Another important giallo was What Have You Done to Solange? (1972). Not exactly a pick-me-up film, it is laced with brutal misogyny, poor dubbing, shower scenes, rowboats, orgies, hippies, repressed memories, schoolgirls in uniform, sex-killing, imaginative camerawork, Catholic priests, and true suspense. Though one of the more beguiling and beautiful films of the early seventies, don't suggest it to your in-laws the first time you meet them. Directed by Massimo Dallamano (cinematographer on Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More), What Have You Done to Solange? was set in London with an internationally diverse cast. Fabio Testi stars as a married teacher at an all-girls Catholic school who is having an affair with an 18-year old student (Christina Galbo). While row-boating with her at a suburban park, Galbo senses they are being watched and witnesses the flash of a knife (and gloved hands) through the long grass along the banks. Unable to explain why he was at the scene of the crime, Testi becomes, in true giallo fashion, suspect, prey, and detective of the murderer. Pressure mounts as other local schoolgirls become the target of a supposed sex-killer. Teachers are questioned by police and, in one of the film's best scenes, Catholic priests in full robes are formed into a police line-up at the station. Karin Baal is excellent as Testi's wife, and Camille Keaton, the grand-niece of Buster Keaton and fourth wife of Sidney Luft (former husband of Judy Garland and step-father to Liza Minelli) played the titular character Solange. Keaton went on to star in the notorious rape-revenge-sadist-hillbilly film I Spit on Your Grave, about a young Manhattan woman on a weekend trip to upstate New York that goes horribly awry. What Have You Done to Solange? was greatly enhanced by the voyeuristic camerawork of Aristide Massaccesi aka Joe D'Amato who worked in all genres (horror, western, comedy, suspense) for two decades before shooting hard-core porn in the 1980s and 1990s.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
What Have You Done to Solange?
Another important giallo was What Have You Done to Solange? (1972). Not exactly a pick-me-up film, it is laced with brutal misogyny, poor dubbing, shower scenes, rowboats, orgies, hippies, repressed memories, schoolgirls in uniform, sex-killing, imaginative camerawork, Catholic priests, and true suspense. Though one of the more beguiling and beautiful films of the early seventies, don't suggest it to your in-laws the first time you meet them. Directed by Massimo Dallamano (cinematographer on Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More), What Have You Done to Solange? was set in London with an internationally diverse cast. Fabio Testi stars as a married teacher at an all-girls Catholic school who is having an affair with an 18-year old student (Christina Galbo). While row-boating with her at a suburban park, Galbo senses they are being watched and witnesses the flash of a knife (and gloved hands) through the long grass along the banks. Unable to explain why he was at the scene of the crime, Testi becomes, in true giallo fashion, suspect, prey, and detective of the murderer. Pressure mounts as other local schoolgirls become the target of a supposed sex-killer. Teachers are questioned by police and, in one of the film's best scenes, Catholic priests in full robes are formed into a police line-up at the station. Karin Baal is excellent as Testi's wife, and Camille Keaton, the grand-niece of Buster Keaton and fourth wife of Sidney Luft (former husband of Judy Garland and step-father to Liza Minelli) played the titular character Solange. Keaton went on to star in the notorious rape-revenge-sadist-hillbilly film I Spit on Your Grave, about a young Manhattan woman on a weekend trip to upstate New York that goes horribly awry. What Have You Done to Solange? was greatly enhanced by the voyeuristic camerawork of Aristide Massaccesi aka Joe D'Amato who worked in all genres (horror, western, comedy, suspense) for two decades before shooting hard-core porn in the 1980s and 1990s.
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