(1970)
Overall: MEH
Director Luciano Ercoli's first giallo collaboration with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, (though in typical Italian cinema fashion, other hands were credited with the script as well), Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, (Le foto proibite di una signora per bene), leans into the sexual perversion of such films, even if the actual nudity is kept to a minimum. In fact it plays the usual, sensationalized cliche of characters gaslighting a central, female protagonist into thinking that all of the foul play that she is enduring is merely a byproduct of her sexually repressed imagination. The audience of course knows better as the psychological gag is clearly a ruse and of course there is a melodramatic rug pull in the final moments as far as who is behind such shenanigans; a rug pull that is either genuinely surprising or laughably predictable depending on how accustomed the viewer is in deciphering giallo red herrings. Formulaic plot devices aside, Ercoli and cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa give the movie a classy, stylish sheen, (plus Ennio Morricone's musical score is a toe-tapper), but the pacing slags and the whole thing fails to play up its inherently sleazier aspects in a better-suited, grandiose manner.
(1971)
Overall: MEH
For his second giallo in a row Death Walks on High Heels, (La morte cammina con i tacchi alti, Death Stalks in High Heels, Nights of Love and Terror), director Luciano Ercoli brings back Simón Andreu and his wife/spaghetti Western scream queen Nieves Navarro; both actors of whom get to roll in ze hay together. The red herrings are piled on high in this one as the structure gradually abandons any type of sensationalized style and settles into a convoluted diamond theft/police procedural/murder mystery. At over a hundred minutes in length, the movie tries the viewer's patience with its drawn-out plot line that comes up with futile explanations to sell us on who the culprit is; a reveal that of course does not fully arrive until the very last moments. Stelvio Cipriani's jazz musical score is zippy and creates the kind of swinging Italian mood that is typical with such movies, jiving oddly with all of the bright red blood and killings that transpire. Ercoli plays everything straight in what is an overtly talky affair, with the aforementioned kill scenes being few and far between. The more sexually-charged elements are also abandoned by the time that the second act hits, so anyone hoping to watch Navarro perform endless naked stripteases in outlandish wigs or borderline blackface makeup will have to settle for such things getting out of the way early on.
(1972)
Overall: MEH
As convoluted as any giallo out there, Death Walks at Midnight, (La morte accarezza a mezzanotte, Muerte acaricia a medianoche, Cry Out in Terror), is the third in a row from director Luciano Ercoli and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi to feature both the former's wife Nieves Navarro and actor Simón Andreu. Everyone keeps their clothes on for this one and there is no perverse angle to be found, the story instead focusing on the endlessly condescending attitude that every man has towards Navarro's frustrated protagonist and the many, many dubious people and things that she keeps witnessing yet is never able to substantially prove. It is bad enough when her love interests perpetually gaslight her, but when the police force dismiss her persistent concerns and oodles of shady coincidences to corroborate her story, the movie begins to indulge too much in one of the genre's sillier and more aggravating cliches. We certainly feel Navarro's irritation with the whole tangled scenario and even though the film feels its one-hundred and three minute length with its repetitive plot, the performances are melodramatic enough to amuse. The spiked-gauntlet violence is a wasted gag though, only being teased in an unexplainable, drug-infused hallucination in the first scene and once or twice after that, particularly when the killer inexplicably reveals his entire master plan before dispatching of his would-be final victim. It is ridiculous business to be sure, but is also has a dragged-out, knock-down finale as well as plenty of J&B references for giallo fans to appreciate.
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