A Black Veil for Lisa

A Black Veil for Lisa

Genre: Giallo / Crime

Original title: La morte non ha sesso

AKA: Death Has No Sex

Director: Massimo Dallamano

Year: 1968

An aging policeman is investigating a string of murders. He is also suspicious of his beautiful young wife, believing that she may be cheating.

A Black Veil For Lisa is Massimo Dallamano's second picture & his first dip into the Gialli genre. Like his most popular gialli What Have They Done To Solange? the film has much more depth than your standard Giallo mixing euro-crime elements into the mix. Also being an early entry into the genre the film concentrates on a complex script rather than giving us any of the gore & sex you'd expect from later entries from the giallo cannon.

It stars the well respected English actor John Mills, a man who was in everything from Great Expectations, to  Mr Bean, to Ghandi! Its not often that you'll find a 'Sir' in Italian genre cinema thats for sure. He plays Inspector Bulon, a man investigating a string of murders but isn't fully committed to his job as he constantly has one eye on his younger wife Lisa who's played by former Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi. Surprisingly, the murderer is revealed early on in the picture, Max Lindt played by Robert Hoffmann who's best known for his part in Umberto Lenzi's Spasmo plays a cold blooded assassin. So instead of the classic 'whodunnit' story we are presented with three well written characters which become more complex as the film progresses with its noir style themes.

It's a film where its best to go into completely cold, the IMDB plot Synopsis (shamefully) pretty much gives the entire film away. All I'll say is that the three lead characters paths cross in different ways throughout the film to create a really tense crime picture that gathers momentum as the plot thickens. In some ways it reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy which would come out four years after this picture.

The print I saw had a hissy English soundtrack which cut into the Italian soundtrack at times, presumably because the English dub was originally cut in places so with the scenes which had been put back in had no English dub available but it was no big deal.

This is a hugely underrated Massimo Dallamano film, his Gialli were unlike anybody else's with so much emphasis put on the actual crime & police procedure. Visually it doesn't match some of his later work but in terms of a brilliantly written characters with & thrilling story you can't go very wrong with seeking this gem out. 

Rating: ★★★½

                              

What Have They Done to Solange?

Original Title: Cosa avete fatto a Solange?
AKA: The Secret of the Green Pins / Who's Next?
Year: 1972

Director: Massimo Dallamano

A teacher who is having an affair with one of his students takes her out on a boat. The student sees a knife killing on shore. Other gruesome murders start occurring shortly thereafter, and the teacher becomes the prime suspect

Fabio Testi stars as the school teacher who's gotten himself in all kinds of trouble, first of all, his wife knows he's having an affair, secondly he's having the said affair with one of his students and thirdly, he's a suspect in the murder of a young girl which his piece on the side saw glimpses of. Only Italian cinema could present us with a protagonist who fucks schoolgirls!

Rarely do films in the Giallo genre deliver in every department but What Have They Done To Solange? hits all the right sweet spots. First of all the plot is gripping from the get go & presents you with plenty of suspects which will keep you guessing until the very end to who the killer is. Also the fact the reveal of the killer & their motive is not that far fetched is a real rarity for the genre. The characters are all well presented and the cast all add something to the picture. Testi delivers one of his best performances & look out for Camille Keaton, who'd later go on to star in the infamous exploitation shocker I Spit On Your Grave. She doesn't have a huge role yet her performance is incredibly haunting.

It's J&B time!

What really makes Solange such a great film though is the crew involved. Massimo Dallamano's direction allows the film to really take its time, nothing ever feels rushed & it helps to really give weight to the characters. The film has sleazy moments with naked school-girl shower scenes & a killer which likes to stick knives up vagina's so it would be easy for Solange to feel like an exploitive flick but the real classy Ennio Morricone score helps ensure that it never feels that way. However the real highlight for me is the cinematography which is really beautiful. There are plenty of the voyeuristic type of shots you expect from a Giallo picture but everything feels so wonderfully accomplished, it's an absolute visual treat to look at. Dallamano had been cinematographer on a couple of Leone's dollars trilogy so I expected him to be involved but to my surprise the man behind the lens was no other than cheap shock master Joe D'Amato!

The only criticism of Solange I can think of is that there is a slight pacing issue around the hour mark, there is perhaps a little too much questioning via the police though those scenes are essential in moving the plot forward.

Solange remains one of the most well rounded & near faultless Gialli's & is an absolute essential of its genre.


Rating: ★★★★½

Fabio Testi, loves his pupils.