Casa d'appuntamento

Although this is definitely one of your lamer Italian gialli, like all gialli it has some points of interest. It has two different chase scenes involving the Eiffel Tower, just so you know (if the title doesn't clue you in) that it's set in Paris. It has an ironic scene where a condemned murderer is decapitated while fleeing police on a motorcycle. It has a strange scene where the police then turn over the disembodied head to a mad scientist, played by Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon, for him to conduct vague "experiments" on. And perhaps strangest of all it has a lead detective who is played by a Humphrey Bogart impersonator, which no one in the movie remarks on, but will have everyone at home scratching their head.

The plot involves the murder of a prostitute in a Paris brothel (run by early 60's sex symbol Anita Ekberg). It's blamed on a jealous client, but the lead detective ("Bogey")suspects otherwise. And when the murders continue after the suspect's ironic-if-he-were-actually-guilty demise, his suspicions are confirmed. The movie has all the standard giallo elements but it's directed without much flair. There's a lot of sex and female nudity (perhaps too much), but it doesn't involve the "name" actresses for the most part who are pretty much wasted in general. Barbara Bouchet is good as a bitchy prostitute but she is murdered before she can even strip out of her sexy red lingerie. Rosalba Neri has a brief nude scene but also a completely throwaway part as the condemned man's ex-wife. And Anita Ekberg, looking middle-aged and none to svelte, also has pretty phoned-in role that pales not just to her early sexy roles, but to the over-the-top trashy stuff she'd do later in movies like "Killer Nun".

Howard Vernon is about as good as he usually is in Franco movies, and as for the Bogart impersonator--well, nobody ever saw him again after this movie. I would definitely not recommend buying an overpriced DVD of this disappointing movie, but it might not be a total waste of 90 minutes of your life, especially if you're kind of a giallo completist like I am.