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7/10
Crazy but tons of fun
5 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
'Les Emmerdeuses' is a crazy movie. Shot mostly in Estoril, Lisbon, in the Palacio dos Duques de Bragança en Guimarães and numerous Portuguese hotel rooms in the Summer of 1974, Jess Franco obviously had the opportunity to go completely bonkers with this one.

In the beginning the Duo Golden Panther (similar to Francos Red Lips-Duo) speaks directly to the viewer, wanting to tell and show us the naked truth of how they became Interpol Agents. Previouly they were just thieves. And it's a crazy story. It would be wrong to assume that Jess Franco had no script, because there are too many references and entanglements to other films for that, mostly his own. Nonetheless the acting and dialogues appear to be improvised.

The 89-minute runtime offers a complicated and interwoven story which is told in a charmingly lighthearted way. Lina Romay is ready to play and that doesn't just apply to her role. She is in the best possible mood in her numerous softcore scenes with Pamela Stanford. In fact, sometimes the viewer could get the impression that Pamela Stanford is trying to calm her down. There are also amusing dialogues, such as 'Don't show too much, otherwise the censor will cut it anyway' so the madness of the action does not forget to take the moviegoer along.

The music of André Bénichou (including archive tracks) which could be described as Jazz Rock is also remarkable. In addition to some new pieces (such as the title theme) there are variations of well-known tracks from Jess Francos 'Obscene Mirror' (Al otro lado del espejo, 1973), 'The Sex Playboy' (Le jouisseur, 1975) and 'Les Gloutonnes' aka 'Maciste et les Gloutonnes' (1975).

Lina Romay looks absolutely gorgeous in this film, young, slim, intense dark eyes, seductive smile. Pamela Stanford seems disoriented at times due to her bad eye sight. Stanford has a nice role here, she's playful and shows a good sense for comedy.

The strangest role in 'Les Emmerdeuses' stars Monica Swinn. The Golden Panthers learned from an informant that the diamonds are in South America with a carpet dealer named Kashfi who is said to have hidden the jewels in his penis.

This causes astonishment and disbelief but is accepted by the Golden Panthers for the time being. Tina then tries to seduce the man who looks like a woman and is therefore mistaken for a cross-dresser by Pina. In fact, it's a woman disguising herself as a man, the penis is not real, but the diamonds are in it anyway.

Using Kashfi's method as an example the Golden Panthers are hiding the jewels in their vaginas to ship them from South America to Portugal. Franco doesn't fail his audience by keeping the camera close to their vaginas during this. But let's jump forward. In the finale, Franco gets the opportunity to incorporate a bit of torture and sexual violence. But when the visibly excited Radeck has Pina raped by the Durenstein Monster, she takes over the lead and can persuade the monster to protect her.

In this wild final scene there's quite a lot of action: Pina and Tina, Radeck and his Asian assistant, the dashing Lola, the stupid Interpol agents and the Durenstein monster, everybody is after everybody.

A crazy film but lot's of fun. Jess Franco has a brief appearance as the Interpol Chief, but the actors of the Asian and the disfigured Durenstein Monster reamain unknown.
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Delitto in Via Teulada (1980 TV Movie)
6/10
A Giallo of another kind
5 October 2021
At the RAI building in Via Teulada 66 actress Ely finds the dead body of her colleague Diamante. But when she's looking for help the body is gone. Nonetheless, various employees try to solve the crime only to become the next victim of the killer. Assistant Sandro and Director Leo finally follow the killers traces, supported by the blind Operator Lia.

DELITTO IN VIA TEULADA is a TV giallo by Aldo Lado in a curious format: shown before the evening broadcast of the entertainment magazine Variety, the film material was divided into 15 parts of 5 minutes each. This also explains the slightly confusing structure of the later compilation. At that time it was called GIALLO A STRISCIO.

But the concept is clear. In this look behind the scenes running in the midst of the of RAI shows, actors and staff went on a murder hunt, because an unknown killer was up to no good in the studio. Film and reality get mixed and protagonists are left alone with corpses and death as the hunt for the murderer takes place behind the studios cameras. But for that there is DELITTO IN VIA TEULADA which captures the impending danger.

Due to this structure, the viewer must not get used to the supposed main protagonists too quickly, because they bite the grass faster than expected.

Originally broadcast on TV in 1979, GIALLO A STRISCIO was cut into a motion picture in 1980, but it was just about 60 minutes long. Fabio Frizzi contributed a beautiful main theme. Apart from that musical material from Lucio FulcisPAURA NELLA CITTA DEI MORTI VIVENTI can be heard.

After putting together the 5 minute episodes into a movie some scenes had to be skipped, cause they contradicted the twist at the end. Therefore the shorter running time.

DELITTO IN VIA TEULADA is still very entertaining in it's feature film version. Since the scenery always allows a glimpse into the daily production of the RAI studios there are numerous familiar faces in cameos. These include presenter Pippo Baudo, director Nanni Loy, singer Domenico Modugno, the Kessler Twins and actors Corinne Cléry and Filippo Albertazzi.

As much as DELITTO IN VIA TEULADA may be a cinematic curiosity it is very interesting. There are on-screen murders, some partial nudity, an ax-wielding madman and a gialloesque (far fetched) solution. Definitely worth seeing.
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Cerasella (1959)
7/10
Matarazzo does comedy
3 October 2021
I was really curious to see how Raffaello Matarazzo - who is better known for his melodramatic efforts - would fare in the field of light-hearted romantic comedy and was more than pleasantly surprised. CERASELLA, shot in 1959 on location in Vietri sul Mare on the Amalfi Coast, offers the viewer a summer-fresh comedy for the heart and an extremely amusing story, which critics consider to be related to the Musicarello. Since the musical part is rather small, it is more about the similar content, I guess.

Mario Girotti aka Terence Hill is Bruno and he meets Cerasella (Claudia Mori), who is sweet as a cherry and sour as a lemon as the locals say. Claudia Mori embodies this role in her film debut in an extremely lovable way and one doesn't notice that she was barely 15 years old at the time of shooting. She is really good and can maintain dominance alongside Terence Hill, who has been 20 already. In 1964 Claudia Mori would marry actor/singer Adriano Celentano. The two are still together nowadays and she was also cast in some of his films.

The story is typical for Matarazzo, stubborn fathers and egotistical mothers are of course just as important as the obligatory sexual harassment. But that doesn't detract from the lightheartedness, a tightrope walk that Matarazzo does excellently. The film is cast well and of course there is some some singing in such a summer film. In addition to the score of singer and multiple San Remo winner Fausto Cigliano, there are four songs that consist of Neapolitan melodies. The lyrics of those have sometimes been slightly modified. In addition to the title song, a humorous defamatory song on marriage stands out in particular.

Roberto Pariante acted as assistant director, the camera work was done by veteran Václav Vích. CERASELLA was the most beautiful film from Terence Hill's early work that I have seen so far. Definitely worth seeing.
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