The Great Swindle

Inaccurately listed in some film books as a thriller, this movie is more accurately a melodramatic soap opera with occasional violence and a few memorable nude scenes from stars Marisa Mell and Sylva Koscina.

Carla walks along a high cliff overlooking the sea, contemplating suicide, when artist Anton (Stephen Boyd) drives by in his Jeep. His appearance dissuades Carla from jumping, and the two of them begin an affair.

In and around their dates and lovemaking, Carla thinks about her wealthy ex-lover, Luis (Fernando Rey), who was stolen from her by her sometimes-lesbian lover, Lola (Sylva Koscina). The film's flashback structure makes for occasionally fun watching, as both Marisa and Sylva get to be seen in a multitude of 1970s fashions, lots of heavy eye makeup, and strange hairdos. Sometimes, their wardrobe changes drastically from one minute to the next.

The movie's Spanish-language title, HISTORIA DE UNA TRAICÎON (or, HISTORY OF A BETRAYAL), is more appropriate, as Carla is turned out in the cold by Luis and later discovers Anton has been working her for a scam. In the end, Carla and Lola turn to murder to get even with the men that hurt them, and settle down to the good life (care of Luis' vast estate).

This was the second of two movies featuring Mell and Boyd, and directed by J. A. Nieves Conde. The first film, MARTA (1971), was an authentic Italian thriller and at least benefited from Boyd playing an insane killer. The director previously made a bizarre monster movie, SOUND OF HORROR (1964), which was about invisible dinosaurs.

The Great Swindle is something of a hidden cult item. It's criminally unavailable on DVD and seemingly can only be sourced currently on a scratchy and battered VHS transfer. The condition of the print renders the film a little incomprehensible in parts but it doesn't prevent it from being enjoyable. Its story revolves around several dishonest characters that appear to be playing dangerous games on each other. The film's undoubted trump card is its lead actress, the ridiculously gorgeous Marisa Mell (most famous for her memorable role in Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik). She is accompanied by Sylvia Koscina (also recognisable from another Bava film Lisa and the Devil). In this film Mell seems to possibly be a very high class escort girl who ends up in the middle of a complicated set of relationships with several people including – oh yes – a lesbian affair with Koscina. Things basically get complex with characters playing off one and other.

This is certainly a very cool and chic thriller. It has beautiful women, shady guys and sun drenched locations. As is extremely typical in Euro flicks from the early 70's almost every character is at least little bit bad. So there is a fair bit of melodrama surrounding this rich and decadent jet set. It's not a film with a great deal of thrills; it's much more sexy and stylish. With Marisa Mell on board the erotica is very much of the high class kind as well. What adds to the overall feel is a very fun soundtrack from Carlo Savina consisting of various styles from lounge, Euro pop, female vocals of the 'la la la' variety and even some tense dramatic sounds towards the end.

This one is crying out for a proper DVD release. Any movie with Marisa Mell in a starring role is well worth seeing as a rule, as she is simply one of the very best cult Euro actresses. Not only that but this movie in general just needs to be available for more folks to appreciate as it's a very nice flick overall.

A giallo-esque mystery with a decent cast but a severely limited plot in which very little happens for the entire duration, except for some characters trying to trick and cheat other characters. Marisa Mell and Sylva Koscina get the brunt of the screen time as befitting their glamorous images, while Stephen Boyd, Fernando Rey and Massimo Serato are the men in their clutches. I found this a patience-tester of a film, with very little going on of note, just snippets of lesbianism and the usual nudity you find in Italian cinema.

The print I watched was chopped up with bad sound and color. Even if it was in perfect condition the cinematography is poor. The plot makes no sense and Boyd doesn't look healthy.

Two professional con artist, good-looking but selfish Arturo (Stephen Boyd), and beautiful and charming brunette Carla (Marisa Mell) attempt to seduce and blackmail each other, unaware of their real identities. Once they realize they're of the same kind, they join forces to do a number on an older rich man called Luis (Fernando Rey) and a younger beautiful blonde called Lola (Sylva Koscina). But then Lola falls for Carla, who decides to play hard to get in order to avoid actually becoming intimate with a woman in any way, which frustrates Lola. ... not since "the sting" has there been a smo-o-o-other rip-off ...!

This is a thriller - although in most categorizations it is labeled as Giallo - with a multitude of incidents, betrayal, nudity, romance with continuous deceptions and some psychological components. All of the roles play games of deceit with one another and things get more and more risked, as a result a sudden death occurs which changes the playing field a bit, and they decide to use this to take advantage. ¨The Great Swindle¨ is one of the three psychological melodramas-thrillers Stephen Boyd made with Spanish director José Antonio Nieves Conde, along with ¨Marta¨ and ¨Casa Manchada¨, they were shot in double version in co-production con Italy , currently produced by José Frade. Stars handsome but tarnished actor Stephen Boyd who gives a passable acting. And gorgeous Marisa Mell as a seductive woman gets involved in relationships with several people . The movie's leads, Marisa Mell and Stephen Boyd, started a passionate affair while shooting the movie. The third party in this love triangle is the equally beautiful and seductive Sylvia Koscina, who performs most of the nude scenes and has a steamy lesbian relationship with co-star Marisa Mell. Along with them, a good support cast with various Spanish players who were prolific actors in the sixties and seventies, appearing in all kinds of film genres, such as Fernando Rey, Simón Andreu, María Martín and the Italian ones Howard Ross and Massimo Serato.

This is a so-so and obscure film with fine sets from production designer Eduardo Torre de la Fuente, alongside evocative cinematograpy by cameraman Antonio L. Ballesteros. Shot on attrractive locations in Asturias, Madrid, Spain and Lisbon, Estoril, Portugal averagely directed by Jose Antonio Nieves Conde , a director of great quality and with penchant for social denounce and dramas plenty of luminous sensibility. His films debuts were three crime drama : ¨Senda Ignorada¨, ¨Angustia¨ and ¨LLegada De Noche¨. He went on to direct a successful religious movie : ¨Balarrasa¨. He was expert in filming all kinds of genres , as thought-provoking and brooding dramas : ¨Surcos¨ , ¨El Inquilino¨ ; religious cinema : ¨Balarrasa¨, ¨Cotolay¨ ; passionate story : ¨Casa Manchada¨ , ¨Mas Alla del Deseo¨ , ¨Marta¨ , ¨Historia una Traicion¨ ; Comedy : ¨Don Lucio and Hermano Pio¨ , ¨Prohibido Enamorarse¨ , an anti-communist movie : ¨Legion del Silencio¨ ; anthology picture as the co-production : ¨Jack El Negro¨ and even Terror : ¨Sounds of horror¨. Rating : 5/10 . Mediocre film , well worth watching for fans of the three main actors who were once world-renowned: Stephen Boyd, Marisa Mell and Sylva Koscina.