Una sull'altra

Jean Sorel and Alberto de Mendoza are brothers who run an upscale medical clinic in San Francisco. The business is in some financial trouble, and Sorel is constantly planting fake news stories to gain a little publicity. That is not Sorel's only problem. His wife, whom he doesn't get along with, is not at all well. He hires a nurse to stay with her, and goes to visit his mistress, Elsa Martinelli. Later, he is notified that his wife is dead.

Then come a series of surprises. A large insurance policy naming him as beneficiary is found in her effects. Then he is told that they have found traces of poison in his wife's body, and finds himself tried for murder.

The only catch?  He has met an exotic dancer who looks much like his wife, but with different hair and eye color. He thinks that his wife isn't really dead at all.

The suspense derives from the uncertain fate of Sorel's character, and director Lucio Fulci does an excellent job of building it. Una sull'altra (1969), or One on Top of the Other, is Lucio Fulci's first giallo. As time went on he would become known for gialli rather than horror stories, but his later efforts had much more gore than this one.  In addition to the suspenseful storytelling, I enjoyed the period look at San Francisco. Aerials of Alcatraz and San Quentin, and a visit to the San Quentin gas chamber were especially interesting.

The film has just been released by Severin in a newly remastered version they call "Perversion Story." This marks the first time the uncensored version has been available in the USA. The transfer seems grainy and a little saturated. No doubt the source material was also that way, but  it does not look as good as previous Severin efforts. The DVD itself is devoid of special features, but the package does include a bonus CD of the film's jazz score.

This is a C+ as a very watchable giallo.

IMDb readers say 7.3, but with less than 100 votes.

 

 

Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, and several unknowns all show T&A.

Marisa Mell

Elsa Martinelli

unknowns

Blood Salvage

Father Jake (Danny Nelson) is a surgical genius. He's also a totally deranged religion freak who, with the help of his two sons Hiram and Roy, removes the healthy organs of innocent people and sells them to a sleazy elderly guy on the black market. Pretending to own a towing-service, Jake picks up the happy Evans family on their way home from a beauty contest where the crippled daughter April (Lori Birdsong) almost won. He takes an interest in April, as he thinks he can cure her damaged spine, but the young girl is tougher than she looks and fights back.