adrianovasconcelos

Readily do I admit that I am not familiar with Henry Levin's work, but certainly he directs I LOVE A MYSTERY with a sure touch and verve, and to that end he is comprehensively assisted by superior chiaroscuro cinematography by Burnett Guffey and editing from Aaron Stell.

The screenplay by Charles O'Neal off the original book by Carlton Morse bristles with sharp dialogue, and the punchlines are generally cleverly and effectively delivered - mainly thanks to a magnificently suave and chameleonic performance from George Macready, as the upper class gentleman who literally loses his head as the film starts. Looking smartly dressed, well combed, with a sinister scar on the right cheek, Macready dominates the film to a point that leaves me wondering why unmemorable Jim Bannon was given the male lead.

Nina Foch plays Macready's deceitful wife but it is lovely Carole Mathews that I found truly enticing and have kept in my memory files.

Good, imaginative film noir, definitely worth watching - at 69 minutes long, not a minute to spare! 7/10.

I know Richard Carlson better as an actor than as a director, and I am afraid THE SAGA OF HEMP BROWN does not explain why the thespian of solid performances in BEHIND LOCKED DOORS and THE SOUND OF FURY, for instance, should turn his hand to directing - an occupation at which he seems less gifted.

THE SAGA begins well enough, though Hemp Brown - anything to do with hemp, the drug? Nah, back in the 1850s they had never heard of it yet - begins his long list of stupid mistakes that allow Jed Givens (well played by John Larch) to turn the situation to his favor some three times during the flick.

So, believability is not THE SAGA's strongest asset - far from it, in fact - which reflects a poor screenplay by Bob Williams and Bernard Girard.

Cinematography by Philip Lathrop rates pedestrian at best, though occasionally you see some nice mountains in the background. Editing by Martinelli looks amateurish in the fisticuff sequences, where actors clearly avoid hurting each other.

Acting never rises above standard, though Beverly Garland is gorgeous, with a terrific pair of legs to boot.

Passable time waster oater. 6/10.

I know little about Director Giuseppe Colizzi but two of his collaborations with Mario Girotti aka Terence Hill and Carlo Pedersoli aka Bud Spencer deserve recognition: GOD FORGIVES... I DON'T! (1967) and ACE HIGH (1968).

GOD FORGIVES carries a rather serious-faced Terence Hill in the lead, and a smaller role with a similarly close-faced, even dour Bud Spencer. That seriousness would start to change the following year with ACE HIGH, where the first signs of the trademark Hill- Spencer comic complicity began to emerge, though largely on the back of yet another memorable Eli Wallach performance after his Tuco in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

GOD FORGIVES opens with a superb poker game sequence, in which the dark, half hidden faces of the card players suggest impending violence. It is a key momentum-giving entrance that sets the mood for the rest of the film and, in particular, it introduces the viewer to the two real enemies: Hill and the deceptive mass murderer Bill Santo Antonio, convincingly portrayed by Frank Wolff.

The poker sequence leads to other very good scenes, notably when Hill is tortured in a well, Bud Spencer breaks his cross, and the explosive ending.

GOD FORGIVES is one of the better spaghetti Westerns, with some sharp dialogue giving weight to the action. 7/10.