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: NoShame Films
: Drama, Foreign, Italy
: 100 min.
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Strange things are going on in a beautiful and decadent Venetian villa. A young mother (BLUEBEARD's Nathalie Delon) is horrified to discover that the imaginary friend of her son (Alessandro Poggi) is the second child she lost during her last pregnancy. Haunted by guilt, plagued by freak accidents and disbelieved by her husband (DANGER DIABOLIK'S John Phillip Law), she
turns for help to a famous psychiatrist (BARON BLOODs Joseph Cotten)& only to learn that the ghost of her dead child is a very naughty boy.
Based on Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW and in the tradition of Nicolas Roeg's DONT LOOK NOW and Mario Bava's SHOCK, this long lost Italo Gothic classic was directed by the late Marcello Aliprandi and shot in the breathtaking Villa Condulmer in Mogliano, Venice. Painstakingly restored from the original vault negatives and available uncut for the first time in the USA, this subtle, disturbing scarefeast is driven by a sensual score from maestro Pino Donaggio (DRESSED TO KILL, THE HOWLING). And for the first time ever, cinematographer Claudio Cirillo (Ettore Scolas WE ALL LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH) has granted an exclusive interview, discussing the making of this ghostly gem.
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| Everyone's in the Dark
by talltale
September 27, 2006 - 4:23 PM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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Is this a "long-lost Italo Gothic classic," as the synopsis would have it? Doubtful. Less a scare movie--even if it is supposedly inspired by Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" (please: the master would puke!)--than a look at the times and styles of the mid-1970s, A WHISPER IN THE DARK manages to at least provide some fun as a fashion guide to its time period. It also offers the chance to see the lovely Natalie Delon plus American actors John Phillip Law ("Barbarella"), a gorgeous, lean icon from the days just prior to the now de rigueur, beefed-up American male body, and Joseph Cotton ("Citizen Kane," "The Magnificent Ambersons, "The Third Man") in one of his later, foreign film roles in a career than spanned 133 appearances!
The setting in a wonderful old estate that looks quite dazzling, and the cinematography is very nice. But the script and direction are generally woeful, so the movie is by turns silly and sophomoric. Evidently, some find the film subtle and creepy, but for me it was just a pretty-to-look-at misfire. As Delon is French, Law and Cotton American, and the rest of the cast probably Italian, it makes little difference which sound track you choose. Whether you watch the English dubbed version or the Italian w/English subtitles, most of the leads are going to be dubbed in either case. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.00)
3 Votes
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