When it comes to giallo films Arrow Video should be praised
for making so many available for the first time in blu-ray format. Not only
that, they’ve gone the extra mile to insure that these films are being restored
to offer them with the cleanest sharpest picture possible, many not seen that
way since they were originally shown on the big screen.
Now they’ve released a different sort of giallo. The movie
was still made by an Italian director and stars Italians but the setting is far
from Italy. It takes place in New South Wales in Australia. The movie is based
on an unsolved actual case that took place there.
Unlike most giallo films this one has two co-existing
stories being told at the same time. The first involves the discovery of a body
on the beach, burned beyond recognition in the ruins of an abandoned car there.
Retired police investigator Thompson (Ray Milland) is brought in to aid in the
investigation but the main officer in charge disagrees with him at every turn.
Using what he considers his superior skills he thinks the murderer is a sex
deviant. Of course Thompson disagrees.
As this story unfolds we also see the story of freewheeling
Glenda Blythe (Dalila Di Lazzaro). Glenda is having an affair with married
Professor Henry Douglas (Mel Ferrer). At the same time she’s sleeping with Roy
Connor (Howard Ross) and his friend Antonio Attolini (Michele Placido). She
marries Antonio but at the same time continues her various affairs. When she
becomes pregnant she’s not sure who the father is and must decide what she
plans to do.
Both of these stories eventually come together and we
realize (if you hadn’t already) that the body that was found is indeed
Glenda’s. Now the question is who was it that killed her. The list of suspects
is plentiful with the three men she was sleeping with, the wife of the
professor or perhaps the woman who showed an interest in her at one point in
the film.
Having grown to love he giallo genre over while watching the
releases from Arrow I found this one wasn’t quite as enjoyable. It wasn’t due
to the two story structure going on here but the story itself seemed to drag
most of the time. The clues weren’t near available enough to help the viewer
solve the case on their own yet at the same time the identity of the killer
felt far too easy to figure out.
The movie also seemed to deviate from the majority of giallo
films by having fewer or the items associated with the genre. Gone are the
black gloves and POV moments that fill the other movies in the genre. Instead
this becomes a slowly paced police procedural for most of the film and a
display of Di Lazzaro’s body the rest. I never found myself involved with the
characters or felt any sympathy for them while watching.
This is not to say that Arrow hasn’t done their best to offer
the film in the best way possible. I don’t think they’re capable of a bad
release. They’re offering the film in a new 2K restoration of the film from the
original camera negative. And as with all of their films they have an extensive
amount of extras included. On hand are a new audio commentary track by Troy
Howarth (author of SO DEADLY, SO PERVERSE: 50 YEARS OF ITALIAN GIALLO FILMS, a
new video interview with author and critic Michael Mackenzie on the
internationalism of giallo, a new video interview with act Howard Ross, a new
video interview with editor Alberto Tagliavia, an archival interview with
composer Riz Ortolani, an image gallery, the Italian theatrical trailer, a
reversible sleeve with original or newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon and
for the first pressing only a collectors booklet with new writing by Alexandra
Heller-Nicholas.
If you’re a fan if giallo films then by all means make a
point of picking this one up. When you see the name Arrow Video and giallo in
the same sentence you’re guaranteed to be watching the best quality product on
the market.
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