User reviews

A man (Nino Castellneuvo) takes a gardening job at an isolated estate on the island of Elba, working for a widowed woman (Anita Sanders) and her teenage daughter (Gloria Guida). Both women tease him mercilessly.The mother takes off all her clothes in front of him for some reason, but then pushes him away when he tries to embrace her. The daughter practically dry-humps him on a crowded bus, does a bizarre dancing strip-tease for him through an open window,and nearly causes an accident by giving him a "foot-job" while he's driving. A fourth character also appears for some reason in the form of drunken lecherous local fisherman who also lusts after the Guida character. He does a bizarre courtship dance (while apparently masturbating) outside her window. Finally, our hero consummates his relationship with one of the women, resulting in a completely implausible turn of events and tragic consequences for all involved.

Director Silvio Amado made two excellent and sexy gialli, "Amuck" and "Smile Before Death", before falling into to more routine potboilers like this and "Peccati di Juventud" (also with Guida). These latter movies were just generically dumb rather than deliciously absurd like his earlier gialli and thus exponentially less interesting.

Gloria Guida, along with Ornella Muti and Jenny Tamburi, was one of three main "lolitas" of Italian exploitation films of this era (although it should be said that none of the three was actually underage in real-life as was the case in many high-brow French "art" films of the era). Guida was the least talented of the three--this movie doesn't hold a candle to "Smile Before Death" or Fernidand DeLeo's similarly themed "La Seduzione", not because Guida isn't as easy to look at as the star of those two films, Jenny Tamburi, but because the latter runs rings around Guida acting-wise. Guida herself would get a lot better in movies like "Being Twenty", "Blue Jeans" and even "Peccati di Juventud", but here she has all the sex appeal of your run-of-the-mill beauty pageant contestant (she was Miss Teen Italy of 1974). Of course, there is the one memorable scene where she runs off into the woods leaving a trail of clothes behind her. . .

This is not bad movie, but it's not very interesting either. (I also should mention that the IMDb info. given here is incorrect--Kirstin Baker, the American actress from "Friday the 13th Part II, is NOT in this movie. Nor is Rosemary Dexter or Corrado Panni as far as I can tell).

With just two conflicting reviews on the site and a low overall score I was not expecting much from this but couldn't resist the presence of Gloria Guida. Much to my surprise I enjoyed it a lot. The opening sequence is inaccurately described in one of those reviews but does represent a stunning opening. It also gives the film a certain edge that it retains till the end. The imbalance between the sexes as portrayed in Italian films is nothing new but dealt with very well here. Small cast on the seeming lovely isle of Elba intermingle and create drama out of very little. Gloria Guida performs particularly well and does a really good job in the crowded bus at the beginning and in an implied incestuous scene later on, both scenes played without her speaking, just with her eyes and slight movement of the mouth. Everyone performs well and if the randy fisherman seems to overact it fits perfectly within the strange tale. Needless to say Gloria looks wonderful throughout and was very brave to go naked in the pine forest.

Pros:

A very light and not overloaded storyline, which makes sense, with extremely brief dialogues. Great visual, beautiful views of the island, and sea. Anita Sanders and Gloria Guida are attractive and eye-catching in the movie.

The movie has many symbolic artifacts, from the name of the primary character, Napoleon, to the scene where the girl acted by Gloria approaches him in the ruins of the church and asks him to spread his arms as Christ. What I liked is the fact that the symbols, even easily read, do not provide an exact symbolism, but instead only give some hints, leaving room for the imagination of the watcher to make his/her understanding of what the director wanted to say.

The movie is timeless - even 47 years after it is very watchable, as a story of sex appeal and difference between sexes will be actual forever.

I am surprised that imdb had just 3 reviews of the movie, and the ranking was quite low. It is not an undoubted masterpiece, but it is definitely worth watching.

This will contain mild spoilers.

Positives: Let's talk about the cast first. Both the lead actress and the lead actor is smoking hot. Gloria Guida is basically a Greek goddess in the film. Her beauty is more addicting than a coke. The film contains an iconic humping scene which is alone enough for a cult classic.

The music in my opinion one the best in the whole film society. The music makes you feel Nostalgic,New chat

The music enveloped the listener in a warm embrace, evoking feelings of nostalgia and tranquility. The melodic notes and soft rhythms produced a sense of comfort and serenity, taking the listener on a journey down memory lane. The nostalgic aspect of the music brought back fond memories and happy moments from the past, while the calm and soothing elements created a peaceful and relaxed state of mind. The music had a gentle quality, as if it were whispering words of comfort and reassurance.

Negatives The story is so- so.