Paranoia

Paranoia
Directed by: Umberto Lenzi
Italy/France/Spain, 1970
Thriller, 94min

Wrapping up the loose trilogy of Jet-Set thrillers starting with Così dolce… così perversa (So Sweet… So Perverse) and Orgasmo, both 1969, the series comes to an end with Carroll Baker in her third flick for Umberto Lenzi. The suave, mordant and enthralling Paranoia.

Once again relying on Boileau-Narcejac’s novel Celle qui n’était plus (The Woman who Was) which also inspired Henri-George Clouzot’s Les Diabolique 1955, Hitchcock’s Vertigo 1958, not to mention a shit load of other Euro Thrillers including Lenzi’s two previous instalments in the “trilogy “, Paranoia may just be one of the finest adaptations to be inspired by that story and previous movies. Building not only a destructive threesome, the team of writers – including Bruno Di Geronimo (Gianfranco Mingozzi’s Flavia, la monaca musulmana (Flavia, the Heretic)) 1974. Marie Claire Solleville, who also wrote on Orgasmo, and Marcello Cosica who participated on one of my all-time fave zombie flicks, Jorge Grau’s Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) 1974 and the screenplay to Mario Bava’s La maschera del demonio (Mask of Satan) 1960, put a twist on the story that actually had me going off track a few times. Which was surprising, unexpected and highly entertaining.

Helen [Carroll Baker] is a filthy rich, jet setting race-car driver who belts prestigious vehicles around the tracks at deadly speeds. After a somewhat serious accident she’s put in hospital all banged and bruised. She may be suffering from slight amnesia, this version is in Italian without subs, so I’m not with it all the way during the set up, but I’m going with the amnesia thread as that works better for the movie. Anyways she’s discharged from hospital and goes to rest along side her ex-husband Maurice [Jean Sorel] and his new sugar momma Constance [Anna Proclemer], who mysteriously invited her there to recuperate at their residence. The atmosphere is tense and the threesomes don’t quite know how to approach each other in this somewhat awkward scenario. Despite being divorced, Maurice still makes moves at Helen, and an effective flashback showing Helen and Maurice back at the breaking point of their relationship – a beautiful slow-mo scene where Maurice wrestles a gun out of Helen’s hand, which somewhat supports the amnesia theory as she wouldn’t be there if she’d recalled the bad ending.

After establishing what we suspect is the set up – Helen and Maurice wanting to get back together and Constance being in the way, there’s the obligatory scene of Carroll Baker in the shower peeked upon by not one, but two characters, and the first of several sudden plot twists. Constance starts to flirt with Helen, and there’s a fantastic scene of Helen trapped in a seductive game of footsie where both Constance and Maurice are working her legs and feet. Some nights later when Maurice comes home drunk, Constance suggests sinister plan to Helen, which would see her assist Constance in the murder of most likely cheating bastard Maurice. This also evokes flashbacks of happy times when Maurice and Helen where still in love, and it makes for a neat twist as it see’s Baker slowly falling into a state of disorder as she’s torn between her love and hate for Maurice. There’s a couple of classic deceptive moments as we now are lead to believe that Constance and Helen are going to off Maurice, but when push comes to shove… Obviously there’s a last minute spin and Helen doesn’t have courage to harpoon Maurice, and things take a completely different turn.

With Constance "out of the way", it looks as Maurice and Helen are safe on route to getting it all back together again, but… and there’s always a but, their happiness is threatened when an attorney friend of Constance, who always has his movie camera with him, starts to ask questions about accident that took Constance life. The suspicion and persecution starts to drive Helen round the bend – which to be honest has been done three times by lenzi and Baker at this time – and to make things worse, Constance daughter Susan [Marina Coffa] arrives and wants’ to know what happened to her mother... and finds her mother's husband being intimate with his ex wife!

It’s quite apparent that Umberto Lenzi started toying with the sadism that would become something of a signature trait of his here. There’s a lot of drawn out moments of mental torture like waiting for a corpse to be emerged from the sea, possible evidence on a reel of home movie, and constant suspicious stares. It all comes together wonderfully as editor Enzo Alabiso draws out the edits to the maximum, creating some immensely tense moments. It’s no wonder that Helen slowly goes insane considering the sadistic mind games that are played at her expense. Much like in previous instalments.

Anyways, back to the flick, where Susan wanders the same house as Helen and Maurice, after all it is her mother Constance house, and stats her own investigation into the mysterious accident that supposedly took her mothers life. Helen who in-between bouts of frustration and paranoia takes to snogging and shagging Maurice to keep her mind off the guilt that torments her, still has a harrowing surprise, shock and twist sequence left before the movie comes to it’s closure.

A common trait for all three movies in the “trilogy” is that cinematographer Guglielmo Mancori has something of a fetish for mirrors and composing frames within the frame. It’s not a bad thing, quite the opposite, as it treats the audience to some fantastic moments and at least once in each movie there’s a splendid illusion that a dead character is in fact alive. Something that lies close to the main device of these three movies – who is fooling who, and more than often with a rather cynical dark ending. It’s also noteworthy that Aristide Massaccesi (Joe D’Amato) worked as Mancori’s camera operator on Paranoia, just a few years before he started directing movies of his own.

Being a Spanish/French/Italian co-production, Antionio Ramírez – who edited several Leon Klimovsky & Paul Naschy flicks – accompanied Enzo Albasio in the editing. But that editing is still as ferocious as ever, and goes hand in glove with Mancori’s superb cinematography. Much of the same hard, almost violent editing style that was found in Orgasmo, and later in Il cotello di ghiaccio (The Knife of Ice) 1972, is seen here.

Gregorio Garcia Segura’s score (directed by Piero Umiliani) is groovy and sounds more like a cheaper companion part to Orgasmo than anything else. It even goes as far as reusing the rock act Weiss and the Airdales performing Just Tell Me once again in a club setting much like the one in Orgasmo.

Paranoia neatly wraps up the loose trilogy and sees some interesting traits evolve from the suite. The three movies showcase a progression of Umberto Lenzi traits that he’d later push further with the thrillers and several Gialli to follow. It’s also a treat to see Carroll Baker and Jean Sorel teamed up again as Paranoia with Romolo Guerrieri’s Il dolce corpo di Deborah (The Sweet Body of Deborah) 1968 are the only two movies they starred in together. Umberto Lenzi would follow Paranoia with a seedy sexploitation thriller – Un posto ideale per uccidere (Oasis of Fear) 1971 before starting off his fascinating string of fascinating Gialli that would definitely have him make his mark on the genre scene.

Image:
2.40:1 Original aspect ratio (16x9 enhanced)

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, Italian dialogue. No subtitles

Extras:
None.

Here's some freaky opening titles with some suave music for you to enjoy.

One on Top of the Other

One on Top of the Other

(Aka Perversion Story)
Original Title: Una sull’altra
Directed by: Lucio Fulci
Italy/France/Spain, 1969
Crime/Giallo 97min
Distributed by: Severin

Story:
Dr. Dumurrier’s wife dies from asthma and then he spends the night with his lover. At a kinky nightclub they watch an act by starlet Monica, who looks just like his recently deceased wife. The cops start to investigate the death as they have received an anonymous tip that things aren’t quite right. Trying to convince the police of his innocence, Dr. Dumurrier tries his damnedest to find the true identity of Monica, but time is running away, and pretty soon he’s facing the gas chamber as he IS the prime suspect for his wife’s death.

Me:
Perhaps mainly know for his apocalyptic zombie horrors drenched in the realistic special effects of Gianetto De Rossi, (Zombi2 1979, City of the Living Dead 1980, The Beyond and House by the Cemetery 1981) Lucio Fulci was indeed a very talented movie maker definitely worthy of the title maestro, which I personally prefer over the gimmicky “Gorefather/Godfather of Gore” title he’s more commonly labled with. More or less doomed to the blood and guts genre after the success of Zombi2, the almost sixty films he helmed as director venture far and astray from one specific genre, and deserve to be highlighted to fully understand the frustration he experienced later in life. He directed some amazing westerns, a bunch of comedic dramas, and even one movie with Jazz bad boy Chet Baker, and apart from a shitload of violent horror movies he more or less ventured into every genre that was in demand as he built up that impressive track record. And then the suites of stunning early Gialli that frequently are kept in the shadow of Dario Argento’s influence on the genre by lesser knowing film critics. The interest in Italian genre cinema seems to be more in demand than ever, and thanks to this many of his earlier titles are starting to turn up on excellent editions that put those old VHS tapes from Greece to shame.

The main plot of One on Top of the Other, Lucio Fulci’s initial exploration of the Gialli (an amazing suite containing: Woman in a Lizards Skin 1971, Don’t Torture a Duckling 1972, Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes 1977, and later the disturbing The New York Ripper 1982 and Murder Rock – Dancing Death 1984.) certainly is very reminiscent of Henri-George Clouzot's Les Diaboliques from 1955. But don't worry, Fulci surely puts his characteristic Italian spin on it and ends up with a great movie once again proving his phenomenal skills as screenwriter and director. Using heavy Jazz beats scored by Riz Ortolani and a series of very effective splitscreen collages much reminicant of Richard Fleisher's The Boston Strangler from the previous year, this is pop-culture Giallo at it's finest.

A sleazy San Francisco doctor, Dr. George Dumurrier [Jean Sorel] runs the family clinic (but only spends like two minutes there in the entire film) and lies to the press about the success the researchers at the clinic have been making, as to up the value and status of the institute, much to his brother Henry's [Alberto De Mendoza] great disgust. At the same time he is having an affair with photographer Jane [Elsa Martinelli] behind the back of his terribly asthmatic wife Susan [Marisa Mell] Mell who totally owns this movie. Her performance here is definately on par with her performance a year earlier in Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik. Well to get things going fast, Susan dies from an asthma attack as George is out messing around. He and Jane see a great future open up for them as Dr. Dumurrier seems to be the sole inheritor of Susan Dumurrier's tremendous wealth. So in a state of euphoria they set off down to the local strip joint and just as they are about to sip on their celebratory champagne Monica Weston walks on stage to perform her popular act. But Monica Weston looks just like the recently deceased Mrs. Dumurrier, apart from the blond hair and green eyes. So paranoia runs rampant as George and Jane try to figure out who Monica Weston is and while the cops, with a little help from the crime tech guys, seeing Fulci make his trademark cameo, start to accuse George of killing off his wife for the insurance money. So it goes, twisting and turning as they seduce each other in and out of bed, in and out of clothes, trying to figure out who is who and who's trying to fool who. Until it all is revealed in the final act as George sits on death row getting a surprise visit from that brother who we saw in the first reel... Hmmm. It turns out that he and Monica Weston, (who in fact IS Mrs. Dumurrier as we just saw in a great New York montage where she takes off her Monica wig and drops out the green contacts that have had George confused all this time, flips her jacket inside out and takes a flight to Paris) have been lovers for quite some time and this was all an elaborate plan to frame George for her "murder". And look it's going to work because when Henry leaves the guest pen, he says to George that he'll be dead in 24 hours and there's nothing he can do about it. Henry leaves George on death row the happiest he's ever been, because now he's the only one left to cash in the large inheritance and spend the rest of his life with Susan.

And you honestly think that they are going to get away with it...

...don't you...

...then the Italian twist, as per tradition, the one you can't predict, the one that all the "finer cinema experts" choke on, the chance meeting, the unforeseen twist of events...

In Paris a reunited Mrs. Dumurrier and Henry go to a restaurant where they are spotted by a bloke who we saw briefly earlier in the movie, a bloke who we understood then as the cops ransacked Monica's flat was deeply in love with her too, and now heartbroken he kills her and her lover on the spot. WHO THE HELL SAW THAT COMING?

Amazing isn't it! You never know what is going to happen, and that's the point of theses movies you never know where they are going to end up. The Italian thrillers, the horror flicks, the Crimi's and the Gialli, of the sixties to late seventies, they are so unpredictable, full of false leads and bottomless plot holes that you never really can figure them out. Even when you think "Oh shit it's going to end up like that.” it more than often does a 180 and goes the complete different way. It's almost like the great soundtracks that accompany these movies. They shift their tone, force and approach as they play out over the images. One on Top of Another is no exception as Riz Ortolani's brilliant score beats the crap out of many contemporary scores (and that doesn't mean that they are bad either) driving the tempo of the movie with it's jazzy beat and suddenly going from sombre to full force. It's definately one of my all time favourite soundtracks and if I have to make a list of ten great score composers Ortolani, is definately in the top four.

Having studied films, narrative, structure and story for way many more years than I care to remember (because I don't have enough fingers to do the math) I can easily see where many fellow scholars and "learned" people fail to see and acknowledge the magic of these "cheesy" Italian movies. It’s because they go against all the rules and don't give a damn about conventions, and because they don't follow suite they still hold up for viewing today. I can still without a problem get drawn into a Giallo or Polizia after just a few minutes, just lure me past that initial set up it's all just sit down entertainment as I fall for the false leads, grin at the corny dialogue, sneer with the sinister villains, lust for the leading ladies, bop along to the jazzy soundtrack and finally shake my head in disbelief as the surprise ending comes out of nowhere and just wraps the film up. It's all entertainment deluxe, as the false leads, plot holes, surprise twists etc make up part of the challenge. How many times haven't you been sat watching a movie and realized. "I know exactly where this piece of crap is going..." or "I knew he/she did it!" or it just ends up being a rehash of old ideas and you still feel ripped off in the end. Well it happens much less with a piece of European exploitation cinema from the 60-80's in my opinion, and Lucio Fulci's One on Top of the Other is a great example of it.

Image:
Widescreen Letterbox :16x9

Audio:
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. Optional English or Italian Dialogue with English subtitles available.

Extras:
Original Theatrical Trailer
But the most exciting extra with this beautiful edition is that you get the entire soundtrack by Riz Ortolani on a separate CD.