Torso (I corpi presentano trace di violenza carnale) Sergio Martino, 1973
You know something? I was round at my friends the other week watching a few movies on a Saturday night. Part way through the evening I put ‘Tenebrae’ on as I’d not seen it for a few years and my friend had never seen it before. I don’t want to be purposely controversial but I must say I was a touch under whelmed by it. Apart from the last 20 minutes and the fancy crane shot I found myself looking at my watch for most of the film...
Not so with ‘Torso’! Sergio Martino sure knows how to keep me interested I really can’t fault a single film I’ve seen that has been directed by him. Martino seemingly always turns out a good film and ‘Torso’ is one of his best. You certainly know you’re on to a winner when the very first shot of the film features a stunning girl exposing her perfect breasts right into the camera, which begs the question “Does having beautiful girls half naked make for a good film?†Well in my book it certainly helps things along and there’s gorgeous girls a plenty in this one and they’re all students, though at times Suzy Kendall in close up looks about 35, she was actually 29 when she made this. It’s a shame she’s the only girl in the film that doesn’t take her top off too, though the anticipation of thinking that it might happen certainly kept me on my toes for the films duration. Bare lady flesh aside there’s a lot to like about this film, there’s a superb score from the De Angelis brothers and yet again Ernesto Gastaldi turns in another quality screenplay, this guy really knows how to write a decent film and paired with Martino in the directing seat has turned out some of the best films to come out of Italy in the 1970’s (
Almost Human, Suspected Death of a Minor, All The Colours Of The Dark, Your Vice Is A Locked Door, Violent Professionals, The Case Of The Scorpion’s Tail etc etc)
Excellently shot with some genuinely atmospheric scenes, especially the woodland sequence, there’s hardly a dull moment during the entire film and as is de rigueur with any giallo worth it’s salt it’s almost impossible to guess the identity of the killer (if George Hilton had been in this it would have made things a lot easier) and as the film came up to it’s climactic show down I’d put the blame on nearly every cast member that was still alive even suspecting Suzy Kendall’s character for a moment! Well acted throughout by all with Suzy Kendall especially good in the tense scenes where she’s hiding from the killer as he saws her dead friends into pieces. Luc Merenda is virtually silent every time he’s on screen but when he does talk it’s quite a surprise to hear him speaking with a posh English accent, really bizarre at first but it adds to the charm, after all what’s an Italian film without at least one misplaced voice over artiste?
Shameless release ‘Torso’ in the UK for the first time uncut on DVD and I have to say the anamorphic presentation looks great, noticeably better than the American release from Anchor Bay, especially during the night time scenes and overall has better definition and stronger colours. Also when Anchor Bay US put together their release of ‘Torso’ they found themselves with over a minute of Italian soundtrack of John Richardson giving his lecture on art that had no accompanying visuals. They incorporated this into their print by stopping the music half way through the opening credits and running the lecture over the remaining credits with English subs. The Shameless DVD has the correct Italian credit sequence with uninterrupted music and immediately after the credits we have the correctly placed lecture footage in Italian with English subtitles.
Unfortunately with the good news of the improved image quality comes the bad news about the audio track. It’s not good. Constant hiss throughout with several distorted moments. A glitch during the stabbing of the first victim makes the scene seem cut (it isn’t). It’s such a shame that the Italian track with English subtitles couldn’t have been included as an extra as I feel some people will find the English audio track on this DVD unacceptable. Extra features on the disc are the same as previous releases from Shameless, trailers for upcoming releases plus one for the main attraction.
Overall what could have been the definitive DVD version of Sergio Martino’s classic giallo is hampered by a poor audio track, something which is going to annoy the hell out of the discerning viewer.
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Topic: Torso / I corpi presentano trace di violenza carnale (Sergio Martino, 1973) (Read 70194 times)