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| Arthur Kennedy at the wheel |
NINE GUESTS FOR A CRIME (aka
Nove espiti per un delitto/1977). Director: Ferdinando Baldi.
Liberto (Arthur Kennedy of
Impulse) takes members of his family for a two-week vacation on his private island. His guests include his young, unfaithful wife, Giulia (Caroline Laurence), who only married him for his money; his sons Lorenzo (John Richardson of
Torso) and Michele (Massimo Foschi); their wives Greta (Rita Silva) and Carla (Sofia Dionisio); psychic Patrizia (Loretta Persichetti); son-in-law Walter (Venantino Venantini); and Aunt Elisabetta (Dana Ghia). For the first few hours they spend their time on the island berating each other and cheating on their spouses. Then one of the members of the party drowns. A killer begins stalking the others, and Elisabetta talks hysterically of how her lover Charles was murdered and buried on the island twenty years before ...
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| John Richardson |
Nine Guests keeps you watching, but the film has absolutely no style and very little tension. Characterization only consists of people being bitchy with each other and talking about how much they all hate each other -- to say these people are unsympathetic is an understatement. The gore is minimal, and a severed head that tumbles off a bed looks just like the phony prop it is. Some of the murder scenes are actually comical, and when the killer is revealed you can't quite imagine that this particular person could be responsible for all of these deaths.
Verdict: Mediocre
giallo. **1/4.
Too bad you don't like this one more, I am turned on by both the premise and the cast--that John Richardson was gorgeous in One Million Years BC and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. I love all-star whodunits and this reminds me of those.
ReplyDelete-C
Yeah, I wish I had enjoyed it more, too. Arthur Kennedy was the only "star" in this one. I
ReplyDeletedon't know why but some of the comments you've left here and at GREAT OLD MOVIES haven't gone through. I get the emails so I can read them, but they don't post on the sites. Don't know why. I might post them myself under "anonymous." I'll figure something out.