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Ever after giallo writer Ernesto Gastaldi teams up with producer-director Luciano Ercoli for this Forbidden Photos... Set in 1970, this early giallo is nicely shot in Techniscope. No murders, just plain old blackmail story and some shy eroticism. Sultry Dagmar Lassander is at her best and Susan Scott is also fab as the devious friend.

The plot is totally implausible but the suspense works til the end...

It's always surprising to see in these 70's gialli how the women look incredibly sexy and how the men are all ugly...projections of the writers/directors fantasies, maybe? Anyhoo... not boring at all, funny at some point -check out the dresses and the hats, it's a blast!-, not necessary but worth a look.

My old buddy Rob, who knows more about psychotronic movies than anybody I know, was the one who turned me on to one of my favorite film experiences of 2006, "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1970), so when he recently raved about another giallo thriller from 1970 that he'd just seen, "The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion," I made a mental note to check it out as quickly as possible. And boy, am I glad I did! In "Forbidden Photos," Dagmar Lassander plays the part of Minou, a woman who is being sexually blackmailed by a man who has incriminating evidence of a murder her hunky businessman husband supposedly committed. Lassander looks a bit like a redheaded Debra Messing here, and her character is indeed quite the mess even when we first meet her, smoking and drinking too much and popping tranquilizers the way I'd pop Pretzel Nuggets. Needless to say, the events she must go through in this sexy, stylized thriller push her ever closer to the cracking point. Anyway, while gorehounds may be a tad disappointed by the lack of extreme violence in this picture, there are abundant joys to be found. Luciano Ercoli's direction is impeccable; the script by Ernesto Gastaldi (who seems to have written every other giallo that I see!) is one made to keep you guessing (although, plotwise, the film is much more straightforward than many other gialli); and Susan Scott, playing Minou's best friend, is remarkably sexy. But the single best element of this picture, for me, is yet another superb score by the maestro, Ennio Morricone. Isn't it remarkable how many hundreds of outstanding film scores this man is responsible for? I'm just in awe of this friggin' dude! I promise that you'll have this film's catchy theme song bouncing around in your head for days...and won't be forgetting this little giallo picture too quickly, either. Thanks, Blue Underground, and thanks again, Rob!

This film is rather unusual for a giallo. It's well-filmed but not particularly stylized. The plot is rather strange, but generally makes sense. It has no graphic violence, and although it has plenty of perverse sexual situations, it barely has even the circumspect nudity of the earliest Caroll Baker gialli ("Sweet Body of Deborah", "Orgasmo", etc.). A society woman (played by Dagmar Lassender) is nearly raped on the beach by a sinister man who tells her that her industrialist husband has murdered one of his colleagues. The man blackmails her into sleeping with him by threatening to expose her husband, and then blackmails her again with graphic photos of their affair. The husband meanwhile is himself involved with her sexually voracious best friend (played by Nieves Navarro aka Susan Scott), and the whole thing might be some kind of plot to drive her mad.

This movie works mainly because of the acting. Dagmar Lassander was one of the better actresses to appear in gialli, second only to Edwige Fenech and the aforementioned Carroll Baker at playing these hysterical, beleaguered victim roles. Even better is Nieves Navarro as her sex-hungry best friend who has pornographic pictures taken of herself and says at one point, after Lassender's character confides about her near rape, that she would have "adored being violated" (there's a kind of refreshingly politically incorrectness to the ridiculous dubbed dialogue of these movies). She is such a dubious and ambiguous character that even at the end it is not clear whether she is a loyal friend to the protagonist or an unexposed villain.

The director, Luciano Ercoli, is the Italian husband of former Spanish model Navarro. He made several other gialli, all featuring his wife, but this is probably the one where he made the best use of her. He is no Dario Argento or even Sergio Martino, but his direction is certainly adequate. The screenwriter, Ernesto Gastaldi, contributed scripts for any number of these pictures and he puts forth a pretty decent and suspenseful one here. This movie is kind of hard to find right now, but it is worth seeing if you like these kind of movies.

The dull Minou (Dagmar Lassander) is spending a couple of days in her house nearby the beach. When she goes to a restaurant to have dinner, she is harassed by a stranger (Simon Andreu) riding a motorcycle that tells that her husband has killed a business investor. Minou calls her husband Pier (Pier Paolo Capponi) and they return home. Pier is a businessman near bankruptcy and former lover of Minou's best friend Dominique (Susan Scott). Soon Minou receives a phone call of the stranger that tells that he has a tape of Pier killing an investor. He proposes to trade the tape for kinky sex with her, and Minou accepts the proposal to protect Pier. But soon she learns that she was victim of a scheme and Pier did not kill the investor. Further, the stranger now has photos of their sex and blackmails her, and she confides everything to Dominique. What will they do?

"Le foto proibite di una signora per bene", a.k.a. "The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion", is a flawed and erotic thriller with a great plot point in the end. The actresses are extremely sexy and gorgeous, and the erotic tension is kept along the story. However, their characters are silly and shallow. The story has many flaws to misguide the viewer, but the final twist is unexpected. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fotos Proibidas" ("Forbidden Photos")

If you like Giallo films because they are all blood, nudity, style and senselessness this one will probably disappoint you. Not that a little more of any of those elements might make this better than it is. This is very well done and though the story doesn't actually involve murder as much as extortion it is consistently interesting and involving. The recent DVD from Blue Underground is a spotless near perfect way to see it since a big screen is probably too much to ask. Unfortunately.

Screenwriter Gastaldi always comes up with interesting plots and this one holds together on the strength of the plotting for most of its run. The motivations of the wife at the start are a little fuzzy but this becomes clear later. It is too bad the casting of the two leads occasionally makes things confusing, in the dark they look too much alike. Both the lead women look great and act well and the dubbing into English isn't too bad. A solid low budget film (though you'd never know) well produced on all levels with stark/striking photography.

Didnt like this one at all. The first thing that threw me off was that every character acted so weird and there was no explanation whatsoever to their relationships, that is, i was left wondering why it is that Minou was friends with Dominique since they do not have anything in common and Dominique is always patornizing and rude to Minou; Not only that but Minou's husband is absolutely annoyingly passive agressive to her since the first time he appeared on screen. I do not expect much from these sexploitation type films but Le foto proibite amazed me in how simple its plot was and did not make up for it in style at all(which to me came as a surprise). I wish the film showed the city, gave Minou something to do to define her as a character instead of just saying "she likes to drink, take pills and eventually read comic books(?)" i also wish Dominique had more screen time and that they had better developed her relation with Minou.

"The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion" has undoubtedly its assets: the remarkable camera work by cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa, quite meticulously chosen, très chic décors, exquisite sixties fashion, an expertly done soundtrack by Ennio M., and above all the ravishing beauty of Andalusian actress Nieves Navarro who would later marry director Luciano Ercoli. Alas, after a more or less promising first half - sadistic erotomaniac is stalking innocent Italian hausfrau (Dagmar Lassander) -, the script by hackmeister Ernesto Gastaldi is going downhill, and fast - including a "surprise" ending even more devastatingly silly than other Gastaldi baloney à la "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" or "The Case of the Scorpion's Tail". In the DVD extra feature, round-faced and highly likable Gastaldi grins knowingly: he sure sold a lot of merda.

The Forbidden Photos of a Lady above Suspicion is a Giallo that is different to what most fans will be used to, as the graphic, over the top murder scenes have been scrapped in favour of a sexually charged plot line. I was worried that this might not work out, as murders are a key element of this sort of film for me - but to my surprise, Luciano Ercoli has turned out another first rate Giallo that makes up for it's lack of blood with a constant stream of intrigue. The film works from a script by Giallo luminary Ernesto Gastaldi, who manages to keep every other Giallo trademark besides murder in the film. The atmosphere is charged with desire and frustration, and the central plot; which features blackmail, sex and mystery makes best use of its array of amoral and perverse characters. The film focuses on Minou; the attractive wife of a businessman named Peter. The story picks up when Minou is attacked by a stranger on a beach who informs her that her husband has committed murder and blackmails her into sleeping with him. The plot then takes another turn when the assailant furthers the blackmail with pictures of their rendezvous...

Luciano Ercoli is never going to get huge respect from Giallo fans simply for the fact that he hasn't made a great deal of films; but it seems that the ones he has made get rated down too often, and just like Death Walks at Midnight - Forbidden Photos is an underrated Giallo. The director does an excellent job of ensuring that Forbidden Photos fits the plot in terms of look and style. The lighting and scene setting is excellent, and the upper class locations bode well with the central cast of characters. The acting is also surprisingly high quality with Dagmar Lassander impressing in the lead role. She is joined by Pier Paolo Capponi who takes the sinister role of her husband, while the cast is rounded off by the talented Susan Scott, whose husband and director Luciano Ercoli allows her to steal every scene she's in. The bisexual element of Scott's character fits the film well, and provides more perversion to the already sleazy atmosphere. The plot is significantly less convoluted than most Giallo's, but if you ask me; this is a good thing as it allows the director to put all the implications of the story across without being bogged down by plot details. Overall, this is a great Giallo film and while I know that it's high praise - I really wouldn't hesitate to list it alongside Gastaldi's collaborations with Sergio Martino in a list of premium Giallo films. Highly recommended!

(1970) The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion DUBBED PSYCHOLOGICAL CRIME DRAMA

Co-produced and directed by Luciano Ercoli that has a stranger (Simon Andreu) informing wife, Minou (Dagmar Lassander) married to an important diplomat, Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) he has an incriminating recording of her husband involved in murder. At first, he tells her he wants money, but what he actually want is to court her any way he can. Only after she lets him has his way with her by convincing her to sleep and make out with him. He then hands her the incriminating tape cassette. Then afterwards he tells Minou that he concocted the tape cassette to make her believe her husband was involved in murder but that he made it all up. And then he tells her the reason he slept with her is so that he can take photos of them together for the intention he can extort her some more. She also obtained a photo from her "supposedly" friend, Dominique (Susan Scott) of the culprit, but we find out later she may or may not be in on it as much as some of the others intent to drive Minou in the mental house.

This is not actually a slasher Giallo movie per se but it is reminiscent to the Giallo equivalent of "Gaslight".

Take all the major giallo hallmarks - tons of style, sleaze, and creative murders and toss them out the window and you're left with something that resembles The Forbidden Photos of A Lady Beyond Suspicion. It's a plodding, turgid affair with little flair and even less thrills.

A woman is attacked by a perverted creep who tells her that her husband isn't the man she thinks he is. He ultimately blackmails her into taking lurid photos and, by that point, we've all gone to sleep.

Not one of the better giallos and I'm starting to believe that, unless Argento or Bava's name is attached to a giallo, I'm not going to love it.

This is a slightly unusual giallo. In fact, it is debatable whether it is actually a giallo at all, as there is no knife-wielding black-gloved assassin and there are no murders to speak of. Strictly speaking, this is a mystery movie with a giallo feel. The gialloesque elements come in the form of an eye-catching title, stylish camera-work, great interior decor, a Morricone score, a convoluted mystery, sleazy undertones and the usual quota of beautiful looking women and hideous looking men. In other words, its great fun. The cast is very small, including giallo regular Pier Paolo Capponi, but the undoubted stars of the show are the leading ladies. Both Dagmar Lassandar and Susan Scott look very alike, and this is no bad thing as they are both stunning. Susan Scott is particularly effective here, she has a great screen presence and truly shines in this film - it really is hard to take your eyes off her. The Morricone score is pretty varied, from dreamy lounge to cheesy Euro-pop. It isn't necessarily one of his better soundtracks but it certainly has kitsch value. There is also some incredibly un-PC dialogue and the plot itself is not exactly coming at us from a feminist angle! However, this is to be expected from a 70s giallo movie and its one of the reasons why we love them. They are time-capsules of a different era. I would recommend this film for giallo completists and lovers of obscure Italian movies. Its unusual and camp fun. But if you are expecting an Argentoesque violent thriller you may be best served looking elsewhere.

There is 3 good things about this giallo is that it tells it story without any scenes of violence. Dagmar Lassander is beautiful, she is convincing in her role and the cinematography is nice, but not great. The plot is weak however and there is no suspense, so it is painful to go through the whole movie.

"The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion" is a good entry into the Giallo genre, with a plot (concocted by Ernesto Gastaldi and Mahnahen Velasco) that's actually pretty easy to follow. It does have some twists along the way, but never gets overly convoluted. Director Luciano Ercoli takes full advantage of the Techniscope aspect ratio (2.35:1) to fill the screen with colour and detail. Some devotees of the Giallo may not find it to be completely satisfying as it really isn't all that sleazy, and it certainly isn't ever gory. Mostly, Ercoli uses the film as a means of showcasing the charms of his dynamic and luscious actresses, Dagmar Lassander and Nieves Navarro (Ms. Navarro would become Ms. Ercoli two years later).

Lassander plays Minou, the bored wife of businessman Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi), who is accosted by a stranger (Simon Andreu) on a beach one night. It seems as if he intends to rape her (and indeed, this depraved man does have sex on the brain), but what he does is he warns Minou that her husband is a killer and is not to be trusted. Minou ends up caught in his blackmailing scheme, and when she tries later to convince people of what has been happening to her, there's no evidence to back up her claims.

Lassander is a pleasure to look at, and delivers a sympathetic performance as well; Navarro is a saucy delight as her friend Dominique. Capponi is engaging as Peter, and Andreu does look like he is having a good time playing the creepy blackmailer. Osvaldo Genazzani as the police inspector and Salvador Huguet as Peters' associate George round out the principal cast. These performers and filmmakers do a creditable job of holding your attention and interested in how things will develop, although some viewers might predict where it's going on prior to its resolution.

With outfits and music that strongly evoke this era (Ennio Morricone composes a nicely mellow score), this is worthy of viewing for lovers of the more exploitative side of Italian cinema.

Seven out of 10.

Part Blackmail, Part Is She Going Crazy?

The film is incredibly well directed by Luciano Ercoli. The lighting, colors, and shot composition are all top notch. Great score by Ennio Morricone. The lead actress, Dagmar Lassander, does some great work - although she is not given much to do other than be scared and confused - but she did a great job with what she was given. The supporting actors were also quite good with their roles.

Where the film goes wrong is the script. It fails to give Dagmar Lassander's character any growth. As the viewer, I felt that was a wasted opportunity.

Also, I didn't believe in the twist at the end. It seemed too absurd.

There was little in the way of blood/special effects.

The setting is Barcelona, a glamourous European destination typical of the jet set denizens of these Italian Detective Horrors. Trouble starts when our heroine Minou (Dagmar Lassander) is assaulted by a strange man (Simon Andreu) who threatens she will beg him to rape her when next they meet (a breach of taste served with the misogynistic flair typical of the genre), then runs away (!) When she tells her husband (Pier Paolo Capponi), he naturally wants to call the police, but she says no: "All they do is make you fill out forms" (!) Well, in a case like this, lady, I think maybe you might make an exception and fill out a form for a change, just this one time. But she doesn't, of course, otherwise we wouldn't have a movie. She does, indeed, regret not making that call, as she is sucked down deeper and deeper into the gaslighting whirlpool of her stalker/rapist's devising, blackmailing her that he will show her husband the eponymous photos of the title. Her shoulder to cry on through this is Dominique (Susan Scott), a happy-go-lucky porn photo model (she sends the photos to Copenhagen for sale), a free spirit whose appetite for sex goes far beyond the job. Off the job, she sure likes to wear clothes, lots of them, and both of them galavant around town like a couple of high fashion Barbies . Each scene in new outfits of the most outrageously fabulous 70's fashions: hats, gloves, shoes-and wigs (!)-- to match (another convention of the genre). And I mean Every scene: After one last heart-to-heart sob session, Dominique finally convinces Minou to tell her husband everything. She tells her they'll go tell him RIGHT NOW!-but not until after they've changed into entirely different outfits, restyled wigs, and wiped away the tears to fortify their make-up, as is how they show up at his place in the scene immediately following. It's pretty obvious pretty early on who the real Bad Guy has to be, though there are a couple of clever red herrings to try to trick you. What's fun are the impossibly outrageous contrivances (also a convention) that wend their way to a ridiculously satisfying conclusion, and the particularly salacious aspects of this plot are notably original in that regard.

There, I said "outrageous" again, but Over-The-Top Outrageousness is really what a good giallo is all about. Enjoy.

In one evening, a beautiful married woman, Minou, is attacked by a strange man who informs her husband, Peter, is a murderer. Although Minou can't and doesn't want to believe the apparently crazy story, her best friend, Dominique, meaningfully suggests that a man named Jean Dubois, who was found to be drowned, might be somehow murdered. So, even in the troublesome circumstance that people around her including the police Commissioner can't conform the stranger really exists, it is natural that an unpleasant idea that Peter killed Jean Dubois crosses Minou's mind... Ostensibly the story of this film is a little too old-fashioned to be that of a 1970 Giallo. But, in the last sequence, it takes an desirably satisfactory (if not new) turn which not only is manifestly influenced by Mario Bava's THE TELEPHONE (which is the first and most Giallish segment of his 1964 BLACK SABBATH) but also has rather an usual Giallish element of bisexuality which conforms the Freudian thesis that sadism and masochism must be assessed in the framework of the bisexual organisation. Speaking of the Freudian psychoanalysis, the two leading characters, namely, Minou as a masochist and the black-mailer as a sadist, are almost innocently conformable to the Freudian definitions of masochism and sadism, which are accountable for the different roles of the female and the male. Especially, Minou is a very typically Freudian woman who is, paradoxically enough, so dependent upon her husband that she can sleep with the black-mailer to protect her husband. In this sense, though Dagmar Lassander adequately plays Minou whose actions and reactions, spoken and unspoken utterances, tones of voice, facial expressions and gestures are Freudian and/or psychoanalytically explainable, this film per se isn't and can't be the one in which Lassander is at her best because her character lives in and only in the strangely self-limited world. (Incidentally, I think the 1970s' film in which Lassander is at much better is nothing but SO YOUNG, SO LOVELY, SO VICIOUS...in which she plays much more humanly ambivalent person named Irena. Unfortunately this 1975 film per se is a little to melodramatic to be an average Giallo.) And regarding the Ennio Morricone's music, though it per se doesn't seem to be particularly bad, its strangely independent cheerfulness is not adequate for the appropriately essential seriousness of the film at all. Indeed this music is an unnaturally added sense of the-reality-IN-the-film, and confuses and/or disturbs the-reality-OF-the-film. In conclusion, though I can say this film as a whole is an average Giallo, I have to say the director's similar Giallo film, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS, which has more serious and twisted detectiveness, is better than this.

Marvellous giallo and if it doesn't have lots of murders it does have Dagmar Lassander and Susan Scott (Nieves Navarro) both vying for our attention. Decent, plot development and even if it becomes a little far fetched by the end we are still held fascinated till the final frame. Nice and stylish with fabulous costumerie and room settings with a fabulous score from Morricone. Fair amount of flesh and certainly some erotic moments and shades of SM. Amazing to think of it now but not only do we have the two leading ladies laughing over the latest pornographic pictures from Denmark but Lassander at one point declares that she would adore being violated! UPDATE 12/4/19: Thirteen years after writing the foregoing and a Blu-ray viewing, well two, actually, once in Italian and then in English. The picture quality is now wonderful and it is easy to wallow in the colourful costumes and striking decor, listening to the uneasy and innovative soundtrack as the mystery unfolds. This is fine in Italian with English subtitles but surprisingly watching it again with English dub the film seemed so much better. The dub seemed better to reflect what was going on than the subtitles and bearing in mind this was made entirely in Spain and with many non Italian actors, perhaps the Italian dialogue never did make sense. My main reason for a second view of the Blu-ray straight away was, however, due to being transfixed by the amazing piece on the extras by somebody calling himself, 'Lovely Bob'. A truly illuminating piece changing completely one's view of the early Morricone years, say 1960-1975, during which period he explains the music of the maestro as being more a collaboration involving Edda Dell'Orso, Bruno Nicolai and Alessandro Alessandroni in more or less equal parts. Changes nothing as to the music still being a vital part of the film but the understanding that here the maestro is playing trumpet, Nicolai the piano and Alessandroni almost everything else is surely enough to make anyone want to watch this little gem again.

A different kind of Giallo, no murder, bloodess, just a blackmail tale, drifting to fetishism approach, in many scenes are extremely exploited, the plot is exotic, a well married woman the gorgeous Dagmar Lassander as Minou is involved on a wide range of the blackmail by a unknown maniac, including compromising photos, she got inside of a true nightmare which she slowy is gone mad, in fact she got a psychological disorder, so many possibilities are scattered for the veiwers, nothing seems be true, a genuine ambiguous atmosphere is put there deliberately trying misleading to make us in a wrong conclusion, extremely sexy, but no nudity is offer, the ending is striking, the storyline is supported by two beauties Lassander and Nieves Navarro as Dominique, nothing too great, but enough to hold us until to the surprisingly outcome!!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25

This unusual giallo starring Dagmar Lassander (Hatchet for the Honeymoon- The House by the Cemetery) and Susan Scott (Death Walks at Midnight- Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals) is one of the best of the genre! The movie follows a middle age married woman (Minou) who is almost raped by a psycho inform her that her husband is a murderer. The madman blackmails Minou into sleeping with him. A few days later she receives a letter with photos of her and the blackmailer in bed together! The movie is unusual to the giallo as it doesn't have violent murders or explicit nudity. Instead, director Luciano Ercoli (Death Walks on High Heels- Death Walks at Midnight) give us an interesting story, a lot of style, wonderful Ennio Morricone score, and great acting by the four leads in a film that will keep you interested till the end .

Very recommended if you are into the wonderful world of giallo. 9/10.

It's got a convoluted title, an intriguing mystery plot, a cool Morricone score, and a gorgeous woman-in-peril in the form of ravishing redhead Dagmar Lassander, and yet I hesitate to class The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion as a giallo simply because no-one actually commits a murder. Protagonist Minou (Lassander) BELIEVES that her husband has killed someone, but it eventually transpires that he hasn't. Giallo fans expecting a maniac in leather gloves offing numerous women in gruesome ways will surely be disappointed.

This non-giallo movie sees pill-popping beauty Minou (Lassander) menaced by a mysterious man (Simón Andreu) who informs her that her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) has killed someone he owed money to, convincing her by playing a tape recording of Peter talking about the murder. Minou goes to see the man and offers him money for the tape, but he's only interested in one thing, and it's not cash! Minou reluctantly sleeps with the blackmailer in exchange for the incriminating recording, but is horrified when the man continues to stalk her, this time armed with photographs of them doing the dirty (Doh!).

Confiding in her sexually liberated friend Dominique (hottie Nieves Navarro), Minou returns to the man's apartment and offers him more money ($20K), this time for the negatives, but again he refuses. Desperate to be rid of the man, Minou eventually comes clean to her hubby, who goes to his police friend for help. However, when the blackmailer's apartment is searched, the place is totally bare, and no-one appears to be living there. It's at this point you will no doubt ask yourself 'Is Minou crazy or is this one of those films where someone is trying to drive the main character mad, no doubt to claim on an insurance policy?' and the answer to that is 'The latter, of course!'.

The only thing that remains is to work out who the villain is, and because the pool of potential culprits is relatively small, there's a very good chance you'll guess correctly. Still, as predictable as the story is (and frustratingly bereft of a razor-wielding psycho), The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is still a very enjoyable movie, thanks largely to Lassander's incredible sex appeal, but also to Luciano Ercoli's more than capable direction and Ennio's jazzy lounge music.

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.