It's got a convoluted title, an intriguing mystery plot, a cool Morricone score, and a gorgeous woman-in-peril in the form of ravishing redhead Dagmar Lassander, and yet I hesitate to class The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion as a giallo simply because no-one actually commits a murder. Protagonist Minou (Lassander) BELIEVES that her husband has killed someone, but it eventually transpires that he hasn't. Giallo fans expecting a maniac in leather gloves offing numerous women in gruesome ways will surely be disappointed.
This non-giallo movie sees pill-popping beauty Minou (Lassander) menaced by a mysterious man (Simón Andreu) who informs her that her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) has killed someone he owed money to, convincing her by playing a tape recording of Peter talking about the murder. Minou goes to see the man and offers him money for the tape, but he's only interested in one thing, and it's not cash! Minou reluctantly sleeps with the blackmailer in exchange for the incriminating recording, but is horrified when the man continues to stalk her, this time armed with photographs of them doing the dirty (Doh!).
Confiding in her sexually liberated friend Dominique (hottie Nieves Navarro), Minou returns to the man's apartment and offers him more money ($20K), this time for the negatives, but again he refuses. Desperate to be rid of the man, Minou eventually comes clean to her hubby, who goes to his police friend for help. However, when the blackmailer's apartment is searched, the place is totally bare, and no-one appears to be living there. It's at this point you will no doubt ask yourself 'Is Minou crazy or is this one of those films where someone is trying to drive the main character mad, no doubt to claim on an insurance policy?' and the answer to that is 'The latter, of course!'.
The only thing that remains is to work out who the villain is, and because the pool of potential culprits is relatively small, there's a very good chance you'll guess correctly. Still, as predictable as the story is (and frustratingly bereft of a razor-wielding psycho), The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is still a very enjoyable movie, thanks largely to Lassander's incredible sex appeal, but also to Luciano Ercoli's more than capable direction and Ennio's jazzy lounge music.
6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
This non-giallo movie sees pill-popping beauty Minou (Lassander) menaced by a mysterious man (Simón Andreu) who informs her that her husband Peter (Pier Paolo Capponi) has killed someone he owed money to, convincing her by playing a tape recording of Peter talking about the murder. Minou goes to see the man and offers him money for the tape, but he's only interested in one thing, and it's not cash! Minou reluctantly sleeps with the blackmailer in exchange for the incriminating recording, but is horrified when the man continues to stalk her, this time armed with photographs of them doing the dirty (Doh!).
Confiding in her sexually liberated friend Dominique (hottie Nieves Navarro), Minou returns to the man's apartment and offers him more money ($20K), this time for the negatives, but again he refuses. Desperate to be rid of the man, Minou eventually comes clean to her hubby, who goes to his police friend for help. However, when the blackmailer's apartment is searched, the place is totally bare, and no-one appears to be living there. It's at this point you will no doubt ask yourself 'Is Minou crazy or is this one of those films where someone is trying to drive the main character mad, no doubt to claim on an insurance policy?' and the answer to that is 'The latter, of course!'.
The only thing that remains is to work out who the villain is, and because the pool of potential culprits is relatively small, there's a very good chance you'll guess correctly. Still, as predictable as the story is (and frustratingly bereft of a razor-wielding psycho), The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is still a very enjoyable movie, thanks largely to Lassander's incredible sex appeal, but also to Luciano Ercoli's more than capable direction and Ennio's jazzy lounge music.
6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.