Smile Before Death (1972)

The joy of being a movie collector is knowing you have many potential gems to watch whenever you are in the mood for something completely different, which is how I decided to finally sit down and watch Smile Before Death, a film I bought some time ago without knowing very much about it. I knew that it was an Italian thriller, although I couldn’t recall if it was classed as a giallo or not, and that was good enough for me.

The whole thing begins with the death of Dorothy (Zora Gheorgieva). That may lead to her estate being left to her husband, Marco (Silvano Tranquilli), which should be good for him and his lover, Gianna (Rosalba Neri). There’s only one problem. Dorothy’s daughter, Nancy (Jenny Tamburi, credited here as Luciana Della Robbia). She will be the first in line to any inheritance, which leads to Marco and Gianna plotting to get her out of the picture. Tensions soon rise as Marco seems to start becoming attracted to Nancy.

An enjoyably light and ridiculous work, Smile Before Death works best when it shows some bad and untrustworthy people realising that they have paired themselves up with someone equally bad and untrustworthy. Nobody will ever pick this as an essential Italian thriller, but it has everything you might want from this kind of thing. You get a few deaths, although two main scenes bookend the movie, you get bickering and scheming, there are one or two fun reveals, and Tamburi plays a young woman with a healthy and carefree attitude to whether she needs to be clothed or not.

Director Silvio Amadio also co-wrote the film with Francesco [Orazio] Di Dio and Francesco Villa, with a story credit for Francesco Merli, and there’s a consistently playful tone throughout that allows everything to work better than it otherwise would. And if you ever forget what tone the film is aiming for, do not fear, the ridiculously repetitive, erotica-tinged, coquettish main theme from Roberto Pregadio (credited as Bob Deramont) is played every few minutes to remind you.

Tamburi, Tranquilli, and Neri all do perfectly fine in their lead roles, with Neri being the best of the three, largely thanks to her being the one who is more often trying to plan things a couple of steps ahead of anyone else, and there’s also a fun little performance from Dana Ghia, playing a housemaid named Magda who starts to suspect that something is amiss in the household.

I really liked this, and I happily recommend it to others. It’s lighter than many others you could choose though, arguably much more of a black comedy than anything else. If that sounds like something you might enjoy then get to this ASAP. If you need some more grit, and are in the mood for some blood and gore, then (re)visit one of the many other Italian films that focus on those elements. THEN make time for this one.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine (1974)

Having somehow not seen any other movies from writer Sergio Grieco (working here with writer Luigi Mordini), as far as I am aware, I must start this review of The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine by saying that I look forward to anything else in his filmography that I might one day stumble across. This is a nunsploitation film that focuses on heightened emotional states and treachery ahead of simple sex and sleaziness, and it ends up being all the better for it. Not that I am a hater of sex and sleaziness in the right films. I just ended up being pleasantly surprised by this.

There are two “star-crossed” lovers at the heart of the plot. Jenny Tamburi is Lucita, confined to a convent and just days away from being forced into a commitment for life. Paolo Malco is Esteban, the man who loves her, but can only communicate with her in secret while he recuperates after a skirmish that saw him apparently kill a man. Between the two of them is the abbess (played by François Prévost), a woman who becomes aware of the whole situation, and schemes to have Esteban to herself. Meanwhile, the convent is being investigated and dark secrets are uncovered.

Taking very familiar elements of this sub-genre and tweaking them ever so slightly is enough to make this film both satisfying for those who know the tropes and more interesting than a film that might just slavishly mark them off a checklist. The power held by the abbess, for example, is soon shown to be precarious, at best, and affected by her unchecked impulses. The nuns being investigated from someone outwith the convent also shows a heirarchy of power that can ebb and flow, depending on who maintains their moral superiority (often while hiding their hypocrisy).

Malco and Tamburi are both fine, the latter doing especially good as the conflicted innocent, but the real star here is Prévost, who chews up her scenes as eagerly as she wants to chew up the man she has in her sights. She’s the kind of villain you can have a lot of fun watching, and her performance helps to ensure that. Corrado Gaipa is also good value, the “inquisitor” looking to root out evil and save the convent, if possible, and the rest of the supporting players do a good job of looking stressed, sanctimonious, or majorly struggling with their repressed desires.

There’s not much else to say about this, although it is worth noting that you watch it for the performances. The production design, score, etc. are all perfectly serviceable, I guess, but nothing stood out. That’s fine though, especially when you have such enjoyably twisted relationships and scheming to hold your attention.

Perhaps not nasty and sleazy enough for some, and I would point those people towards numerous Jess Franco movies ahead of this one, The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine is still a bloody good nunsploitation flick, even if it doesn’t sit up there with the very best of them.

7/10

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