Man Without a Memory

Man Without A Memory

Genre: Giallo, Mystery

Original title: L' uomo senza memoria

AKA: Puzzle

Director: Duccio Tessari

Year: 1974

A man can't remember who he is and now thugs are after him for something he hid... and he doesn't know where it is, let alone what it is

Luc Merenda who is known mostly by Gialli fans for his role in Sergio Martino's Torso plays a man named Edward who has lost his memory in a near fatal car crash in London. He is linked back to his wife who lives by the coast in Italy by some bizarre circumstances. Other characters come into the picture and claim to know Edward but we can never be sure if what we are hearing is the truth. 

There are only six main characters in this film yet they are all well written & integral parts to this picture. Legendary Italian character actor Bruno Corazzari (who appeared in so many Italian productions in the 60s & 70s) plays a real menace & then there's Anita Strindberg who whilst isn't on screen a great deal plays a big part in moving this picture forward. Elsewhere there's a straight talking child actor who is pretty hilarious with his responses at times, a rarity for Gialli as quite often child actors can be incredibly annoying.

Man Without A Memory (more commonly known as Puzzle in most parts of the world) has Gialli elements but those who like their Gialli to have plenty of violence, blood & flesh may be disappointed. This picture decides to take it's time seeing out a well written script with some fleshed out characters. It's a slow burner, yet is always engaging & builds up nicely to a really explosive final few minutes with its thrills & reveals. An overlooked gem which is almost Hitchcockian in it's delivery.

Rating: 

★★★★

The Italian Chainsaw Massacre

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

Original Title: Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave

AKA: Excite Me/Eye of the Black Cat/Gently Before She Dies
Genre: Giallo
Director: Sergio Martino
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069421/

Oliviero is a burned-out writer, living at his estate near Venice, his dead mother dominating his imagination. He is also a degenerate: sleeps with his maid and his ex-student, hosts Bacchanalia for local hippies, and humiliates his wife Irina in front of strangers. She lives in terror. When a young woman is murdered, police suspect Oliviero. 

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key has a lot of positives going for it.

- First of all the title even by Giallo standards has to be one of the most ridiculous that the genre has to offer.
- It's directed by Sergio Martino who seems to always strike gold.
- A solid Bruno Nicolai score. For my money he is the king of the Giallo scores, yes even better than Ennio Morricone
- A cast that includes Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli & Ivan Rassimov
- & lastly but most important.. a cat called Satan.

With all these wonderful things in its favour I can't help but feel slightly disappointed. That's not to say that this isn't an entertaining Giallo that doesn't deliver because that's far from the case, I just feel with so many positives it should be up there with the very best yet it never quite reaches those levels, perhaps I was just upset with the fact Fenech sports a short hair-do in this film!. However it remains another very good Martino picture with some great characters (Pistilli is such a bastard here!) & a really fantastic payoff with the cat Satan at the very end.

Rating:  ★★★½

Luigi Pistilli, knows how to treat his women