El extraño vicio de la señora Wardh

My old buddy Rob, who knows more about "psychotronic" movies than anybody I know, recently e-mailed me to rave about a film he'd just seen, "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1970). He urged me to put this Italian thriller, of the kind nowadays called "giallo," on my list of films to rent. Well, I'd never heard of this movie before, and my list of films to rent right now is pretty darn long, but, believing that there's always room for giallo (ouch!), I put it right at the top of my rental list, and boy, am I ever glad I did! "Mrs. Wardh" turns out to be a very suspenseful, stylish, sexy and violent thriller that really does keep you guessing. In it, Edwige Fenech plays the wife of a stockbroker, living in Austria, who becomes the target of a serial slasher (as has been pointed out elsewhere, those giallo killers really do seem to gravitate toward the ol' straight-edge razor, for some reason). I hadn't seen Ms. Fenech in anything before, but can understand now why she is such a beloved cult actress in Europe. She is remarkably attractive in this film, at 22 years of age, and a modern-day interview with the actress, included on this DVD from the fine folks at No Shame, reveals that she is, astonishingly, still quite beautiful today, 35 years later. Anyway, besides Fenech's exquisite presence, this film boasts gorgeous location shooting in Vienna and Sitges (near Barcelona), Spain, as well as trippy background music that will haunt your memory for days. The film is atmospheric as can be and has been directed with style to spare by Sergio Martino. I guarantee you won't foresee any of the twists and turns that this ingeniously plotted film dishes out. It's a real winner. Thanks, Rob!

Mrs. Julie Wardh (Edwige Fenech) returns to Vienna with her husband Neil Wardh (Alberto de Mendoza), who is an investor in Wall Street. Julie and Neil have been married for one year but they do not love each other. Julie has a trauma from her former boyfriend Jean (Ivan Rassimov), who was a sadistic man. While Neil has meetings in Austria, Julie spends he vacation with her friend Carol Brandt (Cristina Airoldi). They go to a party where Carol introduces her handsome cousin George Corro (George Hilton), who has just inherited a fortune with her. When Julie sees Jean in the party, she decides to leave the place. Soon Julie, who is neglected by Neil, has a love affair with George. Meanwhile a serial-killer that kills women with a razor blade is terrifying Vienna and the inspector (Carlo Alighiero) has no lead to follow. When Julie is blackmailed because of her love affair with George, she suspects Jean might be the blackmailer. Carol decides to go to the meeting with the blackmailer and is killed. Julie believes that Jean might be the wanted killer and decides to leave Vienna and Neil to go to Spain. Will she be safe and loved?

"Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh" is a suspenseful erotic giallo directed by Sergio Martino in the beginning of his career. The plot is tense and there are many suspects that might be the serial-killer. The conclusion surprises the viewers that will never guess who might be the killer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Estranho Vício da Senhora Ward" ("The Strange Vice of Mrs. Ward")

Note: On 05 Jun 2020 I saw this film again.

THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH is another classic giallo from Director Sergio Martino. The magnificent Edwige Fenech stars as Julie Wardh, a diplomat's bored wife who is haunted by her past affair with a sexual deviant. Meanwhile, a black-gloved serial murderer is carving up beautiful women nearby.

This is Ms. Fenech's movie and she's a true marvel, whether clothed or unclothed. Her icon status in this genre is beyond debate.

Loaded with mystery, suspense, bloody deaths, a variety of European locations, copious female nudity, and red herrings to distract us, this is among Mr. Martino's best efforts. The multi-twist finale is one for the ages!...

Much like the slasher films of the U.S., the Italian giallo movement is more known for its incredibly high highs than it's truly awful lows. It becomes fairly obvious once you start seeking a lot of these films out that there are more lousy ones than great ones, but every now and then, one surprises you and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is, indeed, very surprising.

Taking a more thoughtful and character driven approach to giallo storytelling, it focuses on Julie, an ambassador's wife who's gotten out of a troubled relationship with a sadist and just wants to move on with her life. It doesn't help that there's a mad razor murderer out there and her former lover has been stalking her. Even worse, she falls for a mysterious and handsome friend of a friend who complicates things even more.

The stunning Austrian location photography, beautiful music score, and hypnotic presence of Edwige Fenech helps things move along at a nice pace and having interesting character drama keeps things exciting even when the mad razor slasher isn't terrorizing anyone. This might make for a good gateway giallo for those unfamiliar with the genre. It's not as wild or supernatural as some of the nuttier ones and not as deathly dull as many of the lesser tier ones.

Sergio Martino's "The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh" is one of the better giallo offerings, basically because it is entertaining from beginning to end. There aren't too many memorable moments, however: after all this time all I could remember about it was the one scene where the women at the party are wearing paper dresses and begin to tear them off each other.

Also, I couldn't forget the fantastic title, made weird by the extraneous "h" at the end of the last name. If I remember correctly, a real life Mrs Ward heard about the movie's production and complained, thinking it might sully her reputation, so instead of choosing another name for the character, they merely added a letter that wouldn't change the pronunciation.

Aside from that, it's all pretty standard. There's a killer on the loose, and the ending packs in some double crosses that are kind of hard to swallow. There's no real suspense, and although the movie has the usual nudity and sex, no real eroticism.

It's also not that violent. "The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh" may feature the single most unrealistic throat slashing I've seen in a movie. There's no attempt to simulate a wound, and there isn't even that much blood.

The movie is about the always captivating Edwige Fenech as the stupidly named Mrs Wardh-with an "H", who had a weird sadomasochistic relationship with a guy who looks like Buffalo Bill from "Silence of the Lambs", but ditched him for safety and monotony from an older, much more boring man. She starts getting anonymous letters about her "strange vice", and there's a killer on the loose.

As I said the typical giallo twists in the tail are a little hard to bear, the movie has little in the way of suspense, but it's always entertaining and Edwige Fenech is almost always worth watching in gialli.