A weak script and badly conceived characters is to blame for this very disappointing soap opera where even exotic locations can't save it. Maureen O'Hara and Rossano Brazzi are a gorgeous couple but they are hampered by the fact that there's no development of how their love affair begins and how her marriage to Richard Todd (in a thankless teeny part) ends. The local hens warn O'Hara in a gang-up clucking manner that her friendship with Brazzi is causing tongues to wag. Her two children (Elizabeth Dear and Martin Stephens) are greatly affected when she abandons them and follow her to Brazzi's breathtaking villa where more venom than a pit of vipers is revealed.
Even worse, young Dear turns Brazzi's daughter (Olivia Hussey, pre-"Romeo & Juliet") against him, and eventually Brazzi and O'Hara are battling each other as this villa of the damned becomes a toxic paradise. It's an embarrassing film for both O'Hara and Brazzi, and the three young actors are painful to watch. A scene with an interfering young priest is particularly awful. If it wasn't for the gorgeous locations in color and poignant score (in spite of the overuse of constantly crashing cymbals), I'd mark this as a complete bomb.
Even worse, young Dear turns Brazzi's daughter (Olivia Hussey, pre-"Romeo & Juliet") against him, and eventually Brazzi and O'Hara are battling each other as this villa of the damned becomes a toxic paradise. It's an embarrassing film for both O'Hara and Brazzi, and the three young actors are painful to watch. A scene with an interfering young priest is particularly awful. If it wasn't for the gorgeous locations in color and poignant score (in spite of the overuse of constantly crashing cymbals), I'd mark this as a complete bomb.