法国性谋杀 Casa d'appuntamento (1972)

Formerly,theusualUKtitlewasTHEBOGEYMANANDTHEFRENCHMURDERS.There’salsoaGreekvideowiththesleevetitle,CALLGIRLSFORINSPECTORBOGART.TheinspectorisnotnamedBogart,nordoeshegetanycallgirls,butwhocares?It’satitlethatsells.There’sakillerinParis,asuicidefromtheEiffelTower,abrothelasthemainsetting,insaneprofessors,aneye-ballthief,aninspectorwholookslikeHumphreyBogart(fornoapparentreason),atrulycreepyAnitaEkberg,andanimpressiveline-upofEuro-stars.HowDickRandallassembledthiscastisbeyondme,buthedidit.BesidesAnitaEkberg,there’sRosalbaNeri(whoevensingsasonginanightclub),BarbaraBouchet,EvelynKraft,HowardVernon,andRobertSacchiasinspectorPontaineorHumphreyBogart.Thetitleisprettyaccurate.Themurderstakeplaceduring,beforeoraftersexinabrothelinParis.Inbetween,theBogey-mansnoopsaroundtryingtotrackdownthekiller,butheisnottoobright.You’llprobablyhavefigureditoutlongbeforehedoes.Thefilm’sproducerwasAmericanDickRandallwhotookresidenceinRomeinthe’60sbutbasicallywaswhereverthedealswheremade,whichmeantRomeinthe’60s,BangkokandHongKonginthe’70sandLondoninthe’80s.WhilstresidinginItaly,hepayedcloseattentionanddecidedtotakeashotatthegialloaswell,andproducedthispieceofcinematicsoufflé.It’saperfectexampleoftotallyroundthebendEuro-tosh,witharathertameexecutionactually.Thedirectionisnotwildlyimaginative,aworkman’sjobatbest,sodon’texpectoutrageousItaliancraftsmanshipandstylehere,butsomespicing-upintheeditingbyBrunoMattei.ThespecialeffectsweredonebyfutureOscar-winnerCarloRambaldiofETfame.Iguesshelearnedalotsincethisone.Ofcourse,thepresenceofRobertSacchi,amongsomeotheringredients(mostlythecast)givethisfilmacertainweirdidentityofitsown.Alltogether,it’sprettymuchapoorman’sinterpretationofanItalianGiallo.TheversiononMondoMacabro’sDVDneverexistedinthisform.Fromvariouscopies,theyassembledthelongestversiontheycouldpossiblypastetogether.There’sanEnglishaudio-track,butacoupleofscenesappearinItalianwithsubtitles.imdbcomment