The Two Faces of Fear

Murderous clinics are definitely a high place for giallo, after La Lama nel corpo, La Bestia uccide a sangue freddo, and of course Una sull'Altra. In this excellent giallo, with a more descriptive Spanish title and an Italian one inspired by Bava, the Argentinian director Demicheli brightly passes his giallist degree, with a classical plot very well handled.

Elena (Luciana Paluzzi, Femmine insaziabili) is the owner of a renowned private clinic inherited from her father, but she suffers from a heart disease due to congenital subaortic stenosis. She is married to Roberto (George Hilton, Tutti il colori del buio), a brilliant surgeon, and the clinic is directed by Luis (Eduardo Fajardo, Il Coltello di ghiaccio), a competent manager. The doctor Michele (Luis Davila, Paranoia), the main expert within the clinic, is engaged to his colleague Paola (Anita Strindberg, La Coda dello scorpione), a former friend of Roberto, but both want to leave the clinic to take a new situation in Milan, to Elena's despair. But Michele is soon murdered by the expected mysterious faceless killer.

The traditional whodunit takes place within this medical quartet of amateur shooters, where love, hate and jealousy stream from one to another. Will the commissioner Nardi (Fernando Rey, L'Occhio dietro la parete), helped by his funny assistant Felix (Manuel Zarzo, Mio caro assassino), be more efficient than usual to unmask the culprit? Who should be the next victim of the stealthy killer? Between mad high speed car race, deadly pursuit in spiral staircase, and thrilling operation on a palpitating heart, the track for the assassin shall wait for the very last minutes to reveal the final key of this bright enigma. (Viewed in Italian 1h24 version.)

Doctor Carli (George Hilton) is a heart surgeon at a clinic owned by his wife Elena (Luciana Paluzzi). Now imagine: if she should die an untimely death, her husband would inherit the clinic and become very rich. Inspector Nardi (Fernando Rey), while initially investigating a different case, realizes that Mrs Carli may be in great danger and starts to watch over her.

The movie boasts with footage from an actual heart surgery (not that I ever wanted to see that so closely), but doesn't manage to provide as many surprising twists and turns as other classic giallo movies. Thus it becomes only an average contribution to the genre, although with a great cast also including Eduardo Fajardo and Anita Strindberg.

All star cast with Fernando Rey (from The French Connection) who is a police inspector investigating a murder where the suspects are Anita Strindberg, George Hilton, and Luciana Paluzzi (from Thunderball). The acting is great across the board.

The mystery and writing is fairly well done. The directing was serviceable. The score was quite good.

This is a low body count whodunit. There is very little gore/special effects with the exception of an open heart surgery which was very well done.

At the end of the day, this one was all about the acting, the relationships, and figuring out the mystery.

"The Two Faces of Fear" (I still can't quite figure out how the title is relevant, by the way) is an obscure Giallo that is mixing up my thoughts and opinions! It's a slow-paced, uneventful, and often borderline tedious whodunit, but at the same time it kept me intrigued and curiously guessing until the final plot-twist. It's admirable for a Giallo with so few characters (and thus suspects) to remain tense and challenging until the end.

The set-up is typically Italian and even more typically early 70s. All the protagonists are beautiful, rich, and decadent surgeons working in the private clinic owned by a lady who inherited it from her father. They're all married or engaged, but secretly desire for someone else's partner. When one of them hesitates to accept an offer from another clinic, he gets murdered and it's up to the skeptical homicide detective Nardi to break through their solid alibis. "The Two Faces of Fear" is remarkable for featuring a stellar contemporary cast. Fernando Rey, George Hilton, Luciana Paluzzi, Anita Strindberg, and Eduardo Fajardo were all prolific names at the time, and their acting is flawless. There's hardly any blood or gore in this Giallo, apart from extended (and real) footage of an open-heart surgery, but that doesn't count in my book. Instead, the film thrives on performances, mystery, and also some effective bits of subtle humor; - like the detective's assistant trying to interrogate a parrot or the detective himself being grumpy because everybody smokes while he was forced to quit on doctor's orders.

Surgeon Roberto(George Hilton)is married to Elena(Luciana Paluzzi),the owner of the clinic at which he works.Another surgeon named Michaeli is thinking of leaving because his girlfriend Paola(Anita Strindberg)is still in love with Roberto with whom she had an affair some years previously.So Michaeli ends up shot to death with Remington pistol and a detective Fernardo Rey begins to investigate.Obscure hospital giallo with all-star giallo cast:George Hilton,Fernando Rey,Luciana Paluzzi and Anita Strindberg.The film is relatively bloodless apart from long open heart surgery sequence which combines real footage and footage with the actors.6 mute parrots out of 10.