La proie des vierges

In "The Weapon,the Hour and the Motive" the murder victim is a priest.Father Giorgio is stabbed to death in his congregation church.Two police detectives Franco Boito and Moriconi investigate his murder.The main suspects are Giorgio's two lovers Giulia and Orchidea as he wanted to break up with both.There is also an orphaned boy who saw too much from his attic hideout and he will resolve the mystery.Overlooked Italian giallo stylishly made by Francesco Mazzei.There are some silly comedic moments and some effective shocks.The throat slashing scene is fairly graphic and there is a bit of nudity and sexual perversion.Mazzei is capable of building suspense pretty well too."The Weapon,the Hour and the Motive" deserves more recognition.7 out of 10.

Eureka! What a wonderful feeling when realizing that, after having seen more 150 Italian Gialli varying from absolutely brilliant to terribly awful, there are still great gems out there for me to discover! "The Hour, The Weapon, The Motive" is not your typically textbook Giallo, because of its unusual setting and only a limited number of murders, but it contains enough highlights and ingenious twists to appeal to fans of the genre, and admirers of sleazy Euro-exploitation in general.

The plot introduces priest Don Giorgio, who obviously chose the wrong profession. He's handsome and a bit wild, and he certainly doesn't mind a bit of smooching with two gorgeous ladies that also work as volunteers in the nuns' convent/boarding school where he teaches music. But Don Giorgio gets ashamed of his sinful behavior, and after another session of self-flagellation, he decides to devote himself to God again and terminate both his affairs. Shortly after, though, is brutally stabbed to death inside the convent. Who's the killer? One of his ex-mistresses? Their husbands? A jealous nun? A young orphan boy who lives in the convent may have witnessed something, but he doesn't speak. The rebellious Commissioner Franco Boito must resolve the case, but he falls head over heals in love with a suspect with the lovely name Orchidea.

"The Hour, "The Weapon, The Motive" is a slow-paced but intriguing thriller that remains mysterious and unpredictable, and this despite the relatively low number of potential suspects. Writer/director Francesco Mazzei, who's completely unknown to me, compensates for the shortage of clues and body count by inserting a couple of bizarre gimmicks; - most notably a jaw-dropping scene in which all the nuns at the convent undress and flagellate themselves for several minutes, and this supposedly to redeem the deceased Don Giorgio of his sins. Really odd, and strangely enticing. The trick with the key and the rope (you'll see) is pure Giallo-gold, and the ending is also marvelous. The one thing I regret most is that Mazzei didn't opt for a juicier and more flamboyant title. I would suggest "Eight-hundred Lashes for a Murder" or "Death to the Sound of a Bouncing Marble".

No pun intended - priests are people too. And nuns of course ... are not just nuns. Especially when they are .. covered in exploitation movies - and I am not talking about clothes covering them - so many puns, so little time/space. And maybe you won't care for them. I hope you do and that's the reason you are here.

That said and really putting out there, that I wouldn't call myself a particular big fan of the Giallo genre, this was quite interesting. There is a moral tone, some themes that it touches (get your mind out of the gutter - although there is quite a lot of nudity, so maybe leave it there) ... the movie is interesting is what I am trying to say. Be aware of what this is and if your sensibilites are going to be touched upon - ok I'll stop here ...

According Salvatore Puntillo the director Francesco Mazzei also was a producer, cutting any extra cost whenever it could boost the pre-arranged low budge, as we can state through the low-profile casting which didn't have any major star, in other hand the story is very exciting, where a trendy Priest (Maurizio Bonuglia) has been a sinful behavior on two heretic affairs with two different women, a married Orchidea Durantini (Bedi Moratti) and the fortune-teller Giulia Pisani (Eva Czemerys) ends up murdered inside the church witnessed by an orphaned boy.

Soon a Police Commissioner Franco Boito (Renzo Montagnani) starts investigate the weirdo case together with his sidekick Moriconi (Salvatore Puntillo) after several inquires at crime scene and all nuns hosted there, meanwhile Giulia appears dead with slashed throat, she was one of suspect, after an exhaustive work Commissioner Franco finally figures out that Orchidea's jealous husband ought be the main suspect, later he is found dead at your house apparently committed suicide, then closing the case, not so fast as usually a final twist comes.

The movie touches in a neuralgic matter about an unholy hidden affairs on church, exposing many auto-flagellation upon a whip, such scourge was routinely used to by Priest and Nuns to purge wicked throughs, many nudity scenes were scattered along the picture as well, fine Giallo with a modest casting, nevertheless not devoid of interest.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

It must be deliberate this the colour scheme in this film is so muted - everything's beige, brown or grey. Strange.

The story involves the murder of a Hip Priest. In fact, he's so hip he has not one but two lovers on the side. He's having a bit of a crisis about that though, judging by the way he self-flagellates in his church, of an evening. This is made even more disturbing by the unseen presence of a little kid whom the nuns have adopted.

The priest reckons that God might look down on him having it off with two ladies, so he breaks up with one of them (with the strange name of Orchidea) and tries to break it off with the other. I can't remember if he was successful because he ended up in the sack with her, before shortly getting stabbed to death by a mystery assailant. There's also a cute nun kicking about (the actress playing her is called Claudia Gravy - great second name! Looks like she's in Nun and the Devil too!)

Some rough looking copper turns up with a bumbling sidekick and they start obviously digging around to looks for clues. The copper also starts spending a lot time making goo-goo eyes at Orchidea, so quite a bit of the plot is devoted to that too. The most off-putting thing about this is that the actress who plays Orchidea is a dead-ringer for Italian actor Franco Rassell (only with hair), which makes all her upcoming nude scenes a bit disturbing.

Not quite so quirky as other Gialli, this one concentrates on the police investigation (before turning into a family drama near the end!), and if you're out for sleaze you do get to see the nuns taking a shower AND the whole bunch of them stripping to the waist and whipping themselves in honour of the dead priest.

It another well made film but will kind of get lost in the avalanche of more gory, pervier gialli released in 1972. I did have a good laugh at the punch up the copper had in a dark room, only for him to find out it was his sidekick, whom he then tells to feck off!