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Reviews125
rundbauchdodo's rating
Yeah, well. This is one of the very few Swiss films that get financed in whole by private investors, and they tried to make a modern version of the story by Gottfried Keller that brings the young Swiss folks into the cinemas. But why set the story in the middle of the 19th century??? I guess it would have been wiser to shift the plot into the present time.
This film fails because it wants to be a romance, an adventure, a drama and a comedy at the same time. Although there are elements of all these genres, there is not enough of everything to make the film what it wants to be. In the last 10 minutes it becomes clear that this film marks the return of the so-called "Heimatfilm", so in the end the film is just a piece of new Swiss Folklore.
The main characters are played by amateur actors, the male lead Fabien Rohrer being one of the best Swiss snow boarders and the female lead Kisha being one of the more successful pop starlets of the country. In smaller roles, there are also TV hosts. And this is another problem: These people try very hard, but they are just no actors... Good luck that the comedian Erich Vock has also got an important role, so he saves the film's acting to a certain degree.
All in all a woefully banal, rather embarrassing movie, even for Swiss standards.
This film fails because it wants to be a romance, an adventure, a drama and a comedy at the same time. Although there are elements of all these genres, there is not enough of everything to make the film what it wants to be. In the last 10 minutes it becomes clear that this film marks the return of the so-called "Heimatfilm", so in the end the film is just a piece of new Swiss Folklore.
The main characters are played by amateur actors, the male lead Fabien Rohrer being one of the best Swiss snow boarders and the female lead Kisha being one of the more successful pop starlets of the country. In smaller roles, there are also TV hosts. And this is another problem: These people try very hard, but they are just no actors... Good luck that the comedian Erich Vock has also got an important role, so he saves the film's acting to a certain degree.
All in all a woefully banal, rather embarrassing movie, even for Swiss standards.
A scientist invents a hallucinatory drug. Interest of different dubious people in this new drug lead to betrayal and murder.
This rather underrated and lesser known Italian thriller certainly has its flaws, nonetheless it belongs to the most innovative films of its genre that was booming in the early 1970s. Thanks to its fresh ideas packed in a traditional Giallo plot, it really stands out of the bulk, even though 1972 is probably the most Giallo-intense year ever. The most remarkable moments include feverish dream sequences that are erotic and nightmarish at the same time. The dreams are induced by similarly feverish Haitian voodoo rituals that feature mondo-style animal killing (there is also a non-ritualistic animal killing shown in a slaughterhouse - traces of social comment, obviously).
The erotic moments are more frequent and sensual than in the average Giallo, and they are very well done (as already mentioned, especially the dreams). The body count is also above average, and in the second half, the movie boosts some murders as creative as they are brutal. It also delivers elements of the spy film genre - drugs can always be sold for big money. And the climax is not necessarily Giallo-typical.
The leading cast consists of genre regulars: Anthony Steffen plays the inventive scientist and Gabriele Tinti the "hero"; Anita Strindberg is Grace, the woman with the unnerving dreams. On the other hand, the two directors are barely known and none of them made another Giallo (Edoardo Mulargia shot a few Westerns and some Women-in-Prison stuff, but nothing really significant).
AL TROPICO DEL CANCRO is not a masterpiece, but it's a sleeper of the genre with enough original and surprising elements to make it highly recommendable to the fans of the genre.
This rather underrated and lesser known Italian thriller certainly has its flaws, nonetheless it belongs to the most innovative films of its genre that was booming in the early 1970s. Thanks to its fresh ideas packed in a traditional Giallo plot, it really stands out of the bulk, even though 1972 is probably the most Giallo-intense year ever. The most remarkable moments include feverish dream sequences that are erotic and nightmarish at the same time. The dreams are induced by similarly feverish Haitian voodoo rituals that feature mondo-style animal killing (there is also a non-ritualistic animal killing shown in a slaughterhouse - traces of social comment, obviously).
The erotic moments are more frequent and sensual than in the average Giallo, and they are very well done (as already mentioned, especially the dreams). The body count is also above average, and in the second half, the movie boosts some murders as creative as they are brutal. It also delivers elements of the spy film genre - drugs can always be sold for big money. And the climax is not necessarily Giallo-typical.
The leading cast consists of genre regulars: Anthony Steffen plays the inventive scientist and Gabriele Tinti the "hero"; Anita Strindberg is Grace, the woman with the unnerving dreams. On the other hand, the two directors are barely known and none of them made another Giallo (Edoardo Mulargia shot a few Westerns and some Women-in-Prison stuff, but nothing really significant).
AL TROPICO DEL CANCRO is not a masterpiece, but it's a sleeper of the genre with enough original and surprising elements to make it highly recommendable to the fans of the genre.
This thriller by renowned Italian screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi is a very early Giallo - made just shortly after Mario Bava's first modern Italian thriller SEI DONNE PER L'ASSASSINO (1964) that is considered being the first real Giallo at all. But LIBIDO, shot in black and white, is not only one of the earliest Gialli. It is also one of the most accomplished - even though it was made in less than three weeks according to Gastaldi.
Christian (Giancarlo Giannini in his first movie) returns to the house by the sea where he grew up. He's accompanied by his fiancée and a befriended couple. As a child, he witnessed his father killing his mistress before jumping over a cliff. With the return, Christian should finally overcome his childhood trauma that emerged. As soon as he is back in his old home, though, Christian sees strange things that lead him to the assumption his father must still be alive.
Only one location (the house and the immediate environment), only four actors for most of the time - plus plenty of thrills and psychological terror make this one a winner. LIBIDO starts with a quote by Sigmund Freud. It can't get much more appropriate than that, because of all Gialli, this is the most Freudian one (and there are quite a bunch). Towards the climax, the plot twists pile up, of course, and they all do not only work, but are also clever and surprising (and try to do that with only a quartet of characters).
LIBIDO is a classic of its genre - essential viewing for Giallo fans and thus not to be missed.
Christian (Giancarlo Giannini in his first movie) returns to the house by the sea where he grew up. He's accompanied by his fiancée and a befriended couple. As a child, he witnessed his father killing his mistress before jumping over a cliff. With the return, Christian should finally overcome his childhood trauma that emerged. As soon as he is back in his old home, though, Christian sees strange things that lead him to the assumption his father must still be alive.
Only one location (the house and the immediate environment), only four actors for most of the time - plus plenty of thrills and psychological terror make this one a winner. LIBIDO starts with a quote by Sigmund Freud. It can't get much more appropriate than that, because of all Gialli, this is the most Freudian one (and there are quite a bunch). Towards the climax, the plot twists pile up, of course, and they all do not only work, but are also clever and surprising (and try to do that with only a quartet of characters).
LIBIDO is a classic of its genre - essential viewing for Giallo fans and thus not to be missed.