This is a rare movie & the guy who sold me a copy said it's a giallo. Perhaps he said so because he knew I am a avid giallo fan. To set the record straight - this is not a giallo, though the lead actors come from giallo background. Stunningly beautiful Barbara bouchet needs no introduction to giallo fans, and Günther Stoll (the husband) had a somewhat minor role in "What Have You Done to Solange?". There is no masked killer & no blood & gore. Nevertheless, it's a very good thriller/drama. The story revolves around Iro (Barbara) who is cheating on her rich jealous husband & planning with her lover to kill him. Husband & wife tries to outwit each other throughout the movie. I simply loved the ending - it was very different. Acting is good, direction is well done & Barbara has few amazing erotic scenes. Overall - nothing spectacular, but definitely worth a watch, you won't regret.
3 Reviews
Plate-smashingly good
Bezenby25 August 2018
This bloodless giallo is interesting because the plot is one of this slippery types that keeps moving and changing even when you think you've got things pegged. It also short too, and sea based.
Barbara Bouchet is married to grizzled rich boat racing dude called Kosta who loves racing boats and hates losing anything, so of course Barbara is having an affair with his friend and the both of them are conspiring to kill Kosta during a boat race and get all his money. Haven't these watched any of the proceeding million or so films that have this plot? I mean, even at the start of the film we're clued in that not everything is going smoothly when it's revealed that someone is recording their murderous conversations.
Everyone gets together for the big boat race and although we get an awful lot of boat racing, the very snappy editing and cinematography are so good I rather enjoyed it. Plus, we get to see Barbara's squeeze (played by the killer from Island of Death) do a Greek dance that results in many a broken plate. Someone's got to clean all that up you know!
Back on board Barbara and the guy who's name I should have remembered are still plotting the murder, and a storm looks like it's the perfect time to carry it out. It's at this point where the story starts shifting to and fro, so I'll say no more!
It's the interaction between Kosta and Barbara that's the best thing about the film. This is a couple that seem to totally loathe each other and are always playing some sort of game with each other (literally, at one point in the film). They say things to each other that mean other things, bitterly smiling at each other. There's a good few twists along the way to the fitting ending.
As I've already mentioned the editing and camerawork are brilliant in this film, with many inventive angles and shots that keep your interest. It's an old school giallo but doesn't feel stale at all.
Barbara Bouchet is married to grizzled rich boat racing dude called Kosta who loves racing boats and hates losing anything, so of course Barbara is having an affair with his friend and the both of them are conspiring to kill Kosta during a boat race and get all his money. Haven't these watched any of the proceeding million or so films that have this plot? I mean, even at the start of the film we're clued in that not everything is going smoothly when it's revealed that someone is recording their murderous conversations.
Everyone gets together for the big boat race and although we get an awful lot of boat racing, the very snappy editing and cinematography are so good I rather enjoyed it. Plus, we get to see Barbara's squeeze (played by the killer from Island of Death) do a Greek dance that results in many a broken plate. Someone's got to clean all that up you know!
Back on board Barbara and the guy who's name I should have remembered are still plotting the murder, and a storm looks like it's the perfect time to carry it out. It's at this point where the story starts shifting to and fro, so I'll say no more!
It's the interaction between Kosta and Barbara that's the best thing about the film. This is a couple that seem to totally loathe each other and are always playing some sort of game with each other (literally, at one point in the film). They say things to each other that mean other things, bitterly smiling at each other. There's a good few twists along the way to the fitting ending.
As I've already mentioned the editing and camerawork are brilliant in this film, with many inventive angles and shots that keep your interest. It's an old school giallo but doesn't feel stale at all.
Oh Ms. Bouchet
BandSAboutMovies15 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Thanks to Mondo Macabro, I've been getting into Greek exploitation a bit lately, which brings me to this Erricos Andreou-directed film that I would have passed up if it weren't for that most radiant of all giallo queens, Barbara Bouchet. She plays Iro Maras, a rich woman who is sleeping around on her sailboat obsessed husband (Gunther Stoll, What Have You Done to Solange?) with a young playboy named Nikos (Robert Behling, Island of Death).
There's the old man to kill him during a yacht regatta, but just like the plot of a Carol Baker giallo you may have already seen, the wrong person goes in the drink. Yet that's not the end, as always, and nobody gets out unscarred.
Jessica Dublin, who as also in Island of Death, makes an appearance. She also shows up in a bunch of Troma fare, like Troma's War and the second and third Toxic Avenger movies.
So yeah. Greek giallo. I guess you can consider Blind Date, Medusa, Death Kiss and Tango 2001 on that list. Man, just read this description of that last one: "Joachim is an impotent man who who secretly films his friend Stathis having sex with girls from the Tango Club. When Stathis kills the lesbian that he catches with his girlfriend, the death is caught on film. Necrophilia soon follows." If you don't think I'm not furiously tracking that down after posting this, you don't know me at all.
There's the old man to kill him during a yacht regatta, but just like the plot of a Carol Baker giallo you may have already seen, the wrong person goes in the drink. Yet that's not the end, as always, and nobody gets out unscarred.
Jessica Dublin, who as also in Island of Death, makes an appearance. She also shows up in a bunch of Troma fare, like Troma's War and the second and third Toxic Avenger movies.
So yeah. Greek giallo. I guess you can consider Blind Date, Medusa, Death Kiss and Tango 2001 on that list. Man, just read this description of that last one: "Joachim is an impotent man who who secretly films his friend Stathis having sex with girls from the Tango Club. When Stathis kills the lesbian that he catches with his girlfriend, the death is caught on film. Necrophilia soon follows." If you don't think I'm not furiously tracking that down after posting this, you don't know me at all.
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