|
5 Dolls For An August Moon
[Starz]
1970; color
Directed by Mario Bava
Starring: Ira Furstenberg, William Berger, Edwige Fenech, Howard Ross, Helena Ronee & Teodoro Corra
|
|
Technically not a Giallo (for reasons we'll get to shortly), 5 Dolls For An August Moon is an interesting thriller with a marginally bloody wink and nod to Agatha Christie's Ten Little lndians. Despite direction by Mario Bava, what separates this film from his admittedly better pure Giallo efforts is the fact we have multiple murderers, no black gloved killer and - above all - all the murders take place off camera. Going back to the film's Christie roots, all the action takes place on an island, whose sole permanent resident seems to be a professor. He's come up with a formula for some sort of new industrial resin and thus become the object of a private bidding war between wealthy businessmen, all of whom seem to be well acquainted with each other. (And each other's significant others.) In the midst of all this wrangling, members of the party start to turn up dead. Seeing as how having a bunch of rotting corpses lying around isn't too healthy for those still living, not to mention having the potential for spoiling any evidence the police might be able to obtain, the group does the only logical thing - wrap the bodies in giant, clear plastic bags and hang them up in the walk-in freezer. (At one point there are four or five stiffs swaying and, when they haul in another, it begins to get almost comical; albiet in a very black way.) The five dolls referenced in the title are the five women who meet untimely deaths (I guess the five guys don't count), the most notable of which is the incomparable Edwige Fenech, who looks very Erica Gavin-esque here. (Courtesy some classic early '70s big hair.) Fenech has a less of a role here than I'd prefer but she does a lot to move the story along before being killed - sleeping with the houseboy, finding him dead, belly dancing on a table (which, admittedly, doesn't really forward the plot, but she is mighty nice to look at), and fighting with her husband who seems to always be conveniently out of sight when bodies turn up. However he is as much of a red herring as just about everyone else in the small cast. The multiple killers, all of whom are basically motivated to get the formula and reap it's potential profits, all wind up up dead in the end, except for the "real killer," who walks away scot-free as her (that's right, her) accomplice sits in jail awaiting the hangman's noose. I know that's pretty confusing but 5 Dolls is among the most confusing movies I've ever seen, with the last 20 minutes still scrambling my brain after repeat viewings. (Granted some of the dubbing is bad but even the garbled dialogue just doesn't add up in my brain.) While occasional moments of Bava brilliance shine through, for the most part this is a by-the-numbers murder mystery that any one of at least five European directors of the day could have phoned in and it made work just as well. Although maybe not better. Recommended for fans of Euro-thrillers, Bava and Fenech, but definitely NOT a starting point for those just getting their feet wet with this stuff.
—the Kommandant
|
|
