tirsdag 2. juli 2013

The Murder Clinic/La lama nel corpo



Italy/France, 1966

Directed by Lionello De Felice

Cast:
William Berger, Françoise Prevost, Barbara Wilson, Mary Young, Harriet White, Germano Longo, Massimo Righi, Delfi Mauro, Anna Maria Polani, Philippe Hersent, Rossella Bergamonti, Rock Scandurra


Here is yet another example of the early gialli from the 1960s – made in the years before Dario Argento and his ‘animal trilogy’ would come to dictate the success formula of the genre. Released in Italy as La lama nel corpo – i.e. The Knife in the Body – and supposedly based on a novel with the same title by a certain Robert Williams, The Murder Clinic was more successful than many of the other early gialli and received a fair amount of worldwide distribution. In the US it was cut down, renamed Revenge of the Living Dead, and shown as part of a triple horror feature named “Orgy of the Living Dead” – together with Mario Bava’s Kill, Baby... Kill! (as Curse of the Living Dead) and Amando De Ossorio’s Malenka, the Niece of the Vampire (as Fangs of the Living Dead). Moviegoers who showed up expecting to catch a zombie film must have been disappointed as The Murder Clinic features no living dead action of any sort. In fact, it is more of a hybrid between classic gothic horror and giallo mystery.

Set in 1870, the titular murder clinic is actually a “rest home” for the mentally ill, situated in the forest-filled countryside. It’s a huge gothic villa – the same that was used in The Third Eye (1966), The Nights of Terror (1980) and Patrick Still Lives (1980) – and is run by the handsome Dr. Robert Vance (William Berger), who also resides there with his wife and the medical staff. Dr. Vance was once a promising physician who seemed destined for great things but it appears that some kind of scandal in his past put an abrupt end to his career, and hence his reason for running this obscure asylum, which is occupied only by a few patients.


The mysterious Dr. Vance


The murder clinic!


One of the patients is Janey (Anna Maria Polani), a young woman who is mute – presumably due to some type of trauma. As we first meet Janey she’s in her room with a newly arrived nurse named Mary (Barbara Wilson), who reads aloud to her from a book about the execution of Mary Stuart. I’m not so sure that this is the most appropriate type of literature for a girl who is clearly quite traumatized, but then again I’m not an asylum nurse, so what do I know? Anyway, their reading session is interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Vance’s stern assistant and housekeeper Sheena (Harriet White), who informs them it’s 9 in the evening and all patients must go to sleep.


Janey


Poor Janey is read a not very cheerful bedtime story


But later that night, Janey is awakened from her sleep when a mysterious figure wearing a black cloak and black leather gloves breaks into her room and attacks her with a straight razor. The poor mute girl is unable to call for help but manages to escape out the window and runs for her life. But when she reaches the garden, Janey – in what must surely be some kind of cinematic first – suddenly interrupts her flight in order to drink from a fountain! All that running must have made her thirsty, I guess, and while she’s busy drinking, the killer sneaks up on her and slashes her to death.


The Blade of the Ripper



Janey chooses the worst possible moment to quench her thirst...


Next morning, the kind nurse Mary goes to check up on Janey and is surprised that she is nowhere to be found. She is informed by Dr. Vance that Janey left at the crack of dawn as her relatives showed up to take her back home. Dr. Vance and Sheena are both very evasive on the subject, however, and Mary is clearly a bit skeptical. Her concerns are not lessened by the fact that a lot of strange noises are heard coming from the third floor. Mary wonders what’s going on up there but Dr. Vance expressly forbids her and the rest of the staff from going upstairs.


Sheena and Dr. Vance’s fishy behavior doesn’t inspire much confidence


Mary wonders about the strange noises coming from upstairs


In the meantime we are introduced to a sexy and elegant woman named Gisèle de Brantôme (Françoise Prevost), who is travelling by coach together with a man (Philippe Hersent) who is assigned with escorting her to some place where she clearly doesn’t want to go. It seems that Gisèle has committed some rather wicked acts in order for her to be shipped away like this but the details of her actions are hazy to say the least. But fortunately for Gisèle, the coach gets stuck, and when her escort steps out to fix the problem she seizes the opportunity to club him over the head. This action scares the horses, who run off with the coach – trampling over the poor man and killing him in the process. Stranded, Gisèle wanders around in the forest until she happens upon a grotto. There, she witnesses Dr. Vance digging a hole in the ground to bury the corpse of poor Janey.



Gisèle discovers a dark secret


Gisèle quickly runs away but ends up falling asleep in the forest. She is eventually found by Dr. Vance, who brings her back to the clinic and kindly offers to let her stay as his guest. Gisèle happily accepts the invitation and keeps quiet about what she has witnessed in the forest. However, she quickly starts snooping around to try and find out more about what kind of secrets Dr. Vance is keeping, and it soon transpires that all of the strange noises in the villa are coming from a horribly disfigured woman that Dr. Vance keeps hidden away in the attic. It even appears as though the good doctor might be responsible for the woman’s disfigurement...


Gisèle snoops around where she ought not to...


The “monster” in the attic


Soon, more women are slashed to death by the razor wielding figure in black but Dr. Vance is adamant that the police must not be involved. But is he really the murderer or is he merely protecting the deformed woman in the attic? Or perhaps the killer is someone else entirely? There is certainly no shortage of suspicious characters. In addition to the stern and fiercely loyal Sheena there’s also Lizabeth (Mary Young), Vance’s jealous and unhappy wife; Fred (Massimo Righi), a schizophrenic patient who seems very nice until he explodes in sudden fits of violence; and Ivan (Germano Longo), the brutish orderly who sleeps around with the nurses and always carries a knife or a razor around.




Which one is the murderer?


The opening titles and various publicity materials credit the direction to the pseudonymous “Michael Hamilton”, and according to pretty much every official source, the man behind this alias is Elio Scardamaglia, the film’s producer. However, Scardamaglia never directed anything else either before or after The Murder Clinic, and it seems rather odd that he would entrust the directorial duties to himself instead of someone with more experience. Well, as it turns out, he didn’t. In a Video Watchdog interview from 1997, the film’s screenwriter, Ernesto Gastaldi, clearly states that Scardamaglia produced the film but did not direct it. According to Gastaldi, the actual director of The Murder Clinic is Lionello De Felice, who made a few films in the 1940s and 50s but who remains pretty much forgotten about today. This is supported by various posters and promotional ads bearing a producer’s credit for Scardamaglia and a director’s credit for “Michael Hamilton”.


French promotional art for the film. Note the credit for Elio Scardamaglia as producer and for “Michael Hamilton” as director


Many of the early gialli, such as Death on the Fourposter (1964), A Game of Crime (1964), Libido (1965) and A... come assassino (1966) were – in spite of their gothic castle settings and black & white photography – ultimately modern stories far removed from the traditions of classic Italian horror cinema. The Murder Clinic, however, fully embraces its gothic trappings and even opts for a period setting. In fact, Ernesto Gastaldi and Luciano Martino’s script throws in just about every hallmark of gothic horror – from ladies in nightgowns exploring dark hallways to a “monster” hidden away in the attic – and this concoction of old clichés isn’t particularly original. Hence the film’s novelty value is due to the way it mixes a classic gothic horror story with a twistful giallo mystery, and thankfully, the script’s mystery angle works quite well because Gastaldi and Martino have come up with a host of likely suspects – any one of whom could well be the murderer.

Another important element is the styling of the killer as a dark-clad, razor wielding maniac with black leather gloves, which is very much in keeping with how the killers would be styled in many gialli released in the wake of Dario Argento’s films. But still, in terms of look and feel The Murder Clinic clearly favors a gothic atmosphere, and the razor murders feel almost a little tacked on, seeing as how they are brief and not terribly graphic. This might be connected to director Lionello De Felice’s background, for although he had contributed to the screenplays of a fair number of peplum adventures, De Felice’s directorial credits were mostly limited to a couple of musicals and comedies made in the 1940s and 50s. As such, he was probably a bit unsure about how to handle such violent scenes and it shows. Fortunately, De Felice is more successful in handling the old-school horror elements, and boasts a couple of good, atmospheric chills and great screaming scenes.




Scream and Scream Again


Visually, The Murder Clinic is densely atmospheric throughout its entire running time, putting its locations to good use and featuring some nice cinematography with effective use of lighting and dark corridors. And let’s not forget those terrifically stylish and fetishistic images of the black-gloved killer roaming the dark corridors while clutching a straight razor. The score by Francesco De Masi is another strong asset and features a chillingly effective main theme. Here, the film shows a more modern influence as the score is far removed from the often old-fashioned compositions heard in the earlier Italian gothic horror films.



Lots of stylish imagery on display


I love this great shot, which foreshadows an iconic scene in Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage


The Murder Clinic moves at a generally tight pace and is consistently atmospheric and enjoyable. Its only really serious flaw is that it occasionally focuses too much on the sentimental details of the plot – including a nauseatingly syrupy flashback montage portraying the idyllic past of the troubled Dr. Vance. Indeed, the character of Dr. Vance is not handled too well on the whole. His behavior is so overly suspicious – with him burying a corpse and making all kinds of strange excuses, working on strange experiments, and hiding the woman whose disfigurement he may have had a hand in. His suspicious behavior is taken to such extremes that it will be apparent to just about anyone that he isn’t the actual culprit. In fact, Dr. Vance is so much of a red herring that he never really develops as a real character, and that’s a shame considering that he is played by the always reliable William Berger. But even in spite of the problems connected to his character, Berger manages to deliver a good performance and he lends a sense of authority to the proceedings.

But the most memorable performance by far is given by the excellent French actress Françoise Prevost, who is absolutely terrific as the opportunistic and delightfully bitchy Gisèle. While not a radiant beauty, Prevost possesses a very captivating energy and sexiness that immediately draws you in. She looks as if she really enjoyed herself here, and that’s no wonder when you consider how meaty the role is. Her most priceless moment is a scene where she mercilessly blackmails a greatly annoyed Berger and then two seconds later she starts to press herself up against him while she seductively purrs that it “must be very exciting to make love with a murderer”.


Absolutely love this shot of Françoise Prevost. There’s something incredibly sexy about it


Françoise blackmails and flirts at the same time in one of the film’s most delicious moments


Harriet White – Italian horror cinema’s sinister housekeeper par excellence – is slightly underused in the role Dr. Vance’s stern assistant. She could have been given more to do but it’s a nice role and she positively shines whenever she’s on screen. Her hostile exchanges with the bitchy Prevost are particularly delightful. Less fortunate is Massimo Righi, who portrays the madness of his schizophrenic character with such gross exaggeration that he comes across as somewhat awkward.


Harriet White and Françoise Prevost have a go at each other


Massimo Righi takes it a bit too far


The film’s English language version prepared by Lewis E. Ciannelli is generally quite good and benefits greatly from the fact that William Berger and Harriet White both dub themselves. The dubbing of the remaining cast is good, with top honors going to Carolynn De Fonseca, whose breathy, feminine voice is an absolute perfect match for Françoise Prevost in the role of the seductive and wicked Gisèle. One curious detail worth noting, however, is the fact that Gisèle’s male travelling companion is portrayed merely as her escort in the English version, whereas in the German and French language versions, the dialogue identifies him as Gisèle’s husband. Since I haven’t seen the film in Italian, I cannot comment on how the character is presented in the Italian dub but I find this to be a rather interesting little detail nonetheless.


The small role of Gisèle’s travelling companion (played by French actor Philippe Hersent) takes on a different role depending on which language version you are watching


The Murder Clinic may not be perfect but it’s a very interesting hybrid of gothic horror and giallo that benefits from a wonderful atmosphere, strong visuals and some terrific performances by Françoise Prevost and Harriet White. Well worth a look.


And here to round off the review are a some more rare promotional pieces from my collection:


Cool Italian newspaper advertisement


Gorgeous artwork from a rare French publicity brouchure I snagged on eBay some years back


More French artwork


Nice-looking German movie program containing a detailed plot summary of the film


The backside of the German film program


Lovely black & white still from the French publicity brochure, featuring a scene with the beautiful Barbara Wilson (surely a pseudonym, but for whom?) and with Harriet White, William Berger and Germano Longo in the background


© 2013 Johan Melle



The cast:


William Berger as Dr. Robert Vance


Françoise Prevost as Gisèle de Brantôme


Barbara Wilson as Mary


Mary Young as Lizabeth Vance


Harriet White as Sheena


Germano Longo as Ivan


Massimo Righi as Fred


Delfi Mauro as Laura


Anna Maria Polani as Janey


Philippe Hersent as Gisèle’s escort [husband in some versions]


Rossella Bergamonti as Kitty


Rock Scandurra as Walter


??? as Mrs. Hurley

lørdag 29. juni 2013

Espionage in Tangiers/Marc Mato, agente S077



Spain/Italy, 1965

Directed by Greg Tallas

Cast:
Luis Davila, José Greci, Alberto Dalbes, Perla Cristal, Tomas Blanco, Ana Castor, Alfonso Rojas, Rafael Vaquero, Barta Barry, Joe Kamel, Juan Cortes, Fernando Villena, Alberto Cevenini, Angel Menendez, Pedro Fenollar


It’s always a delight to see more and more Euro crime, gialli, Euro horror and spaghetti westerns showing up on DVD and even Blu-ray but not all types of films are as well-represented on the shiny format, and this is especially true of the European James Bond knock-offs of the 1960s – commonly referred to as Eurospy movies. I’ve recently become more and more fascinated by these films and will be taking a closer look at several cool Eurospy flicks – starting with Espionage in Tangiers.

It all begins in a fancy research facility, where brilliant scientist Professor Greff (Tomas Blanco) and his two assistants have finally succeeded in building a revolutionary disintegrator ray gun. Eager to confirm that it actually works the way it’s supposed to, the professor opens a window, points the ray gun and fires a blue beam of energy at a car parked outside and completely disintegrates it. It really would have been much nicer of him to try it out on some object in his lab instead of destroying some unfortunate person’s car but I guess it just looks cooler to disintegrate something big.




Professor Greff and his colleagues are all cheery as they successfully disintegrate a car.


It turns out that Professor Greff’s plan is for the UN to use the disintegration gun to create world piece, although exactly how he intends for this deadly weapon to bring peace to the world is never elaborated on. But while the ecstatic professor retreats to his office to call the UN and inform them of his great success, one of his shifty-eyed assistants (Angel Menendez) goes to the bathroom, where he opens a window and flicks the lights three times to give a signal to someone on the outside. Not long after, a rope drops from the floor of the building and two men dressed in black climb down and enter through the window.



The two deadly thieves make their way into the lab


Acting quickly, the men stab Professor Greff’s assistants to death (including the accomplice who opened the window for them) and grab hold of a small metallic plate that is a key component to the deadly disintegration gun. Then, suddenly, one of the men (Alberto Cevenini) guns down his own partner and takes off with the metal plate.

The efficient thief hurries down the street and delivers the plate to a mysterious man waiting inside a car. But as soon as he’s received the precious object, the mystery man quickly winds up the car window – trapping the poor thief’s head and crushing his throat till he’s dead. Wow! We’re still only in the pre-credits sequence and already most of the characters we’ve been introduced to have killed each other off. Now, that’s what I call a strong opening!




These guys don’t believe in loose ends


Next we meet our hero, secret agent Mike Murphy (Luis Davila) who is called in to retrieve the stolen metal plate. Time is of the essence as the disintegration weapon will be catastrophic in the hands of the wrong people. Unfortunately, there aren’t many leads to go on as the two dead thieves have proven impossible to identify. However, an agent in Tangiers named Hassan Rabah has apparently recognized one of the dead men from a photo, and so Mike is sent on the first plane to Tangiers to make contact with Rabah.


Our man Mike


The first we see of Mike. A classic secret agent introduction if there ever was one!


On the plane to Tangiers, Mike indulges in some requisite suave secret agent behavior by coming on to some poor stewardess who does the mistake of asking him if there’s anything he’d like. Surely, there’s no better way for a cocky secret agent to enjoy himself than with a bit of sexual harassment of a working woman? Anyway, Mike’s exchange with the stewardess catches the ear of fellow passenger Lee Randall (José Greci), a stunning young woman who also happens to be an agent and who has previously worked with Mike on another mission. Lee and Mike have fun catching up and agree to meet up later too.


Mike and Lee enjoy each others company on the flight...


...and they’ll soon get to see more of one another


But no sooner has Mike arrived in Tangiers than a sniper tries to take him out, and it is thanks only to a great stroke of luck that Mike survives the attempt on his life. He makes his way to his hotel to meet up with Hassan Rabah but finds that he has been murdered. Fortunately, a contact of Rabah’s phones and Mike schedules an appointment with him but this poor fellow also dies before he can reveal much – getting a knife thrown in his back, while Mike barely dodges another one meant for him. Indeed, everywhere Mike goes, deadly assassins follow and try to prevent him from getting too close to the people in possession of the metal plate.



No matter where Mike goes, death follows


It soon turns out that the sexy Lee and her travelling companion and lesbian lover Arlette (Ana Castor) are up to no good. They are actually working for deadly mastermind Rigo Orie (Alberto Dalbes), who is in possession of the metal plate and plans on selling it to the highest bidder. Will Mike be able to stop him?


Although a co-production between Spain and Italy, and with a Greek director at the helm, Espionage in Tangiers is a predominantly Spanish production, and its Spanish title, Marc Mato, agente S077, indicates that the hero has been renamed Mike Murphy specifically for the English version of the film. It is also interesting to note while both the Spanish and Italian titles make use of the agent number S077, this too is never mentioned in the English dub. Of course, none of this is too surprising as the Eurospy genre is notorious for the way different language variants of the films continuously rename both the hero and his agent number. But never mind all of that. What really matters is the fact that this is a really fun and enjoyable Eurospy adventure regardless of what the hero may be called.


A nice Italian newspaper ad for the film – prominently displaying the 077 agent number


Admittedly, the story itself hardly brings anything new to the table but director Greg Tallas is able to liven up the familiar – and at times silly – plotline with his affinity for outlandish moments, such as a cool scene in which Mike’s life is miraculously saved from an assassin’s bullet thanks to a Bible he was keeping in his inner jacket pocket. Not that he really strikes me as a Bible-reading guy but it’s good fun nonetheless. But the best such moment is a wonderful scene where Mike enters into what appears to be quiet coffin makers’ workshop – only for a series of henchmen to suddenly pop out of the coffins to attack him. The Eurospy genre is all about great moments like this, and luckily, Espionage in Tangiers is full of such charmingly outlandish scenes.



One of the film’s highlights


The opening sequence, in which a series of characters eliminate each other and the dangerous device exchanges numerous hands before finally reaching the big boss, is also impressive and it establishes right from the start that these people mean business and are not afraid of turning on their own in order to tie up loose ends. Indeed, there is very much a feeling of real danger running throughout the film as no matter where Mike goes there’s always some super-efficient assassin in tow to take out any potential informant before Mike can learn any more.

A general lack of sufficient budget is the Achilles heel of the Eurospy genre and the primary reason why these films could never compete with the spectacles of the large-scale James Bond adventures, but thankfully, Espionage in Tangiers appears to have been made with fairly decent means. It has pretty good production values, and adds some further gloss by employing effective location shooting not only in Tangiers but also in Nice.



Nice locations such as these give the film as classier look


We are also treated to some effective set-pieces, such as Mike being caught in a chamber filling with water, and several good fight scenes featuring impressive stunt work – the best one being a fight on a shaky rope-ladder.




Another cool action set-piece


A very important part of the film’s success is its Argentinean leading man Luis Davila, who starred in a long line of Spanish-Italian co-productions – among them the later Eurospy effort Ypotron (1966), the fun sci-fi adventure Mission Stardust (1967) and the WW2 flick Suicide Commandos (1968). Mike Murphy is very much a suave and cocky type of secret agent – always with a self-assured smirk on his face – that could very easily have turned into an intolerable dick, but Davila plays Mike with just the right amount of playfulness and rugged charm to make the character likable. Of course, the part requires more of Davila than to just act smooth and debonair, and he is given ample opportunity to demonstrate his physical skills in a series of fight scenes in which he proves that he can certainly throw a good punch. Davila can also be quite deadly when needed to and there’s a great moment where he barely dodges a dagger thrown at him by a hulking henchman, and quick as lightning he picks up the knife and throws it right back – hitting the henchman right in the throat. All while he smirks playfully of course.



Davila in action


Naturally, our secret agent also knows his way around women and Espionage in Tangiers boasts a couple of real knockout babes – above all the ravishing José Greci in the role of Lee. Greci had been a big peplum star and once the popularity of those films started to wane by the mid 1960s, she made a successful switch to Eurospy – starting with this film and following up with Operation Poker (1965), Last Man to Kill (1966) and Special Cypher (1966). Greci gets to act very seductive and sexy here but also quite cunning as she is not at all as nice as she first appears. Of course she ends up paying the price for this in a great scene where a brusque Davila slaps her around like a tennis ball. But, as is often the case in Eurospy, she is shown to like this rough treatment and – clearly turned on – she grabs hold of Davila and bites his lip with fiery passion. Ah! How times have changed!





And that’s how you please a lady! At least in the world of Eurospy


But the film even boasts another kinky girl – flame-haired nightclub owner and gangster chick Magda, who has a romantic past with Mike. Magda is played by sexy Argentinean spitfire Perla Cristal – known for her roles in such Spanish horror films as The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962), Dr. Orloff’s Monster (1964) and Fury of the Wolfman (1972) – and is dubbed in classic bitchy fashion by the great Carolynn De Fonseca. She doesn’t show up until almost an hour into the film but Cristal makes the most of her limited screen-time, with her cattish attitude and camp bitchiness making for a lot of fun. In one surprisingly brutal sequence she has her goons torture an unfortunate enemy agent by tightening a wire garrote around his belly to make him talk, and she looks decidedly turned on as she observes the scene.


Perla Cristal as the nasty Magda



A surprisingly brutal torture scene


It must be said, however, that even though this film is great fun, it’s hardly a lost classic and it has its share of shortcomings. For starters there is a surprisingly scant use of music throughout the film, and that’s a pity since it could have helped set the mood in several scenes. Furthermore, the climax is unfortunately rather limp. Still, these are relatively minor quibbles as the film on the whole is very entertaining.

Overall, Espionage in Tangiers is a terrifically enjoyable little slice of Eurospy fun with a good cast. It’s no classic but it comes warmly recommended to fans of the genre.


© 2013 Johan Melle



The cast:


Luis Davila as Mike Murphy


José Greci as Lee Randall


Alberto Dalbes as Rigo Orie


Perla Cristal as Magda


Tomas Blanco as Professor Greff


Ana Castor as Arlette Steiner


Alfonso Rojas as Hassler


Rafael Vaquero as Rigo’s chief henchman


Barta Barry as Accomplice in Nice


??? as Mike’s boss


Fernando Villena as Inspector Ravel


Alberto Cevenini as Thief


Angel Menendez as Professor Greff’s treacherous assistant


??? as Andre, Professor Greff’s assistant