The Flower with the Deadly Sting

Gianni Garko plays an amoral, social-climbing surgeon who has had his wealthy wife committed to a mental institution. After he accidentally kills his mistress(Paola Senatore) in a bizarre accident involving the titular "flower with petals of steel" (actually a sculpture),he manages to dispose of the body, but finds himself being pursued by the woman's sister, who is also his vengeful former (Carrol Baker), and a dogged police inspector. Then he begins to be blackmailed by a strange voice on the phone. He also has ANOTHER lover, a nurse (Pilar Velasquez) who may not be what she appears.

This obscure, long unavailable(at least in English) Italian giallo has a central twist that even by the standards of the genre is pretty far-fetched. It generally works though. It is very well-filmed. Piccolo is not one of the acknowledged masters of the genre like Argento or Bava (or Martino, Fulci, or Lenzi), but he definitely does a good job. The movie begins with a beautifully shot, seemingly gratuitous underwater diving scene that doesn't make sense until the end where it turns out to be a (definitely gratuitous) underwater lesbian scene (which gives new meaning to the term "muff diving"), but I would think also the first such scene in cinema history. The rest of the cinematography and editing is impressive too (if sometimes a little dark in the print I saw), but with one rather awkward murder scene.

The acting is very good, the Italian cast much more so than Carroll Baker (who I imagine was getting tired of the genre by this time). Garko manages to make his character a sympathetic Hitchcockian innocent, who only towards the end is revealed to be real cad getting his comeuppance. Paola Senatore doesn't have much screen time, but is very effective (it helps that she's naked in almost every scene). The beautiful Velasquez also provides some sumptuous nudity, but also some good acting as she goes from a seemingly throw-away character to a very important one by the end. The print I saw was a Spanish language fan-sub, but I imagine this would only get better with a more legitimate, re-mastered release.

Gianni Garko and the deadly pitfalls of modern interior design

This giallo by Gianfranco Piccioli is about the psychogram of a middle-aged man who finds himself in a very special, exceptional situation.

The wealthy doctor Andrea (Gianni Garko) can be a real prick, but perhaps that's why he's so successful. One day he gets into an argument with his beautiful girlfriend Daniela (Paola Senatore). A scuffle ensues in which Daniela accidentally bumps into a plant sculpture with steel leaves that decorates the doctor's apartment. Yes, modern art can have its pitfalls. Especially when it comes with a seventies design. A short time later, the astonished Andrea realizes that his girlfriend is dead. What to do? Give up everything? For an unfortunate accident? Andrea, who has strong nerves, disposes of the body. Everything goes well, but the difficulties are yet to come. Andrea's ex-lover Evelyn (Carroll Baker), who is also Daniela's half-sister (of all people!!!), is worried and calls in the police (Ivano Staccioli as an inspector). As if that wasn't unpleasant enough, Andrea is suddenly being blackmailed anonymously. How could anyone have found out about the fateful accident? Andrea is at a loss, and then things get more and more serious...

This Giallo is primarily the introduction of the main actor Gianni Garko (*1935), who is otherwise better known from various spaghetti westerns. But he also cuts a good figure as a successful doctor and an unscrupulous bon vivant. Carroll Baker, actually the uncrowned queen of the giallo, is not quite as central here, but is convincing as in all of her Italian films. Umberto Raho and the attractive Pilar Velazquez can be seen in other roles.

You shouldn't necessarily expect logic and a stringent plot from a giallo. The world of giallo is always free of morals and full of tricky twists. The special thing about this film, which is worth seeing, is that the focus is on the psychogram of a successful man who is all too sure of himself.

Following a usual day at the office, a surgeon finds his life thrown into turmoil when the suicide of his mistress at his home launches a wave of people attempting to blackmail him for the crime they believe he committed and he must try to clear his name before they get to him.

This here was quite a decent if entirely uneventful giallo. One of the main problems with this one is the fact that just not a whole lot actually happens worth caring about in here as very little of this is worth the investment. Considering the mystery/thriller aspect is so prominent in this one, the fact that there's just not a whole lot of interesting elements present here makes for quite the bland effort when it features such uninteresting material to work with. Going from the bland and plodding investigation scenes of the police inspector who is just such a bland figure that his scenes are not that interesting while the scenes of him going around trying to find out who's attempting to blackmail him doesn't make for a good or even enjoyable time. That he's not all that interesting a person to spend time with, openly treating women like prostitutes there to serve his needs only and is completely uninterested in them for any other means, berates and beats them constantly and acts with such an air of superiority to everyone else around him that it's hard to assume anyone would even want to be around him so this makes for quite a troubling set of circumstances required to get into the film. Also problematic is the fact that there's so many needless twist and plot-turns throughout here as he attempts to find the source of his mysterious blackmailer and how he goes about attempting to cover up what he did that there's just so little about what's going on in here that makes any kind of sense. Going from the investigation of the doctor to his lovers' spats with his different mistresses and finally ending up at the insane asylum looking for the repressed nymphomaniac is such a series of leaps and jumps that it makes no sense why the story goes off in such a wild series of tangents to get there, further hindering the film's overall stance. Given that all these factors contribute to a bland, sluggish entry without a whole lot of enjoyable points, it's really a disposable effort with only a few noteworthy elements here. One of the film's early highlights is the actual scene of him dismembering the deceased lovers' body utilizing his surgical skills to great effect, keeping everything involved mainly through suggestion and on-screen reading of his thoughts rather than any kind of graphic, explicit disposal of the body. The grisly outcome of the whole affair is certainly memorable, as well as the forthcoming grinding up the body that occurs here which is quite a fine moment within here. It does have a decent stalking moment in the apartment late in the film where the killer bumps off a witness, but beyond these elements the only other worthwhile part here is the solid nudity from those well- equipped to provide it that was usually the case for these films and is all that really holds it up.

Rated Unrated/R: Language, Full Nudity, Violence and a sex scene.

An acceptable Giallo in which our starring becomes involved in a dangerous game of sex, lies, blackmail, treason, double-crossing and death by tacky 70s home decor. A wealthy doctor Andrea Valenti (Gianni Garko) accidentally kills his mistress, then the surgeon falls victim of blackmail. Dr. Andrea Valenti is a prestigious surgeon who works in a hospital in Rome and has a lover, Daniela, and a beautiful secretary (Pilar Velazquez) .Her wife, whom he is thinking of divorcing, has just left the asylum where she was confined for years. Evelyne Graffi (Baker) and Daniela (Paola Senatore) are not only stepsisters, but also lovers. Evelyne who was also romantically involved with Andrea in the past - encourages the relationship only because Andrea frequently gives Daniela money, but that doesn't stop her from being insanely jealous whenever the two are together. The well known surgeon Andrea Valenti accidentally kills his mistress in the course of a heated argument, Andrea pushes her, and she falls on some decorative plants with metallic leaves, fatally injuring herself. The leaves of that artificial plant are pointed and sharp like knives, and Daniela dies instantly. Fearing that no one would believe it was an accident, Andrea decides to make her body disappear. Since he is a surgeon and has extensive anatomical knowledge, he prepares to dismember the body in the bathtub, using his scalpel and other professional tools. He then carries the pieces in plastic bags to the trunk of his car, being observed in the process by a gossipy neighbor. He transports the remains of the body to the crusher of a garbage dump, and he watches, somewhat calmer, as the "evidence of the crime" turns into puree. Along the way, the surgeon carries out undisguised attempts to get rid of his stalkers. Later, a killer commits other gruesome murders in cold blood. Who could it be behind the blackmail?.

A passable and attractive dramatic thriller with a surprising premise, twists, turns and red herrings, being competently paced and made in Gialloesque style . A Giallo/thriller about a alleged murderer whose lover dies with a metal sculpture of a flower, later he tries to cover-up his crime never realizing he's being watched by someone lurking, then he begins receiving menacing phone calls from an unknown witness. The film contains violence, thrills, chills, grisly killings and lots of nudism. Although there is not much intrigue because we know from the first moment who the murderer is, therefore no necessary assumption what in other films of the Giallo genre it does happen, here the film focuses on an embarrassed doctor and his followers, stalkers and cops , developing between them a game of cat and mouse in which the police usually tends to lose. Stars Gianni Garco who surprisingly gives a good performance as the disturbing and bewildered doctor. A psychological giallo from Italy that can compete with the best representatives of other best known Italian directors. Very interesting and tense giallo with an atypical approach for the genre. Normally it is not discovered until the end who the murderer is, and yet in this film we know from the first moment that the author of the "crime" is our protagonist. The plot develops from his attempts to evade the investigations of the police and the uncomfortable Evelyn. In reality, in this Italian-style thriller there has not even been a murder: Daniela's death, after stabbing herself with the "steel petals" has been purely accidental. But who would believe it, taking into account the terrible relations he had with her wife?

Luckily for her, Dr. Valenti is about to call the whole thing off. The fact that we know in advance what has happened does not diminish the intrigue of the story in any way. That's way this plot structure is reminiscent of the episodes of the famous series "Colombo", with Peter Falk. There, too, the viewer knew who the murderer was, and the plot revolved around the investigation of the colorful detective, and the "mistakes" that the suspect could make by giving himself away. Revolving around the supposedly guilty homicidal doctor and guess who the real murderer is until an incredible and surprising plot twist that is the best part of the movie. "The Flower with Steel Petals" stars Italian-Croatian Gianni Garko as the protagonist, in the role of the beleaguered surgeon Andrea Valenti. Gianni Garko is a regular in the polizzieschi and Italo subgenres, especially Spaghetti Western with his character as the unforgettable Sartana. For her part, Evelyn is played by the American of Polish origin Carroll Baker -real name Karolina Piekarski, muse of Umberto Lenzi y she starred a lot of Hollywood fims, then she emigrated Italy where starred sex comedy a various Giallos. This American actress won a great triumph with Baby Doll (1956), after she did some Westerns. Being historically or aesthetically significant her performances : Giant (1956) and John Ford's How the West was won and Cheyenne Autumn . Signed a contract with Paramount Studios in 1963. She was given roles originally slated for Paramount starlet Stella Stevens - Harlow , The Carpetbaggers and Sylvia . The studio felt Baker was a more experienced dramatic actress and just as alluring. Then , Carroll was to Italy where she performed a lot of Giallos and softcore films , such as : "L'harem , The sweet body of Deborah , Orgasm , Paranoia, The Devil with Seven Faces, Knife of Ice, Death at the Deep , End of the Swimming Pool , Il Corpo, The Private Lesson, The Virgin Wife" .

The sometimes hypnotic soundtrack was composed by Marcello Giombini, author of the frightening film music for Joe D'Amato's controversial "Anthropophagus" and habitual composer of Spaghetti Westerns and Rafael Romero Marchent movies. The motion picture was professionally directed by Gianfranco Piccioli. Rating: 6/10. The picture will appeal to Giallo fans.

A surgeon kills a lover by accident when she is impaled by a steel petal from an elaborate sculpture during the course of a physical argument in his apartment. He dismembers and disposes of the body but soon a secret blackmailer starts sending him communications indicating a knowledge of his crime.

Everyone seems to have been sleeping with one and other at some time or other in this obscure Italian giallo. The plot-line, therefore, is quite convoluted like many of the films in this sub-genre. Another characteristic familiar to the genre is that none of the characters are particularly sympathetic with the lead character played by Gianni Garko being an especially unlikable misogynist. So, welcome to the wonderful world of giallo where everybody is amoral and there is no obligation from the film-makers to spoon feed the audience with any nice characters to empathise with!

This one is overall not one of the entries in the genre that follows the classic-style serial killer format and instead focuses on the psychology of the central character and the escalation of events off the back of a murder. We still nevertheless have pleasingly familiar elements such as absurd plot twists, abundant nudity and dark secrets of the past informing the present. It would probably also be fair to say that this one isn't as visually stylish as most, although it does have a couple of beautifully shot underwater sequences which bookend the film, the latter of which culminates with a pretty audacious lesbian love scene! In truth, the gorgeous and evocative underwater opening is so captivating it does mean that the subsequent story pales a little by direct comparison to it but its relevance is confirmed by the end scene; I would probably say that those two distinctive sequences constitute the highlight of the movie overall. The Flower with the Petals of Steel is ultimately another involving giallo. It isn't really an upper bracket entry in the genre or anything but it is a solid movie which will definitely appeal to seasoned fans of the genre.