¿Qué le han hecho a Solange?

In London, the Italian gym teacher Enrico 'Henry' Rosseni (Fabio Testi) is having a love affair with his eighteen year-old student Elizabeth Seccles (Christine Galbo), who is the daughter of the owner of the Catholic School where he works and she studies. His estranged wife Herta Rosseni (Karin Baal) is the mathematics teacher in the same school. On Sunday afternoon, Rosseni and Elizabeth are in a boat in a grove and the girl glances at a knife and a man hunting down a woman. Rosseni believes she is giving a pretext to avoid him and does not pay attention to her. On the next morning, Rosseni learns that a teenager was murdered in the river bank in the grove and he drives to the location. Inspector Barth (Joachim Fuchsberger) goes to the school since the victim Hilda studied there and soon Rosseni becomes the prime suspect since he protects Elizabeth, who could give an alibi to him. When a second student is murdered, Elizabeth recalls that the killer where a black soutane worn by priests. While the police investigate the suspects, Elizabeth is killed and Rosseni decides also to investigate. He teams up with Herta and the find the name of the mysterious Solange Beauregard. They seek her out but what might have happened to Solange?

"Cosa avete fatto a Solange?", a;k;a "What Have They Done to Solange?" , is an intriguing giallo with a totally unpredictable story full of mystery and tension. The erotic plot is well-written with many twist and suspects. The conclusion surprises the viewer and it is worthwhile watching this film that is not dated. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O quê Vocês Fizeram com Solange?" ("What Have You Done to Solange?)

Note; On 10 Jun 2020 I saw this film again.

I was completely enthralled by this picture. This has to be not only one of the best Giallo's made but one of the best horror films. It has it all, beautiful woman, graphic murders, copious nudity, dubious dubbing, great suspense and a great musical score. All fans of the genre should not miss this one.

This is not only one of the best, but also one of the most important Italian gialli in that it forms a nexus with a two other genres of film that influenced or were influenced by the gialli. This was a West German co-production, nominally set In England, and (very loosely) based on an Edgar Wallace novel which connects it to the West German "krimi" series, a more obscure series than the Italian gialli but a clear influence on the latter. Stylistically, this colorful and garish film is much more of a giallo than a krimi, but influence is there, and it features Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Bal, who were both popular actors in the earlier krimis, in supporting roles .

Perhaps even more interesting is the connection between this movie and the American/Canadian slasher films. Along with "Bay of Blood", "Schoolgirl Killer", "Torso", the Spanish film "La Residencia" and the British film "Assault", this was one of the European films that received the widest release stateside and probably had the greatest influence on the early slasher genre. This movie kicked off what could be called the "schoolgirl gialli". Unlike the other gialli, which focused on decadent adult European jet-setters, but like the slasher films, the "schoolgirl giallo" had seemingly innocent adolescent protagonists being picked off by a deviant, but often moralistic killer. But while the slasher movie victims were merely guilty of promiscuity and other typically irresponsible teen behavior, their schoolgirl gialli peers were engaged in behavior that one hopes even in Europe at the time wasn't typical--ie. teen prostitution, sex orgies, back-alley abortions.

Even though it was made years earlier, this movie is actually a lot sleazier, but also much better made than the vast majority of slasher films. The "hero" is a gym teacher at a private girl's college who witnesses one of the murders. The problem is he was schtupping one of his students in a rowboat at the time! It greatly helps though that this character is played by the very likable Fabio Testi. It also helps that none of the girls is especially believable as a "sixth former"--the victims, who are dispatched in very unpleasant (and full-frontal) fashion are too voluptuous to be believable as teenagers, while the two female leads--Spaniard Cristina Galbo and American Camille Keaton, were actually both in their early twenties at the time and at the very height of their very considerable beauty. Most importantly, however, this movie is very well-made and stylistic with an excellent musical score. Director Massimo Dallamano ranks right up there with Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, and Sergio "Torso" Martino as one of the true masters of the Italian giallo thrillers.

For what it's worth I personally own over 120 Italian gialli, and though I would be loath to rank all of them, I would certainly put this one in the top five.

Massimo Dallamno takes the most sleaziest of premises and smothers it in luscious cinematography (by Joe D'Amato) and a silky Ennio Morricone soundtrack, to produce something uniquely Italian. It starts of fairly giallo like, with Italian teacher Enrico floating down the Thames on a boat with schoolgirl Elizabeth (Cristina Galbo, who hasn't aged a day since playing a schoolgirl in The House That Screamed three years earlier). Enrico wants to get into her pants, but Elizabeth tries what Enrico thinks is yet another delay tactic - that of claiming she saw a girl being chased in the bushes, and the flash of a knife. Enrico only has one bush in mind and stomps off in a huff.

Unluckily for Enrico, a girl is found dead with a huge blade rammed into her most private of parts, and she's one of his pupils from the school he works in as a teacher! Enrico now has to try and cover up the affair he's having with Elizabeth, not only from his cold, distant wife, but also from all the staff at the school he works at. He probably shouldn't have dropped that pen when he flounced off either, because now he's got a cop on his tail too.

In an effort to clear his name, Enrico has to hunt down the killer too, and sort out his love life! Maybe Elizabeth can remember something about that day on the river, or if she can't maybe she should shut up and stop using the flashbacks as an excuse to tell Enrico she's not in the mood. Enrico embarks on a journey where everyone around him is a suspect, from the priests as the girls school, to the janitor, and what has the mysterious girl Solange got to do with it all?

This is the beginning of a giallo trilogy by Massimo Dallamano that continues with What Have You Done With Our Daughters and Rings of Terror (written by Dallamano, but filmed after his death). All involve schoolgirls who are a lot less innocent that they appear to be, and all include rampant schoolgirl nudity that is kind of frowned upon these days (don't worry though, we are not in Borderline Jimmy Saville Territory (or BJST) here, as it's mentioned a few times that girls are about eighteen, and very evident that the actresses involved left school long before they appeared in this film!). There's a bizarre scene where the girls all have a communal shower and cigarettes at the same time, which aren't two activities you'd usually associate with each other.

This is a highly rated giallo due to the complex plot and amazing visuals, plus Fabio Testi always makes a good leading man. I've got to admit the plot was quite absorbing as well, as the focus shifts around various peripheral characters throughout, and Camille Keaton as the strange Solange definitely makes her mark. There was one bit that was rather iffy though - if a witness has a vital piece of evidence, would you have her blurt it out in front of every suspect in the film? Apart from that, this might be a good starting point for anyone interested in this kind of film.

This is a good murder mystery, based on an Edgar Wallace novel. It has all the ingredients of a good giallo: horrible murders, sex, religion and nightmarish flashbacks.(Especially the one at the end is bound to give you bad dreams).

The plot isn't always logical, and the acting isn't very convincing. But the direction is good and the music by Ennio Morricone is one of the best scores he has ever made.

If you like the movies of Dario Argento, you'll love this one.