Coartada en disco rojo (1972)

Director:

Tulio Demicheli

Writers:

Pedro Mario Herrero (story)
Pedro Mario Herrero (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 March 1972 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Plot:

A professor's wife falls in love with her husband's assistant. When she learns he's planning to move to another city...

Plot Keywords:

Giallo

Cast

George Hilton	...	Dr. Roberto Carli
Fernando Rey	...	Inspector Nardi
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Elena Carli
Anita Strindberg	...	Dr. Paola Lombardi
Manuel Zarzo	...	Félix - Nardi's assistant
Luis Dávila
Eduardo Fajardo	...	Luisi
Antonio del Real	...	Dr. Michele Azzini
Carla Mancini
Teresa Guayda González	...	Maria - Maid
Dinorah Ayala	...	Chica limpiaparabrisas
Emilio Portela	...	Agente

Also Known As:

I due volti della paura (Italy)
The Two Faces of Fear (UK)
Two Faces of Terror (USA) (informal English title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Spain | Italy

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Company:

B.R.C. Produzione S.r.l.

A great genre cast wasted in a tepid tale

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Elena Carli (Luciana Paluzzi), the owner of a posh medical clinic, doesn't want her doctor-husband Roberto's (George Hilton) partner, Dr. Michele Razzini (Antonio del Real), to leave the practice and offers him a quarter-share in the business if he'll stay on. Razzini is murdered before making a decision and Police Inspector Nardi finds his suspects among the staff. Dr. Paola Lombardi (Anita Strindberg) was Razzini's fiancé and the beneficiary of his will but knows Elena and Michele were having an affair. Dr. Lombardi and Dr. Carli once had an affair and Luis (Eduardo Fajardo), the clinic's director, was jealous of Razzini and in love with Lombardi. Elena has a bad heart and, after this fright, must have an immediate operation but begs Nardi not to let her husband do it even though she'll die if he doesn't. The operation is a success but a surgical-gloved killer soon pulls the plug on Elena...

Taken at face value, this would-be giallo has no terror but does offer a fairly interesting murder mystery as compensation. Genre staples George Hilton, Anita Strindberg, and Luciana Paluzzi look great and do their best with the soapy material but the mundane methods of murder preclude any stylish set-pieces although, in a graphic, over-long surgical sequence, Strindberg and Hilton operate on Paluzzi and even massage her heart. When he's not finding clues that implicate each of the swinger suspects in the crimes, the likable Fernando Rey's Inspector Nardi and his partner get to share a few humorous moments. Real footage of an open-heart surgery from a prestigious clinic in Madrid was inserted into the film and one has to wonder if the filmmakers just wove a tale around it. As it stands, this tepid piece of Eurotrash lacks a body count, could have been a lot steamier, and is reely nothing special but fans of the handsome Hilton, the sexy Strindberg, and the pulchritudinous Paluzzi won't be disappointed. The VHS I have is letterboxed and in English with Greek subtitles.