Le Sourire de la hyène

Smile Before Death, originally titled Il sorriso della iena, is an overlooked and underrated giallo that mixes elements of a psychological thriller with inspirations from the drama genre and a touch of softcore pornography that underlines how experimental, liberal and progressive filmmaking was in the early seventies while it has become significantly more conservative, prude and repetitive these days.

The film revolves around a boarding school student who decides to stay with her stepfather and her mother's best friend after her mother's tragical suicide. What starts as a lighthearted vacation in a lush mansion beside a magnificent lake takes a sinister turn when the three characters start plotting intrigues against one another. These tensions increase dramatically and lead to a breathtaking finale with several interesting twists and turns.

This movie convinces on several elements. First of all, the plot is quite clever and comes around with a few interesting twists in the closing stages that will keep viewers on the edges of their seats. Up next, the tension between the three distinctive lead characters is quite palpable and increases the movie's uneasy atmosphere. The acting performances are very credible, decent and expressive. Especially youngster Jenny Tamburi shows incredible talent and has her breakthrough performance in this movie. The locations have also been chosen with care and offer colourful, elegant and sophisticated elements on the pulse of their time. The fact that most of the movie takes place in the mansion adds a claustrophobic vibe as it makes the beautiful place feel like a golden cage.

This film however also has several flaws that keep it from being an excellent genre film or even a masterpiece. First of all, the soundtrack is repetitive, dull and at times nerve-firing. Up next, the main intrigue of the movie is quite by the numbers and easily predictable until the final fifteen minutes offer a dramatic turn of events. This final series of events might be entertaining but is also quite overwhelming as the screenwriters are pulling rabbits out of their hats.

At the end of the day, fans of the giallo genre and anyone who likes the vibes of the late sixties and early seventies should certainly appreciate this movie that deserves more attention, recognition and praise. Despite its nostalgic vibe, the film is overall rather entertaining. However, it lacks the depth to leave a lasting impression and stand the test of time as a genre classic.

SMILE BEFORE DEATH opens with a bloody "suicide", followed by the hyper-bubbly introductory song. This jarring juxtaposition, oddly, sets up the rest of the film perfectly. Don't worry, you'll hear the theme song again. A lot.

When Nancy (Jenny Tamburi) returns home, telling of her years at boarding school, her rich mother has passed away, and mum's friend, Gianna (Rosalba Neri), is more-than eager to help Nancy get acclimated to life on her mother's estate. Nancy stands to inherit everything.

This doesn't sit well with either Gianna or Nancy's wretched stepfather (Silvano Tranquilli). Let the devilish games begin.

This is a wicked little giallo about lust, obsession, skullduggery, and murder. There are some nice twists and backstabbings, both literal and metaphorical. If you like double-crosses and triple-crosses, then you'll probably love this! Ms. Neri's character is particularly cold and calculating, as well as being breathtaking, whether in or out of her clothing. In fact, there's a great deal of female nudity on display.

An all-around classic...

This obscure giallo was made after director Silvio Amado's excellent "Amuck" (his only work to get a decent DVD release so far), but before his tepid melodrama "So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious". It actually shares elements with both, but I'm pleased to report it is much closer in quality to "Amuck". Visually it is not as stylish (although that might just be due to the crappy available prints), but it has the same interesting plot twists and excellent acting.

After a her mother's suspicious suicide, a pretty teenage girl (Lucia Della Robbins)shows up at her Italian villa where she quickly discovers that her new and recently widowed stepfather (Hiram Keller) is having an affair with her mother's sexy photographer friend (Rosalba Neri, also in "Amuck"). The villainous pair plot to do in the precocious youngster, but it turns out she has her own sinister agenda as she has sexually insinuates herself between the two of them (bedding the stepfather and doing nude photo sessions with Neri). The ending is genuinely a surprise.

Neri is good as always (although she isn't quite as exciting shooting photographs as she is shooting a shotgun in a bikini). I initially thought the teenage girl should have been played by Gloria Guida (who was later in "So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious"). Robbins wasn't a sex bomb like Guida perhaps, but she turns out to be a much better actress going from wholesome innocence to sexual precociousness to scheming malevolence, where Guida could really only have pulled off the middle one very convincingly. Special mention should also be made of the catchy, cooing score, which somehow later made its way into a 1990's American car commercial (go figure). It's even more memorable than the "Sexual!" song from "Amuck". It's not a perfect movie perhaps--it suffers from having only one brief scene of Neri getting naked (made up somewhat by frequent scenes of Della Robbins getting naked)and, of course, it looks pretty crappy. Still with a restored print and a legitimate DVD release it could be a minor classic of the genre.

The chirpy, Euro-Barbara Windsor squeaking soundtrack that introduces this film would perhaps fool you into think you're about to watch some "Whoopsy-Boing!" sex comedy, but you'd be wrong. Except for the sex bit.

A horrible rich lady who has an open marriage with her Roman noble husband (Silvano Tranquili) is found dead within a locked room, her throat cut. Everyone thinks it was suicide...well, the police think it was suicide, but no one else does, especially housekeeper Magda, who now tends to the needs of Silvano and his mistress, photographer and professional moody looking smoker Rosalba Neri.

A spanner is thrown into the works when the rich lady's daughter from a previous marriage turns up after quitting boarding school (or something like that). Her wide eyed innocence certainly catches the eyes of Rosalba, who quickly bonds with the girl by taking loads of pictures of her and conveying the idea that she may bat for both sides, as it were. Silvano's eyebrows are certainly raised when comes home to find his step-daughter bare-arsed in front of a mirror, but if this newcomer has a legit stake in the money left by the rich jerk lady, what are out scheming twosome going to do about it?

This is more of your old-school giallo set in a big house with rich people being duplicitous and trying to out-do each other, with the usual plot twists thrown in for good measure, and a whole heap of photographer sessions between the young girl and a drooling Rosalba Neri. Obviously the girl gets it on with both the lead actors but you don't get a slow motion lesbian sex scene like you did with Silvio Amadio's previous Amuck. That said, those looking for nudity won't be let down as the stepdaughter seemingly spends half the film naked.

I've got to admit that I found the soundtrack really irritating. "A-chi-chi-chi-di-di-dididida-chi...aaaaaaaah!" indeed.

Teenaged Nancy Thompson arrives unexpectedly at her mothers county villa.She discovers that her mom has died a violent death.The police investigate and believe the she killed herself by cutting her throat with a piece of broken of glass.Nancy meets and becomes friends with Gina who was her mothers best friend and who has a special relationship with her stepfather.Soon the older man turns his roving eye toward this young beauty as suspicion about the suicide starts to come to light.Pretty sleazy and entertaining Italian giallo with plenty of nudity and some nasty surprises.I haven't seen Silvio Amadio's "Amuck" yet,but I'd like to.The performances of Jenny Tamburi and sexy Rosalba Neri are fantastic and I must say that they are perhaps the main reasons to see this surprisingly obscure giallo.8 out of 10.