 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 1970 Italian giallo film The forbidden photos of a lady above suspicion and I watched it on this Blu-ray by arrow video Which look at the artwork on this. It's wonderful artwork. I'm a big fan of the artwork on this one in particular So very very cool. I do recommend it. It looks really great arrow I mean they pretty much always do a great job So if you're big into giallo films and you want more giallo film reviews, there are a ton of them on my channel I think 40 some at the point when I'm doing this review right now. So they're all in one playlist on my channel so The forbidden photos of a lady above suspicion directed by Luciano Air Coley who also did death walks on high heels Which I also have a review for on my channel and death walks at midnight Which is on my list to get to because I'm gonna keep going with these giallo films just so people know I'm a huge fan This one's written by Ernesto Gestaldi who did scripts for films like the vampire in the ballerina Werewolf and a girl's dormitory the whip in the body which is a boba film Your vice is a locked room and only I have the key all the colors of the dark the case of the bloody iris the strange vice of Mrs. Ward Torso the suspicious death of a minor which I have in my stack over here to review to watch and review The scorpion with two tails the case of the scorpion's tail and death walks on high heels also Working on the script was monohen Velasco who also wrote scripts for death walks on high heels and death walks at midnight. So obviously Air Coley has collaborated with these two individuals before I believe that this film was his first time Collaborating with Gestaldi who he worked on a few films with from what I read Dagmar Lassander is menu in this film And she's the one who I did a review and talked about her for hatchet for the honeymoon Which is an awesome awesome Mario Bava giallo that? She's the one who's basically spurned by Mario Bava because she was supposed to be the lead female in that film and then Laura Betty it had Expressed interest in working with Bava so he then like quickly wrote a role for her to throw into that film that was bigger than Lassander's role so she was kind of pissed so it's good to see her being the leading lady for sure in a giallo film So that was pretty awesome to see I felt like it was kind of justice for her Which I think hatchet for the honeymoon was before this I think This film was also known as days of anguish, which I think the current title that I'm putting up for this is better In my opinion the score for this is by a neo moricone who has 522 composer credits on IMDB Unfortunately, he will not be getting any more credits because he passed away. I believe last year unfortunately Very prolific composer, especially with these older Italian films, so very very good stuff big fan Do-do-do-do Yes, this was the first time that air Coley worked with Ernesto Gestaldi So yes, and this is considered to be when air Coley established his personal film style So when you're watching this film, this is supposed to be kind of like the defining film that really shows you what typical Luciano air Coley directing is supposed to be like so just know that Sorry just bothers me All right You get the idea menu lives a relaxing and comfortable life based on how the film ends up starting So I think that's kind of important from the standpoint of setting it up as her having just a very like chilled out comfortable easy type of life that's very relaxing and then That makes it so that when the situation with the blackmailer happens initially It's even that much more of a anxiety inducing thing for her It's even that much more traumatic because you're living a very kind of like posh easy life So in contrast when she has that situation with the blackmailer it makes it Way bigger for that type of character. So it is important that they kind of set her up the way that they do You get the idea There's way more than meets the eye with the cat and mouse between menu in the blackmailer Especially since they end up showing his face and that's one of the big things with this because knowing Jalo films they're never gonna actually show you who the killer even though barely anyone gets killed in this actually only one person gets Killed in this which is the blackmailer, but Whenever they have the killer in a Jalo film, they never show who they are until the very end They may have shown their face prior But they don't show them in a role like the blackmailer being a person of aggression so early on in the film So for that reason I was like, yeah, there's way more going on here than meets the eye It's not gonna be the blackmailer in the end, which is his name on IMDb That's always identified in the credits as the blackmailer. So I Like how Manu sits down and drinks with two random dudes playing cards and the fact that these guys barely acknowledged her existence The only acknowledged her existence to let her sit with them and this was after her traumatic situation with the blackmailer Happens and I thought he was potentially gonna rape her at that point Or at least expose her body when he was, you know cutting the strings that were between her breasts on her shirt But they didn't go that far but I just found it funny that She I didn't find it funny that she was going to have a drink because she needed to calm her nerves Obviously which leads to another thing of her Indulging overly and that type of stuff after that traumatic experience, which I believe was a calculated part of Peter's plan was to drive her to alcohol and to pills Which I think were what type of pills were those I forget they actually said it in the film But someone can let me know down there but basically That was part of his plan to kind of drive her to that and it obviously works immediately Because she goes to get a drink and it makes a point They make a point of showing that she has consumed a lot of beers now The funny thing to me to go back to where the sauce started. Sorry for my diatribe Is that she just sits down with these two random dudes playing cards who look very suspicious They look like suspicious dudes and not very welcoming, but they do welcome her But then they like don't acknowledge her and like it's basically like she's drinking alone With two people sitting there. So I just found that kind of funny, but that's giallo There's always this quirky stuff with giallo and I love it. I love it I Swear the lounge area Peter goes to to drink and hang out early on in the film The one that's kind of like it's got like the step down and had like a fireplace and that nice kind of like shag rug I swear that same location was used in the film the night Evelyn came out of the grave. I Swear it it had to be it looks exactly the same and that's at the end of that film So if anyone wants to verify that Go ahead and do it. Maybe I will maybe I'll verify myself at some point You get an idea where things may be heading when Dominique tells Manu about the guy who died from the Ben's That is obviously supposed to be planted in Manu's mind It's also supposed to be planted in the mind of the audience to really focus on this man who people say Oh, maybe it was suicide, but then you're supposed to kind of think and well It probably isn't cuz someone even says but maybe it wasn't we think there was foul play And then there's the blackmailer saying that Peter was involved and then and he killed the guy basically and then that little hint Or that little bit of a of a potential clue Which is a red herring that they give you about the pressurization system That he's working on for his company that they make a point of telling you at least the guy He works with George tells Manu that it can like cause the Ben's basically if they depressurize too fast So, um, yeah Uh-oh a bloody turtle. It's mainly just off It's mainly just weird that the turtle roams around the house And I got a problem with this turtle in general like the I don't have a problem with the fact that just a turtle's roaming around but after she gets scared by the turtle the first time Then she gets scared by the turtle second time Then she gets scared by the turtle the final third time when he's like moving the foot where she thinks the blackmailer is After the second time at least Wouldn't you just put the turtle in a cage? Like fine if you like wanted to have some sort of freedom But like just running the entire house and the other question is how is it getting to all these places? Is it only a one story house? Maybe that explains it and all the doors are open I don't get it and then how is it that it appears that the turtle at one point had been outside Because of like the wet streak that comes into the house and then leads to that turtle Like did he go outside and then come back in? I have a lot of questions about this turtle And how this turtle is allowed to live in this house. It's very weird But hey giallo They really go to lengths to let you know how sexually open and adventurous dominique is I think that serves a dual purpose One it's supposed to be You know leaving her more open to being a little bit more suspect as as a suspect But also it's supposed to kind of add that you know sexual allure to the overall giallo film because you always have to have that And she's the one who provides all the nudity in the film too dominique Real interesting shot with menuse legs on the left Peter in the middle and the diving oxygen tanks on the right Just really well frame shot really cool looking it literally was like her legs right here close up then medium Medium shot was or medium distance was peter in the middle at his desk at his work desk and then to the right was his Hanging on like a coat rack. I guess we're like oxygen tanks that I think were there to kind of like catch your eye because they're bright yellow the color of giallo Supposed to catch your eye and make you start thinking Maybe peter does have something to do with that guy who got the bends because there's this oxygen tank Uh lasander does a good job with her performance to the point that you feel how on edge She is for most of the film a lot of good facial acting a lot of good line delivery Uh that really makes you feel that anxiety makes you feel that tension makes you feel that Trauma that she's basically feeling from all this stuff that's going on with the blackmailer The blackmailer's logic is not great He's blackmailing manu to have sex with him But also wants her to be passionate with him and really want it now You get the idea that what was going on by the end of the film Is that obviously peter had kind of set all this up with the blackmailer that he was supposed to Terrorize her and then he wanted to make her look crazy and drive her to suicide at some point probably partially through Driving her dependence on alcohol and pills Uh and then making her personally feel crazy But you also get the idea especially from a little bit of what's said That the blackmailer was not supposed to be trying to have sex with manu that that was kind of just his part of it Is like well I mean while i'm at this might as well try and get some because he plays it like his main motivation for everything It's just the fact that he's infatuated with her He wants to get with her and I guess that works From the standpoint of fooling her into thinking that the blackmailing is kind of about something else And kind of diverting her attention from even suspecting at any point that peter would be involved with that aspect of things All the while he's playing the you know sweet innocent guy So that she can look even crazier because the blackmailer keeps feeding her all this stuff about peter being a killer secretly Pretty cool shot when the camera is panning down the hand sculptures And then ends on manu's hand posed like it's actually part of the display of sculptures That was in the uh apartment that she goes and meets the blackmailer at the first time that they have this sexual encounter While she's raped basically Although they they shoot it in a much nicer way Um, but she's raped is what it is But that shot kind of like panning down that post of all those like hand sculptures And then it gets to like hers hers posed like it's all a part of it which I think is really cool because it kind of shows the um The rigidness of the situation and that uh those sculptures are so um Stationary and Lifeless and at that moment she's kind of she is obviously stationary But she's also kind of lifeless because she's like she's frozen with fear in essence because of what's going on The camera following the soup spoons at dinner was a little bit much where they kept showing the three I think it was dominique uh manu and peter at dinner and it just keeps showing like following the spoon Down to the soup up to the mouth down to the soup up to the mouth It did it for all three of them. I just felt like I get what you're doing, but it's like it's a little too much The nightmare sex scene with the blackmailer shows how important the score can be Now notice this because it plays like a nightmare because of the music mainly But with a with a different type of music that goes to it You really could have had it play as like this intimate bliss and actually as like a welcome sex Uh dream honestly, so just watch that scene and think about if this music was a lot lighter and more flowery It would play totally differently and that's one of the great things about having a good score Uh solid reveal that the blackmail tape was fake But wouldn't manu know her own husband's voice well enough to know it was fake Because the blackmailer says that you that he imitated peter's voice But then again by the time you get to the end of the film Was it actually a situation where peter actually did lend his voice to that tape so that He would make sure that manu was was thinking that he was the killer and he was the person on that tape and you know not Trust as much the blackmailer saying that it was actually uh fake so yeah Dominique brings up something that shows up a good deal in giola films an idea that women Subconsciously want to be ravished by a strange and abusive man because obviously that's something that gets pushed a lot By the blackmailer is is this whole thing that like you actually want this and I want you to want this So I was talking about before about him Raping her but then also telling her that she had to want it. She had to be passionate about it She had to like beg him to get it on basically and it's just like Note that once the trouble with the blackmailer starts manu starts drinking and doing a good deal of pill popping Yes, that is very intentional Like I already talked about You get glimpses into the blackmailer's different mindset like when he says Manu was not paying him to keep the negatives under wrap But instead just because the sex with him was so good That goes back to this whole thing where I think that he's kind of going off on his own And doing his own thing that peter didn't want him to do because he sees her She thinks she's very attractive. He thinks she's very attractive and then he's living out this fantasy of her actually starting to like him and and it's First him like I was talking about wanting her to want it from him and be passionate when he's raping her But then after that She comes to him with the money for for keeping the negatives of the photos of the two of them together under wraps But he says no, you're not bringing me the money for this You like the sex so much that you're bringing me this money as payment for it And it's just this twisting that you see in his mind of his messed up logic And it works it works Kind of stupid when it's the turtle that made it look like someone broke into the house I already kind of touched on this about the turtle, but that's a really stupid moment Like it really is. Can we agree on that? Let me know The blackmailer is very clever kind of like kevin mccallister using his recorder numerous times to get out of trouble And this is kind of pointing to the part where he's on the phone when manu gets on the phone But then she passes it to peter and then it's the recording of the kind of what time is it Like pre-recorded thing that people can call and be like, oh, what time is it when I wake up in the middle of the night? Just saying There are a few times in the film when they drop the score But most importantly at the end when manu is alone in the house This is serving to kind of ratchet up tension really well And just kind of give you this feeling that something could happen at any moment That happens a lot in giallo films and I love that when they drop the score Because it you really just are like listening for any little noise as she creeps through the house And it puts you in the moment a lot more as an audience member and I love that The dizzying camera work helps with the horror of the moment at the end as well That kind of thing where it's kind of like looking frantically around from the pov of the camera and then kind of spinning a little bit So you can kind of feel a little bit of the of what is being felt By manu at that point and some of it's probably like all just fear-based and adrenaline But there's also probably partially because of booze and pills at the same time. So it's really amplified at that point What is with this turtle? Maybe this third time it scared you you might consider putting it in a cage going back to my turtle issue I can't let it go What the hell with this turtle? It doesn't actually make sense for peter to save manu Because how is he going to get rid of the body of the black mailer? Better to just let her be killed for sure and then kill the guy He was just way too quick shooting the black mailer when he was on top of her Now I understand that you can basically say that he thought she was already dead Because he did think that she was already dead when he was about to make that phone call when she wakes up and starts talking to him But wouldn't you be sure? Like there's no real hurry for him to kill the black mailer because they're working together and also when he's Busting in and he's going to shoot the black mailer. The black mailer is like bringing the knife up While he's on her. So what do you think is going on at that point? You know, I mean it was just not smart from peter's perspective. I see where You know the the misunderstanding happens that he thought she was already dead like I get that But I'm just saying from peter's standpoint He really messed up in that situation air coley sure does like to start tight on objects and zoom out to start scenes That's one of the big things that he really did and that has happened in other films of his This points back to what I was saying in the beginning where people are saying that this film kind of Established air coley's style Filmmaker wise so a lot of kind of just starting a shot in tight on an object and then panning out You know zooming back and zooming was a big thing with a lot of giola films Well, I mean 60s well 70s mainly in general zooming with italian cinema big thing There's a visual theme of body parts as pieces of art in this film Menu's place as well as the where the black mailer was set up Um They because you just know there's a lot there are a lot of pieces of artwork a lot of sculptures That show different parts of bodies like in the very beginning at menu's place Which I think was just like a like a countryside getaway or something It shows like a just a leg piece of sculpture And then all the hands I was talking about before at the black mailer's place And then they had ones that were just faces at menus and at that place. So it's this kind of Theme of just like body parts And you could argue that basically when the black mailer was looking at menu. He's just seeing body parts for the most part Maybe that's not the best You know theory, but there's a little something there go with it run with it So this is a pretty solid giola film. I did enjoy it I think it plays a lot with the With the fears of people not being believed especially by those you trust most around you Also being deceived obviously so it plays off a lot of Very important fears that are still relevant today. So you could really watch this film and really feel it and be like Yeah, I would hate to be in that situation where you know, something's going on But everyone around you is saying that you're just losing it and uh, yeah Yeah, it's it works. It works. So out of five stars with half stars in play Um, not the most amazing giola film is that damn turtle that turtle I'm gonna give it a very solid three star rating It's between three and three and a half because I did enjoy it But I think it feels more appropriate out of three. So yeah, uh the forbidden photos of a lady above suspicion It's a solid one. I would check it out for sure and tell people to check it out But anyway, uh, thanks for checking this out. Put some comments down there Let's talk about this film and any giola you want to talk about let's do that getting nerdy about it Do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button if you can And you can it is painless. 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