LIBIDO

Giancarlo Giannini in his screen debut

LIBIDO (1965). Directed by Julian Berry Storff (Ernesto Gastaldi and Vittorio Salerno). 

As a young boy, Christian came across a mirrored room where his father brutalized and murdered women. Now an adult, Christian (Giancarlo Giannini of Black Belly of the Tarantula) returns to his father's beautiful mansion  after the man's death with his wife, Helene (Dominique Boschero), estate trustee Paul (Luciano Pigozzi), and Paul's dizzy blond wife, Brigitte (Mara Maryl). Christian has three months before he will come into complete control of his father's assets, but for now Paul is in charge. Christian is terribly afraid that he has inherited his father's malevolent tendencies, or that one or more of the others are conspiring against him. He also is afraid that his father may still be alive ... 

Dominique Boschero and Mara Maryl

With a wonderful location and some interesting actors -- Giannini in his first picture (in the lead role no less) is especially compelling -- Libido should have emerged a memorable picture but despite a (not entirely unexpected) final twist, it is a real disappointment. The movie is too slow to be suspenseful and we're kept in the dark about much of the back story. On the plus side it has to be said that the movie is unpredictable and the dubbing job is first-class. With his excellent performance in this, it is no surprise that Giannini eventually became an internationally famous actor.

Verdict: Any movie that begins with a quote from Sigmund Freud can't be all bad -- or that good! **1/4. 

BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA

Giancarlo Giannini

BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA (aka La tarantola dal ventre nero/1971). Director: Paolo Cavara.

Inspector Tellini (Giancarlo Giannini) investigates a series of murders in which people are paralyzed with a drug and then are stabbed in the belly, in much the way a wasp kills a tarantula (to explain the title and little else). Black Belly of the Tarantula is a very confusing picture with an awful score by Ennio Morricone, who was clearly not much inspired by the material. Stefania Sandrelli plays Anna, Tellini's wife, who figures in the moderately tense finale, and also in the cast are Barbara Bach, Barbara Bouchet, and Claudine Auger [Twitch of the Death Nerve] as women connected to s spa and modeling agency. Gianinni, who went on to much, much better things in a long career, gives an okay if somewhat disinterested performance as a cop who wants to get out of the business (even as the actor probably wanted to get out of the movie). Black Belly is not an especially intriguing nor admirable example of the Italian giallo film. In fact, one could rightly state that the best thing about the movie is its title. A much, much better horror flick for Giannini was Mimic. 

Verdict: Blah dubbed thriller which wastes everyone's talents. **.