A Black Veil for Lisa

A Black Veil for Lisa is one of the earlier films in the Giallo cycle, and has taken much of its influence from the film noir style of film-making. Directed by Massimo Dallamano, the man behind the unofficial 'Schoolgirls in Peril' trilogy, the film is often seen as trash; but personally, I couldn't disagree more. With this movie, Dallamano takes us on a roller-coaster of emotion and the director does an excellent job of setting out the characters, their situations and motives; which is a great benefit to a film that is very much character driven. The twisted plot emerges from the character's flaws, and follows the themes of jealousy, love and revenge. We follow Inspector Bulov; a man on the case of a murderer that is leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. He polices the streets and also his wife; the buxom and beautiful Lisa. Our leading man has a few years on his beautiful other half, and this combined with her character has lead him to relentlessly follow her every move, even to the point where it interferes with his work. And to say any more about the plot, would spoil the film!

A Black Veil for Lisa benefits from a trio of great central performances. John Mills gives it his all in the lead role, which sees him looking and acting the part of the jealous husband brilliantly. Mills also brings a distinct British style to the picture, which lends it a classy feel which is unlike other Giallo films. The title role is taken by former Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi, and while she isn't given too much time to shine acting wise; she looks the part and brilliantly offsets Mills' leading performance. Robert Hoffmann rounds off the central cast in the role of the murderer, and while he looks a bit too polished to viciously commit murder, his good looks serve him well after the first twist has been dealt out. This Giallo is unlike others in that there is no mystery surrounding the identity of the murderer; and the focus of the movie is always on the relationship between the central characters. The order of priority regarding this is shown brilliantly by the dubious way that the identity of the killer is revealed; it's not very realistic, but it does relate to the character - and this film is all about its characters. Overall, A Black Veil for Lisa is a great Giallo and one that I hope gets a decent DVD release soon so more people will be able to see it!

Inspector Franz Bulon (Sir John Mills) is a veteran Hamburg police detective in charge of a drugs investigation, but is finding it hard to break the case, his mind is elsewhere…on his beautiful young wife Lisa (Luciana Paluzzi) that is, a former criminal herself, though never convicted, a fact that Bulon's colleagues never let him forget, Bulon's problem is that he suspects Lisa of cheating on him a fact he can't quite prove, until one day he thinks he has caught her out and sets about hiring a local killer Max Lindt,(Robert Hoffman) the man behind the killings of witnesses in his drugs investigation, to kill his wife in return for him hiding the evidence building against him.

A Black Veil for Lisa deviates from normal giallo practice by telling us who the killer is, much like Luigi Cozzi's The Killer must kill again. The story is driven by the man (Bulov) who hires the killer to do his dirty work, as a result, Dallamano replaces the lack of mystery with some decent character development, Mills is excellent and portrays well Bulov's obsessiveness with his wife's cheating, which ultimately leads to his own self destruction.

Builds up to a predictable finale.

First, this film lacks important giallo qualities. Most importantly, there is no mystery about who the killer is. It's a relatively bloodless film with little cat-and-mouse/stalking shenanigans to speak of.

On the plus side, there are some good characters here. They are well-written and well-acted. However, after the build up of suspense around tulips and around the police report in the envelope, there is no payoff. Things play out to their natural conclusion. There are no surprises to be had here.

So few Euro directors have done more to exile themselves from the arthouse pantheon than Massimo Dallamano. His work is slick, trashy and stylish in the manner of a fashion supplement in one of the cheaper Sunday newspapers. Yet at least three of his films are compelling studies in morbid sexuality and erotic obsession. A Black Veil for Lisa is nowhere near as famous as Venus in Furs or Dorian Gray, but it's still an intriguing brew. Imagine a giallo version of Proust's La Prisonniere with sex, drugs and serial killings thrown into the mix.

Like the other two films, it has a protagonist whose physical beauty and sexual magnetism leave her immune to the qualms of everyday good behaviour. Lisa is played by Luciana Paluzzi - a voluptuous, flame-haired tigress who's best remembered as the bad girl in Thunderball. Like almost every Bond girl since Ursula Andress, she somehow failed to become a great star. Bitterly unjust, as Paluzzi in this film is a femme fatale to rival Rita Hayworth in Gilda. We can well understand the anxieties of her drab and dreary husband (John Mills) who obsessively polices her every move.

The mystery, of course, is why Lisa married this old dolt in the first place. Suspecting his wife of sleeping around, Mills commits a grave breach of professional ethics (he's a police inspector, no less) and blackmails a hunky hitman (Robert Hoffmann) to kill her. Naturally, Lisa and said hitman fall in love...and there are plenty more twists where that came from. A Black Veil for Lisa could never be mistaken for Art. Still, it's a potent reminder that Trash is often more fun!

Regarded by some cult cineastes as a relatively unsung Giallo stylist maestro, Massimo 'What Have They Done to Solange' Dallamano ably directed one of the earlier entries in the soon-to-be-blooming Gialli cycle. 'A Black Veil for Lisa' aka 'La Morte Non Ha Sesso' remains a tremendously engrossing, twist-laden 60s terror treat. Exploiting the prototypically menacing Giallo motif of darkly glistering, black gloved killer, it eschews much of the gruesome hysteria, providing a more sombre examination of debilitating paranoia, sexual infidelity and the toxic jealousies it inevitably engenders.

''A Black Veil for Lisa' has a gripping, Krimi-like narrative, wherein a slick, shadowy hit-man (Robert Hoffman)is hired by vicious drug dealers to bump off all those who might expose their malign activities. His executions come to the attention of troubled, increasingly paranoid Inspector, Franz Bulon (John Mills). Bulon's valiant investigations fatefully propose a coolly logical, devastatingly immoral solution to his marital torment! John Mills is on compellingly terse form as the cuckolded inspector, and, Robert Hoffman is sinfully suave as the blue-eyed libidinous hitman. The preternaturally luscious, dazzlingly beautiful starlet, Luciana Paluzzi making for memorably luminous eye candy! Doing little more than sultrily slink about in a salacious serenade of risqué regalia, this tantalizing auburn-haired temptress does it with an eye-boggling élan!

Maestro, Dallamano directs his engaging 60s Giallo with real cinematic verve, and the garotte taut narrative wickedly wends its thrilling way to a genuinely desperate, nerve-flayingly dramatic conclusion! Evocatively shot in picturesque Hamburg, 'A Black Veil for Lisa' remains a rewardingly refined late-night entertainment. This visually stylish, stiletto cool, psychologically tweaked thriller has credible performances and is all together cinematic. A Black Veil for Lisa's somewhat incongruent obscurity belies an engrossing, beauteous-looking Martini-age Giallo classic!