La encadenada

A young female thief (played by Euro-beauty Marisa Mell) trying to escape from her former life and her thuggish, pimp-like ex-boyfriend takes a job as a nurse for the mute, disturbed son of a cold-hearted industrialist. Both the father and son quickly fall in love with her, not surprising since she looks exactly like the father's first dead wife who he hated but his son adored. Then she finds the deceased women's diary and gets an idea how she can turn the situation to her advantage through murder. But things go very awry when the man's other illegitimate son and her old boyfriend show up. . .

Only the Americans or the British would take a Spanish-Italian co-production innocuously title "La Ecadenada" and change the title to "Diary of Erotic Murderess" while at the same time cutting all the sex and nudity out! (To be fair though, the snipping could have been done by the old Franco regime who were even more prudish than the Brits and Yanks combined). What is left is not quite a giallo. It's one of Italian co-productions like "Top Sensation" or "So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious" that has suspense elements but lacks the combination of heady stylization, lurid content, and over-the-top hysteria to really make it as a giallo. The beginning is unforgivably slow--the "erotic" is non-existent, the "murders" don't occur until an hour in, so what you have left is a lot of shots of Mell reading from the "diary" in voice-over, which naturally does not good cinema make. The second half of the movie is much better and it ends with a pleasantly nasty surprise (which also, however, makes the English title a cheat in more ways than one).

Marisa Mell is very good in supporting roles in movies like "Diabolik" and "One on Top of the Other", but she's a little at sea here in a role that requires her to be alternatively evil and sympathetic. Mell just LOOKS too much like a voracious maneater to play sympathetic (you might as well ask the shark in "Jaws" to be sympathetic). She handles evil a lot better, but I couldn't help but wonder what a stronger actress like Rosalba Neri or Erika Blanc could have done with this role. Still it is not a BAD movie. Maybe if it ever appears on DVD unedited and in better condition, it will be appreciated more.

This seems to have a kind of cult following due to Marisa Mell being in it, but to me the whole thing was kind of a drag that we've all seen before. I did read on the IMDB that it's missing a lot of nudity and such like, so that would have held my attention a bit better if that was included.

You have Richard Conte as the old millionaire who shares a huge manor with his crazy son, who has turned mute ever since finding his mother's body following her suicide. This kid had a rather unhealthy fixation on his mother, which riled Conte, as he can only see people as objects to be bought and owned. The son, Mark, is a bit of a handful for his carers and after the last one quits, mysterious strange Marisa Mell volunteers to help, while giving Conte the glad eye.

Of course, all is not what it seems as Marisa is a gold digging thief with designs on all that groovy jewellery that Conte has collected over the years (including one that he's nicked from a local nunnery that looks like the holy grail and comes with a Raiders of The Lost Ark-type crescendo on the soundtrack - what's happening?). Marisa also has a husband (Anthony Steffen) who is even more twisted and crooked than her. Can Marisa play everyone off each other and get the goodies? Once she finds Conte's dead wife's diary, she starts to formulate a plan...

Maybe it would have worked better with the sleaze added in, although it's bad enough watching sixty-five year old Conte snog Mell, so I'm not speculating on what I'm missing. I don't know, I just didn't engage with it all, at least until the last fifteen minutes where a few twists finally enter the plot. I'll give it one thing - the ending was appropriately sick.

Decent thriller dealing with a gorgeous young woman : Marisa Mell who sets her sights on an elderly wealthy man : Richard Conte . She seduces him with darks purports and moves into his luxurious house with him . But her aims go wrong when the beautiful young is aware to have a son : Juan Ribo , who goes after her . At the same time she discovers a sinister past and some letters that reveal sleaze issues . When you plan a murder don't write it down...your victim might read it !

A passable and attractive drama thriller with a surprising premise , plot twists , being competently paced and made in Gialloesque style . Stars Marisa Mell who is really gorgeous as the suspect young who seduces an old man and subsequently attempts to get rid of him . The veteran Richard Conte is nice as the aging man betrayed by his young lover , while Juan Ribo plays the mute son with strange wishes . They are well accompanied by a fine support cast giving brief but enjoyable acting as the notorious Spaghetti Western antihero : Anthony Steffen , Lili Murati , Carla Calo , Beni Deus and even Carmen Maura .The twisted and surpring screenplay with full of turns and twists from Emilio Martínez Lazaro , Rafael Moreno Alba and Manuel Mur Oti himself.

It displays an atmospheric musical score in very Seventies style by Carlo Savina . As well as evocative cinematography by the prestigious cameraman Jose Luis Alcaine , Pedro Almodovar's regular, though a perfect remastering being really necessary . Being shot on lication in the Spain northwest region of Galicia. The motion picture was professionally directed by Manuel Mut Oti. He was a multifaceted man , as he was a writer , producer and director , as he started writing scripts for filmmaker Antonio Del Amo , being his film debut "Un Hombre Va Por El Camino" 1949 , he went on directing a few films as "Cielo Negro" 1951 , "Orgullo" 1955 , " El Batallón De Las Sombras" , "El Escuadrón Del Pánico" . Then, he shot comedies as "Guera Empieza En Cuba" , " Una Chica De Chicago" and " Pescando Millones" . And even Religious genre as "Milagro a Los Cobardes" with the American star Ruth Roman . His greatest success was "Fedra the devil's daughter" , and directing two films with international cast as "Morir Dormir Tal Vez Soñar" with Jane Seymour and this " La Encadenada" . Rating : 6/10 . Decent drama thriller that will appeal to Giallo and suspense enthusiasts .

A millionaire named Alexander (Richard Conte) hires a psychiatrist named Gina (Marisa Mell) to help his mentally ill son, Mark (Juan Ribo). Gina sets out almost immediately to "reach" Mark in her own special way. Let's just say that her methods push the ethical boundaries of psychiatry!

When Gina discovers the diary of Alexander's late wife, she finds out all about him, and his wife's true feelings toward her husband. She also learns of the wife's plan to take care of things, once and for all.

Will Gina finish what the wife couldn't?

A DIARY OF A MURDERESS is a wicked thriller filled with lust, manipulation, betrayal, and murder. Ms. Mell is tremendous, playing one of the most memorable characters in any giallo. There are several twists throughout the film, all leading up to a -truly- grand finale.

Highly recommended for fans of the genre...

This known as 'A Diary of a Murderess', 'A Diary of an erotic Murderess' or 'La encadenada' For the story to work, you have to be invested in the characters. It isn't always easy to care too much about characters who are dubbed into another language, as is the case here. The translation, and often the choice of voice artists, leaves a sense of distance between them and the audience. This is a major challenge with dubbed films, and cannot be blamed on anyone. Happily, the cast here is quite small, and people are introduced in stages rather than all at once, so the issue is lessened. You would be wise to stick with it.

'La encadenada' is a giallo styled mystery involving an emotionally unstable young man Marc (Juan Ribó), and his new nanny. Even given the time this film was made, and the decade's fondness for elderly men to strike up relationships with young women, things are stretched here. Gina (Marisa Mell) is stunningly, classically beautiful, and Alexander (Richard Conte) - for all his wealth and talk of power - is 26 years older. (Given her youthful appearance and the fact that Conte was sadly nearing the end of his life by this time, the gap is more marked.) Of course, if they're both happy, who cares? But are they? This is far from the whole story. The more we learn of the new nanny, the more she learns of why Marc is the way he is.

Marc is clearly highly volatile, and given his behaviour, it is questionable why he hasn't been placed inside a sanatorium. That his mood swings are just tolerated becomes more a little difficult to believe. And yet, Alexander continues to pursue Gina when she has made it clear she is not interested - his behaviour is more creepy than that of his son. The former may well be answered by the latter.

This is intriguing stuff, and it pulls you in the longer you stick with it. Just when you think you understand various motives, something or someone appears that makes things yet more complex. I really enjoyed this - the acting survives the dubbing handsomely, and there is more than enough going on to keep the viewer engaged. My score is 7 out of 10.