Each character is drawn perfectly. If you see it - you won't be disappointed - it's NOT "2001: Space Travesty" or "Scary movie" or the like ;)One bad thing: the final is not as good as it can be - that's why i voted only 9 :)

I adored Adriano Celentano since my early days and watched many of his movies on television multiple times, such as The Con Artists, The Ace, Taming of the Shrew and many others but somehow this one skipped my attention or I just forgot I've seen it and here's why - it looks mediocre compared to the already mentioned movies. Velvet Hands is a fine piece of comedy, and most of it comes from the character of Inspector, played marvellously by Pippo Santonastaso, with a bit of repetitive music score and Celentano playing in most part against his usual type which makes his performance and the whole movie in general quite dull and uninspiring but overall this is a no time-waster for sure.