THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION: GIALLO GOODNESS

I can’t tell you how much I love Arrow Video when it comes to giallo films. In the past few years they’ve released not just some of the most well-known and well-loved giallo films ever made they’ve made the effort to find some of the obscure titles and save them from a life of being lost forever. These are movies that might have been found beneath the tables of less than reputable dealers at conventions, sloppy copies made from hundred times dubbed VHS tapes made 40 years ago. Arrow has given them new life and done so in a way that makes them exceptional.

THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION is one such film, a giallo in the tradition of movies with a lengthy title that still offer the goods. Here we start off with Minou (Dagmar Lassander), a married woman on holiday out of town waiting for her over worked husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) to arrive soon to join her. After eating out she walks the beach at night and is accosted by a man (Simon Andreu) on a motorcycle who pursues her. Threatening her with a knife tipped cane he tells her he’s not there to rape her but to tell her that she doesn’t really know her husband at all, that he is in fact a murderer.

Given the chance to leave she goes to a nearby bar and calls her husband to come get her. She tells him what transpired, with the exception of the man’s news, and refuses to call the police. He insist on getting her help and tells her he will call a friend later.

Returning home the next day she is surprised when she learns on the news and in the paper that a banker her husband was indebted to has been found dead. It seems he died of an embolism. Still, the sudden death combined with the warning make her wary. She later learns that her husband’s company, one that is working on a new formula for scuba tanks, has a pressurization chamber, one that could cause a man to have an embolism.

A phone call from the man who accosted her comes and he plays a tape for her, a recording of her husband plotting to kill the banker. He insists she meet him and gives her an address. She meets him but he is unwilling to take her money, instead degrading her and forcing her to have sex with him. Thinking it is all over she is unnerved when photos of her arrive of the two of them in bed together. Now blackmailed with this new threat she turns to her trusted friend Dominique (Susan Scott), a woman who was once with Peter.

The movie involves plenty of plot twists and suspicious characters that will keep you guessing just who is behind all of the events taking place. When one looks like the best suspect something happens that makes you think it’s someone else. And then you begin to wonder if maybe two or more suspects are working together. It’s not at all confusing but it keeps you guessing, trying to find the solution to the mystery before the film ends.

Like most classic giallo films this one has a great story and mystery to be solved and it sets things in motion perfectly. Perhaps the black gloved hand and blood drenched murders aren’t there to be seen but the mystery more than makes up for that. The movie was also different in the fact that it had no overuse of nudity as well and yet had several sensual sequences that made the film more erotic than the bare breasted nudity found in many films.

I watched the Italian version with subtitles and thoroughly enjoyed it but those inclined have the option of an English version to watch as well. Either way the performances by all onboard are done well enough to be enjoyed on their own.

Arrow is doing this one up proper with a great looking brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative making it gorgeous viewing. In addition to that there are plenty of extras on hand like Arrow always does. Those include a new commentary track by Kat Ellinger the editor in chief of Diabolique Magazine, “Private Pictures” a new documentary with archive interviews with actress Nieves Navarro (Susan Scott) and director Luciano Ercoli and new interview material with writer Ernesto Gastaldi, “The Forbidden Soundtrack of the Big Three” a documentary on the music of the film and 70s Italian cult cinema by musician and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon, “The Forbidden Lady” a Q&A with actress Lassander at the 2016 Festival of  Fantastic Films, the original Italian and English theatrical trailers, an image gallery, a reversible sleeve with new artwork by Twins of Evil and for the first pressing only an illustrated collector’s booklet with new writing on the film by author and critic Michael Mackenzie.

If you enjoy giallo films or a great mystery then this is one I think you’ll enjoy. As I said Arrow has once more proven themselves to be a company that deserves your business. This offering is proof of that.

Click here to order.