Fotos Proibidas

(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".

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 FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION (Luciano Ercoli - Italy/Spain 1970).

Luciano Ercoli can be called many things. He might not be the most innovative director, but he definitely is the king of fashion, with all the women dressed up in some truly outrageous '70s outfits. His muse Nieves Navarro in particular parades through the film in some truly skimpy outfits, resulting in unintentional campyness. When talking camp, watch the dancing scene in the club in the beginning of the film with Dagmar Lassander. In God's heaven, this is one tacky dancing scene we're watching. All the men are in suits, the women are outrageously dressed, the music is a hallucinate boggle of easy-listening tunes James Last wouldn't even dare to come up with and the way they dance (how do you even dance to this kind of music?) is truly a perfect showcase of tacky '70s euro-nonsense. Guilty. Case closed. Still, it's a complete riot when watching it now and that's probably why I enjoy these films so much.

In all his three Gialli, FORBIDDEN PHOTOS, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT, Ercoli presents his story from a female perspective, but they are presented as utterly helpless when dealing with the various male perpetrators and chauvinist male detectives surrounding them. Even husbands or boyfriends, or any male capable of help turns out to be just as malevolent as all the blackmailers, wife-beaters and murderers. Nudity level and body count are low, but as a mystery it's actually much more effective than most Gialli, stylishly filmed, well acted and permeated with intrigue, blackmail and fetishistic violence, supported by a groovy Ennio Morricone score. Although graphic violence is restricted to a minimum, Dagmar Lassander has to undergo quite the ordeal with a mire of sedatives, alcohol and sleazy sex and strange conversations with the assertive bisexual figure of Nieves Navarro. She repeatedly keeps hearing from all male characters: "Get undressed!"

Just imagine this film, which was extremely obscure and hardly ever seen until its DVD-release in June 2006, sold almost 638,000 tickets in Spain alone according to the IMDb, probably largely due to the appeal of Spanish-born Nieves Navarro (over 2 million admissions in Europe is my guess). Blue Underground presents the film without an Italian audiotrack, but - surprise, surprise - the English dubbing is actually quite good now, which is always a major bonus.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10

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.

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.