Silent Action (1975) aka La Polizia Accusa: Il Servizio Segreto Uccide

 

"A Cracking Example of Mid-1970s EuroCrime Cinema"

One of the 'have a go at anything' heroes of Italian exploitation cinema, Sergio Martino is best known to cult film fans these days for his giallos, the most famous of which is probably 1973's TORSO. But he also worked in many other popular genres including poliziotteschis (or Italian crime thriller). SILENT ACTION, one of the best of Martino's poliziotteschis, is about to get a Blu-ray release from Fractured Visions.

Luc Merenda is Giorgio Solmi, a police inspector called in to investigate the brutal clubbing to death of an electrical engineer and part-time blackmailer. His investigations lead him discover a link with the several faked 'suicides' that we've seen open the film and a plot to bring down the government.

SILENT ACTION is a brisk, well-paced, highly entertaining thriller that boasts several highlights, including a splendidly edited and choreographed car chase in the middle of the film and an explosion and gun-battle-filled climax that looks like it cost a lot more than it likely did. Being a mid-1970s film there's a heavy dose of cyncism, plenty of double-crossing, and you're never quite sure who's on whose side right up until the final frame. That Italian title translates as THE POLICE ACCUSE: THE SECRET SERVICE KILL, by the way. 

Fractured Visions' transfer of SILENT ACTION looks excellent with a 2K restoration of nice clean print that includes both Italian and English dialogue tracks. as well as a commentary track by Mike Malloy on the fandom surrounding EuroCrime cinema that's original, enlightening, and well worth a listen. Extras include a brief Martino interview as well as interviews with star Merenda and composer Luciano Michelini. There's also an archival featurette about co-star Tomas Milian ported over from a NoShame DVD and another archival interview with Luc Merenda.

The package also comes with a CD of Luciano Michelini's very pleasing mid 1970s lounge-style score over 25 tracks lasting a total of 58 minutes. For the soundtrack obsessives out there it's the same as last year's Digit movies release and if you don't have it this is an excellent bonus. I'll admit I'm not familiar with the composer's work but this is excellent and in places reminiscent of George Martin's style of scoring for the 1973 James Bond film LIVE & LET DIE. If you're in any doubt get someone to play you track 10 (which accompanies the car chase sequence) and then say you don't need this in your soundtrack library. It's altogether an excellent package from Fractured Visions and I hope we get to see more of this sort of thing from them. 

Sergio Martino's SILENT ACTION is out on Blu-ray in a Limited Edition (of 3000) two disc package on Monday 12th April 2021. Here's the trailer:

If you're planning on buying the disc then I'd recommend supporting Fractured Visions by ordering it direct from their site at the link below:

Order SILENT ACTION from Fracture Visions

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971)

It's time for yet more early 1970s Italian shenanigans courtesy of director Sergio Martino, screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, composer Bruno Nicolai and a host of other familiar names as Arrow brings us THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL on Blu-ray.

Another one of those films where presumably the cast and crew voted as to where they fancied a trip, this time we kick off in London. Lisa Baumer (Evelyn Stewart) receives the news that her husband has died in a plane crash. He has a massive life insurance policy which she has to go to Athens (more essential travel) to collect. 

Soon the bodies are piling up as various people try to get their hands on the insurance money. Private detective Peter Lynch (George Hilton) and reporter Cleo Dupont (Anita Strindberg) team up to find out who the killer might be while avoiding becoming victims themselves. 

With a bunch of guest turns from actors familiar to those of us who love Euro exploitation (Janine Raynaud, Luis Barboo, Alberto de Mendoza, Luigi Pistilli) THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL almost seems to be trying extra hard compared to Martino's other gialli like THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS WARDH (1971) or YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM & ONLY I HAVE THE KEY (1972). Maybe it's because those movies' leading lady lady, Edwige Fenech, is missing this time round (she was pregnant). 

For whatever reason SCORPION'S TAIL is less a random bonkers giallo and more a carefully constructed crime thriller that relies more on its complex plotting than just having naked ladies killed with a straight razor.

Arrow present the film in a new 2K restoration with lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks. Extras include new interviews with George Hilton and Sergio Martino, and Ernesto Gastaldi provides a commentary track in Italian with English subtitles. You also get an analysis of Martino's films by Mikel J Koven and a video essay from Troy Howarth. Finally a trailer and reversible sleeve art complete the package. Unless of course you get the first pressing in which case there's also a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Rachael Nisbet and Howard Hughes, plus an Anita Strindberg biography by Peter Jilmstad.

Sergio Martino's THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL is out on Blu-ray from Arrow Films on Monday 18th July 2018

The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)

"Warning: May Dispel any Lurking Nostalgia for the 1970s"

Sergio Martino's 1975 Italian crime thriller ( = poliziotteschi) gets a 2k restoration dual format release from Arrow Films. 

Rollercoaster Of Crime!

At a wedding that looks as if it was gatecrashed by the film-makers, a girl is pursued and eventually killed by a man in sunglasses so shiny we can see the camera crew. Undercover, no-nonsense, SWEENEY-like (ie extremely violent) cop Paolo Germi is already on the case as it turns out the girl was a member of an underage prostitution ring.

Fashion!

His investigation leads him from sleazy dives to a corrupt group of rich businessmen, while a killer is busy bumping off anyone who might be a threat to them. 

Women!

Featuring some of the most horrible fashions / locations / wallpaper / spectacles / prostitutes ever seen in 1970s exploitation cinema (and that really was the decade of tat), Sergio Martino's picture is far more a brutal, amoral crime thriller along the lines of movies like Fernando di Leo's MILANO CALIBRO 9 (1972) or British equivalents like Douglas Hickox's excellent SITTING TARGET (also 1972) than any of Martino's slicker, more stylish gialli.

J&B in a box at the back!

So if you're looking for beautiful women, black-gloved killers, lashings of J&B, a daft psychological back story and perhaps the odd puppet you'll have to look elsewhere. However, if your tastes run to amoral brutal cops, ladies with ridiculous hair and awful underwear, and chase sequences that look very unsafe indeed (especially the one on the rollercoaster) then you'll love this. And I'll admit a big cardboard box of J&B does make an appearance in one scene. 

More fashion!

Arrow's dual disc set comes with new interviews with director Martino and DP Giancarlo Ferrando, and a new audio commentary track from Troy Howarth. You also get a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and a reversible sleeve. 

Sergio Martino's SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR is out on dual format from Arrow on Monday 11th September 2017

Your Vice Is A Locked Room & Only I Have the Key (1972)

Arrow's box set of two very different (but equally bonkers) Italian movie adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's story The Black Cat kicks off with this giallo from Sergio Martino. I reviewed the film itself a couple of years ago on House of Mortal Cinema, so for starters here’s a reprise of that write-up. I’ll be back after to tell you about the new edition.

Typical goings-on at any writer's house

The title is a line from a previous Ernesto Gastaldi - Sergio Martino collaboration, THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS WARDH and then we’re off into a story that is, according to the credits, based loosely on The Black Cat. If Edgar Allan Poe had a penchant for crates of J&B, attractive ladies wearing very little, and motorcycle racing this could have been the most faithful adaptation of the story yet. Somehow, though, I suspect that he didn’t, although he might have enjoyed the decadent party held by decadent writer Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli) that opens the movie. 

Cormorant's nest plus knife = bad news

Luigi lives in a lovely old mansion in the country where he hosts bizarre soirees that allows Sergio Martino to cram in both nude dancing (a tiny part for FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN and PHENOMENA’s Dalila de Lazzarro) and a horrible hippy song into the first ten minutes. Luigi is married to Irene (Anita Strindberg). His heavy drinking and womanising ways have caused her hairstyle to take on the appearance of a cormorant’s nest, and not a very house proud cormorant at that. Luigi’s having an affair with one of his ex-students from his teaching past who now works in a local bookshop. Romantic old devil that he is, he arranges to meet her in the local quarry after dark. 

Lovely

Those of us who have seen this sort of thing before know that the chap in the far distance wearing black gloves and wielding a machete isn’t there for a bit of chiselling and pretty soon we’re witness to the first of several gory murders, including  Luigi’s maid and a local prostitute. During all this Luigi drinks J&B, strokes his black cat ‘Satan’, drinks more J&B, beats Irene, and drinks yet more J&B. In fact the stuff is delivered to his house by the crate load by motorcycle scrambling enthusiast Dario (Riccardo Salvino). 

More Lovely

Half an hour in and disgruntled Edwige Fenech fans may be wondering where the top billed actress has got to. She finally appears and sets about getting into bed with almost everyone in the cast, including Dario, who manages to charm her into his sleeping bag in a dusty old attic after one especially muddy escapade while Luigi watches from the shadows. Ivan Rassimov, in black leather coat and grey wig, has been watching from the shadows occasionally throughout the picture as well, but it won't be until just before the end that we get to find out why he’s there. By then naughty old Satan the cat has eaten Irene’s doves and had his eye cut out in homage to Poe, and we’ve had the typical final giallo fifteen minutes of everything going completely crazy before almost everyone ends up dead. Of course I’m not going to tell you who the killer is because that would spoil half the fun, suffice to say that the climax is every bit as wonderfully mad as giallo fans the world over have come to love.

J&B Plus Black Cat and Still Not Happy

YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM isn’t the best of Martino’s gialli - that’s always going to be TORSO, with STRANGE VICE close behind, but it is worth watching for the ever lovely Edwige Fenech and one of Bruno Nicolai’s best scores. In an interview Martino has said that this is a movie about provincial Italy and the film certainly has a different, gloomier, less glamorous feel than more cosmopolitan fare such as ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK. The title doesn’t have any relevance to the story, the murders are horrible, the women are beautiful, the music is great and there are more shots of J&B in the first twenty minutes than in the whole running time of any other giallo (probably). What’s not to like? In fact, what’s not to love?

Too Much J&B Plus Cormorant's Nest Plus Knife = Giallo!

Arrow’s Region B Blu-ray offers us a lovely transfer of YOUR VICE, with both Italian and English language tracks. There are also some decent extras, including a half-hour interview with the director where he talks about the making of the film, and what it was like to work with various members of the cast and crew, including stars Fenech and Pistilli and composer Bruno Nicolai. There’s a half-hour talking head piece on the career of Edwige Fenech by a very enthusiastic chap accompanied by appropriate clips and photographs. A making of featurette has been ported over from the Region 1 NoShame release. Add in a piece on the gialli of Sergio Martino and a chance to hear what Eli Roth thinks of the film and this is a winning package from Arrow. 

Arrow Films are releasing Sergio Martino's YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM & ONLY I HAVE THE KEY on Dual Format Region B Blu-ray and Region 2 DVD as part of their BLACK CAT Box Set on the 19th of October 2015

Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (1972)

Could this be the longest movie title on this site? It's actually a line from a previous Ernesto Gastaldi - Sergio Martino collaboration, THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS WARDH. This time we find them collaborating on a story that is, according to the credits, based loosely on The Black Cat. If Edgar Allan Poe had a penchant for crates of J&B, attractive ladies wearing very little, and motorcycle racing this could have been the most faithful adaptation of the story yet. Somehow, though, I suspect that he didn’t, although he might have enjoyed the decadent party held by decadent writer Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli) that opens this rather decadent movie. 

      Luigi lives in a lovely old mansion in the country where he hosts bizarre soirees that allows Sergio Martino to cram in both nude dancing (a tiny part for FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN and PHENOMENA’s Dalila de Lazzarro) and a horrible hippy song into the first ten minutes. Luigi is married to Irene (Anita Strindberg). His heavy drinking and womanising ways have caused her hairstyle to take on the appearance of a cormorant’s nest, and not a very house proud cormorant at that. Luigi’s having an affair with one of his ex-students from his teaching past who now works in a local bookshop. Romantic old devil that he is, he arranges to meet her in the local quarry after dark. Those of us who have seen this sort of thing before know that the chap in the far distance wearing black gloves and wielding a machete isn’t there for a bit of chiselling and pretty soon we’re witness to the first of several gory murders, including  Luigi’s maid and a local prostitute. 

      During all this Luigi drinks J&B, strokes his black cat ‘Satan’, drinks more J&B, beats Irene, and drinks yet more J&B. In fact the stuff is delivered to his house by the crate load by motorcycle scrambling enthusiast Dario (Riccardo Salvino). Half an hour in and disgruntled Edwige Fenech fans may be wondering where the top billed actress has got to. She finally appears in short skirt and short hairstyle to show Anita how it's done, and sets about getting into bed with almost everyone in the cast, including Dario, who manages to charm her into his sleeping bag in a dusty old attic after one especially muddy escapade while Luigi watches from the shadows. 

      Ivan Rassimov, in black leather coat and grey wig, has been watching from the shadows occasionally throughout the picture as well, but it won't be until just before the end that we get to find out why he’s there. By then naughty old Satan the cat has eaten Irene’s doves and had his eye cut out in homage to Poe, and we’ve had the typical final giallo fifteen minutes of everything going completely crazy before almost everyone ends up dead. Of course I’m not going to tell you who the killer is because that would spoil half the fun, suffice to say that the climax is every bit as wonderfully mad as giallo fans the world over have come to love.

YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM isn’t the best of Martino’s gialli - that’s always going to be TORSO, with STRANGE VICE close behind and ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK a very creditable third, but it is worth watching for the ever lovely Edwige Fenech and one of Bruno Nicolai’s best scores. In an interview Martino has said that this is a movie about provincial Italy and the film certainly has a different, gloomier, less glamorous feel than more cosmopolitan fare such as ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK. The title doesn’t have any relevance to the story, the murders are horrible, the women are beautiful, the music is great and there are more shots of J&B in the first twenty minutes than in the whole running time of any other giallo (probably). What’s not to like? In fact, what’s not to love?

The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (1970)

It’s giallo time! Let’s make sure we’ve got the right ingredients. Gorgeous Edwige Fenech wearing very little and frequently nothing at all? Check. Mad Ivan Rassimov? Check. Hunky George Hilton? Bottle of J&B placed with the label prominently visible no matter where the two actresses in the scene concerned are standing or sitting? Screenplay most likely written by Ernesto Gastaldi? Check check check. With all these elements at director Sergio Martino’s fingertips the plot seems less than important, especially as we know in a couple of years he’s going to make TORSO, which is one third brilliance to two thirds random nudity and silliness. In fact that’s pretty much what we get here, but unfortunately with a little less brilliance than we might ideally like. A serial killer is terrorising Vienna (which is presumably where the Italian crew felt like taking their holidays that year), murdering young women in states of undress. While this is going on Edwige is living with her diplomat husband Alberto de Mendoza (who would be unrecognisable as Pujardov the mad monk in HORROR EXPRESS in a couple of years’ time) in a flat the interior décor of which can only have been thought up by someone who usually comes up with the design for types of toothpaste. Edwige’s unhappy, probably because she’s no longer with lover Ivan Rassimov, who used to cater to her ‘strange vice’, but perhaps because the matching horizontally striped curtains and wallpaper of her living room are enough to drive anyone to have a plethora of Martini bottles lying around. The bedroom’s not much better, where the stripes are vertical and brown, there’s a big red telephone and a large carton of cigarettes is always prominently on display. When Edwige’s friends start dying she suspects Ivan, who keeps sending her roses with cryptic messages attached, but then she discovers him dead so it can’t be him, can it? New lover George Hilton has some of the weirdest shirts ever seen in a 1970 film and a jacket that probably allowed him access to some of the less heterosexual nightclubs of the day but not much else. He doesn’t seem to cater to her ‘strange vice’ but then seeing as not much is made of it we’re not terribly sure of what it is until much later in the film. Does she like having her woolly jumper torn off her in the rain? Of having brandy poured over her naked body? No – it seems she has a ‘blood fetish’, which is explained late in the day by a trendy doctor in a sports car (there really shouldn’t be any other type in these films). We get to see very little of it indeed but to be honest that’s probably just as well.

            Halfway through the killer gets bumped off by one of his potential victims, so what exactly is going on? Whatever it is, it involves Edwige decamping to Spain with George where she ends up being gassed in the kitchen which, in the best sequence in the film, is made to look like a suicide attempt. By the end it’s clear Martino has seen STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and has decided to put together his own daft nudity-filled version of it. The ending requires the usual mammoth set of coincidences that no giallo fan would be satisfied without, and as the car with our heroine and the trendy well-dressed doctor drives away through the picturesque countryside we are once again treated to the film’s main theme. For once this isn’t composed by either Ennio Morricone or Bruno Nicolai but instead by Nora Orlandi and it’s not at all bad, with a couple of haunting melodies that do get a bit overused. THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS WARDH isn’t actually that memorable but there are moments that make it worth an evening’s viewing when your Argentos have been watched to death.