Fotos Proibidas

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.

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 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.

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.

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.