A doppia faccia (1969)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Riccardo Freda

Writers:

Riccardo Freda (screenplay)
Lucio Fulci (story)

Release Date:

4 July 1969 (West Germany)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A millionaire is unwittingly led into murder by his lesbian wife.

Plot Keywords:

Lesbian | Murder | Beautiful Woman | Lesbian Sex | Female Nudity

Cast

Klaus Kinski	...	John Alexander
Christiane Krüger	...	Christine
Günther Stoll	...	Inspector Stevens
Annabella Incontrera	...	Liz
Sydney Chaplin	...	Mr. Brown
Barbara Nelli	...	Alice
Margaret Lee	...	Helen Alexander
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alice Arno	...	(hardcore inserts - French 1976 version)
Carlo Marcolino	...	Servant
Luciano Spadoni	...	Inspector Gordon

Also Known As:

Das Gesicht im Dunkeln (West Germany)
Double Face
Edgar Wallace: Das Gesicht im Dunkeln (West Germany) (series title)
Puzzle of Horrors

Runtime:

Germany:81 min | Italy:88 min

Country:

West Germany | Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

France:X (re-release) | West Germany:18 | Germany:12 (re-rating) (2004)

Company:

Colt Produzioni Cinematografiche

Trivia:

Though not an adaption of original material by Edgar Wallace, this film was advertised in Germany as part of the famous Edgar Wallace Series. It was such a huge flop that the Producers at Rialto Film decided to delay any future plans to do further Edgar Wallace Films. Due to the great success of Dario Argento's "L'Uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo" (1969) which was advertised as an adaption of a story by Wallace's son Bryan Edgar, Rialto's series re-started in 1971.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Pastewka: Die Strategie der Schnecke (#2.2)" (2006)

Freda Goes Wild, Kinski Plays It Cool

I fell in love with this movie from its first frame. Or, at any rate, the first BOOM-BANG-CRASH-WALLOP of its fabulously over-the-top piano soundtrack - as if Liberace were stationed just off camera, with blazing gold candelabra and rhinestone-studded Steinway grand. Its visuals are, if possible, lusher than its score. Crystal vases weep rose petals over the photo of a murdered woman. Venetian glass mirrors reflect the elegantly chiselled face of Klaus Kinski - glowering at us seductively over a polka-dotted silk cravat.

If you are used to Kinski hamming it up in a Herzog epic, his role here is a revelation. As a London millionaire who may or may not have murdered his lesbian wife, he is so subtle and ambiguous, so - dare I say it? - restrained that he keeps us guessing right up until the last few seconds. Seeing her 'come back to life' in a porno film (shot after her death) Kinski's face takes on a haunted look that outdoes all his raving, eye-rolling and tooth-gnashing in more famous roles.

Proof, if proof were needed, that director Riccardo Freda was not just a great unsung visual stylist, but a maestro of mood and suspense. Imagine a Chabrol or Hitchcock with the eye of a Renaissance painter, and you come close to the splendours of this film. So exquisite in its visual detail that its minor flaws - i.e. blatantly fake model car wrecks; continuity howlers such as Kinski walking bareheaded through Soho, then sitting in a nightclub with his hat on - simply evaporate before our eyes.

Oh, and I even like the tacky Italian pop ballad that keeps recurring as a 'clue' - to oddly chilling effect. So perhaps I'm just a sucker for this type of film.

David Melville