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Who Saw Her Die= 13
Some may find EMs approach,here, annoying.
Not here, mate. I love that score, and there’s more to it than initially meets the ear. As well as the chanting children’s choir there’s some great classical chamber writing as well. And I believe some of the lyrics were written by Mrs M, so added interest.
Yes, 4 by the missus, the rest were traditional. I think the music works well with misty Venice.
Track 7
Din, don
campanon
quattro vecchie sul balcon:
una che fila, una che taglia,
una che fa i cappelli di paglia,
una che fa i coltelli d'argento
per tagliare la testa al vento.
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Posted: |
Oct 9, 2022 - 1:17 AM
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By: |
Tall Guy
(Member)
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Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Sergio Martino, 1972)
There’s one GB point right there, the title taken from a note handed to Edwige Fenech in Martino’s earlier The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, but the film also takes inspiration from E A Poe’s The Black Cat. Also apparently known as “Gently Before She Dies”, which may not have won the outrageous title point.
Edwige playing the bad girl role, for once, along with Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli (who must have thought to himself when reading the script “Three girls, AND I get paid? Where do I sign?”) and Ivan Rassimov, it also featured many shots (in both senses of the word) of J&B, possibly a record.
But the number that matters is a slightly disappointing nine, none of which involves the music, which is a lovely, restrained effort from Bruno Nicolai. Red herrings are supported by both black cats and white doves.
Amusing subtitles involve attempts to describe the score, such as “Burst of music indicating suspense “.
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When I watched who saw her die I didn't spot a single bottle of J&B. That must be some sort of ( negative?) record.
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Posted: |
Oct 14, 2022 - 12:19 AM
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By: |
Tall Guy
(Member)
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When I watched who saw her die I didn't spot a single bottle of J&B. That must be some sort of ( negative?) record.
Would like to see this one again, just really for being more familiar with the marvellous score.
Moving on…
Tenebrae (Argento, 1982)
This film heralds a kind of pivot away from the playful 1970s gialli towards the archetypal 1980s slasher film, with some terrible acting by almost everyone except John Saxon overshadowed by some genuinely nasty murders. Death after death after death, not so much sex as usual and a reaction shot of Anthony Franciosa which makes Tippi Hedren’s during the petrol station scene in The Birds look like Laurence Olivier.
Giallo bingo points? An impressive 14, although a couple of them are a stretch - a character emerges from the bathroom having taken a bath/shower, so I’ve generously included that, but I’ve eschewed red herring in favour of twist ending. Music both funky and overloud, but no ooh ooh.
Any of Argento’s gialli have to be classed as heavyweight, but this one has particular significance and a deal of notoriety. Not one I enjoy very much, though, and I’m embarrassed for the recently deceased John Steiner for having to sport the lounge-lizard moustache that should really have had its own credit.
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I’m embarrassed for the recently deceased John Steiner for having to sport the lounge-lizard moustache that should really have had its own credit.
His 'tache was non union!
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HOW many?! This is important, Thor …
6 or 7, I think. What do I win?
Another 10 years on this board 
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Thanks to Tall Guy (and Prince Damian) for keeping the game going-it’s
interesting that some of these points are fairly subjective. I’d like to see
the scoring breakdown on some of these just for the hell of it, although we’d
be getting into “spoilers be damned” territory…Anyway, here’s..
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Four Flies on Gray Velvet
The sensitive story of one of cinema’s worst marriages, archetypal giallo
all the way. Colder, more detached than Crystal Plumage or Nine Tails, but
definitely worthwhile with a bizarre dose of goofiness (Bud Spencer as “God”,
a scene where exhibitors display a series of 1972’s state of the art coffins).
Worth noting that this has one of the most tense scenes in all of Giallo,
especially as it’s without gore or flashy direction.
Spoiler (?): Enjoyed the punchy, no-epilogue finale- it reminded me of the
ending of French Connection 2.
Morricone hits funk and ooh ooh points- and the rest of the score is
quite nightmarish.
A solid 15 points-you could argue 16 depending on your view on red
herrings.
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THE FIFTH CORD (1971; Giornata nera per l'ariete "Black Day for Aries")
Funky music - Right off the bat with EM's main titles
Twist ending - Yes. A pretty good one.
Witness of murder - Witnesses to an assault, but not murder.
Striptease - No.
Killer’s POV - The very first shot of the film. And elsewhere.
Man slaps woman - Yes
Overloud or inappropriate music - Rosella Falk suddenly hears some overpowering organ music while she's relaxing in bed; I damn near fell out of my chair it was so loud.
Outrageous title - Apparently the Aries=ram reference was meant to sound like one of Argento's animal-themed titles.
J&B bottle - Franco Nero swigs from one. While he's driving!
Naked woman - Pamela Tiffin. And Agostina Belli.
Death by stabbing - No. Rather surprising considering the killer used various methods.
Red herring - Of course.
Black gloved killer - Yes.
Goofy police inspector - No, he's quite sober and professional.
Important picture - No.
Woman takes bath or shower - A woman is found dead in her bathtub.
Blackmail - Nero finds something out about someone and uses it to get info from that person. And that person is blackmailing someone else in turn.
Gay/lesbian character - Yes.
Important memory - Only in the sense that Nero remembers an inconsistency in the pattern of the murders that helps him figure out who the killer is. I'm not sure if that's what "important memory" refers to.
Random scene in Italian - The version I watched was entirely dubbed in English.
Ooh ooh music - Does "la la la la" music count?
Death by razor - One of the killings.
Childhood trauma - No.
Killer’s footsteps - Yes.
Stylishly photographed by Vittorio Storaro, fresh off his The Conformist triumph.
A total of 15 points. There is a scene involving people watching two nudes making love, but that doesn't qualify as a striptease in the context.
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Ooh ooh music - Does "la la la la" music count?
If you cannot discern the difference between "ooh ooh" and "la la la" I CANNOT HELP YOU.
I say this as an expert in "ooh ooh" -- not giallo or "la la la."
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Ooh ooh music - Does "la la la la" music count?
If you cannot discern the difference between "ooh ooh" and "la la la" I CANNOT HELP YOU.
I say this as an expert in "ooh ooh" -- not giallo or "la la la."
We need an audio example of "ooh ooh" music here!
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The Killer Must Kill Again. Bingo score a meagre 9, at a push. No J&B. There was a green bottle of alcohol on display but the label looked different and was at an awkward angle. Also a bit unusual was the fact the we know the killer from the off, in this one! Incidentally the killer was played by he of the ultra sharp cheek bones- Antoine St. John. Preferred murder weapon was phone cable or similar.
Oh, the music was surprisingly restrained.
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One of my favourites but only watched a couple of months ago so had to wait its turn. score.
I'm at that age now that I rewatch them when I forget who the killer is, or the twist!
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Dario Argento’s Opera (1987)
Starts as a riff on Phantom of the Opera, settles into usual murder tale before the
amusing WTF unmasking of the villain- and then humps along for another 15
minutes to a lame, foolish finale.
Expensive-looking, handsomely mounted; this embraces (and magnifies) the
best and worst of giallo. The otherworldly dialogue becomes asinine and the
thin acting more uninteresting (the only character with a “big” personality is so
fkn annoying you may root for her demise).
Having said all that, this is technically assured to a fault, thanks to Argento &
DP Ronnie Taylor who prove giallo is a great playground for imaginative filmmaking-
a real case of style over substance.
The soundtrack is a mishmash of Verdi, Brian Eno, Claudio Simonetti, Bill Wyman
and some generic hair metal over the murder sequences that dates badly and
earns overloud/inappropriate points.
Sorry to ramble on, a 10 pointer for the books.
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