Giallo time again with the Blu-ray release of Sergio Martino's 1971 (and just so-so) THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL from 1971

I've finally figured out why I keep watching so many of these only so-so examples of Italian giallo movies: It's the time period (the 1970s) more than any other single feature that keeps pulling me in. These films -- many of them having made their Blu-ray debut from Arrow Home Video -- have been so well-remastered and then transferred to video that viewing them is akin to having the 70s, Italian style, unfurling in front of you all over again. It's nostalgic fun, while the colors, costumes, sets and often the camerawork, too, are eye-popping.

All of the above is true again with the latest example of giallo to hit home video: THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL, directed by journeyman filmmaker Sergio Martino (at right) and written by Eduardo Manzanos, Ernesto Gastaldi & Sauro Scavolini.

The plotting, dialog and direction are mostly rudimentary, although Signore Martino does do some fun things to quicken the pace (a key goes into a lock but when it comes out and the door opens, we've entered a different location).

So rudimentary, in fact, seems the story-line that we imagine there must be some real surprise ahead. Indeed there is, so please hold on. That "hold," however, will take you through some awfully ridiculous behavior from characters who, though their lives are clearly threatened, act as though they had nine of them.

Several of those lives are lost -- this being giallo, they belong to women who are sliced rather nastily, though one young fellow meets his maker, as well -- before the movie reaches the finish line.

The plot has to do with an unfaithful wife (the beauteous Ida Galli, above, here working under the name of Evelyn Stewart), her hubby who dies in a plane crash (featuring a rather obvious model plane, below), and a million-dollar insurance policy.

In the leading man role, Martinez uses, to my taste, one of the most boring and bland actors ever to appear in Italian films, George Hilton (shown below, and four photos up), and his mediocre performance keeps dragging the movie downward.

Fortunately, in the heroine role (the film takes its time revealing just who this will be), we have the beautiful and talented-enough-to-carry-the-film-along Anita Strindberg, who plays a feisty journalist investigating the series of murders and who just might be the latest victim.

Filmed in Greece, and elsewhere around Europe (one of the Bonus Features on the disc is entitled Jet Set Giallo), the location photography is first-rate/vacation-level. Still connoisseurs come to giallo not for the locations, but for the sex, semi-nudity and splatter -- all of which can be found here.

The disc's Bonus Features also includes good recent interviews with lead actor Hilton, director Martino, an analysis of Martino's films by author Mikel J. Koven, a new video essay on giallo by Troy Howarth, plus lots more -- not to mention the excellent Blu-ray transfer in a brand new 4K restoration.

From Arrow Home Video and distributed here in the USA by MVD Entertainment, in both an English dubbed version and the original Italian with English subtitles and running 95 minutes (the Bonus Features last at least another hour or two), The Case of the Scorpion's Tail hit the street last month -- for purchase and maybe (I would hope but I don't know just where) rental.

Blu-ray Debut: Sergio Martino's 1975 genre-jumper,THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR

Is it a giallo? A police procedural? Thriller? Murder mystery? Political/economic/ social canvas of a particular Italian era? All of the above and more. In fact, the IMDB lists the film (under the aka title of Too Young to Die) as a comedy, mystery and horror film. Take your pick; I guess it's all here. And it's all -- much of it, anyway -- pretty damned good. Less violent and misogynistic than most genuine giallo, the movie also jumps genres with utter abandon.

This is the work of a probably-less-noted-than-he-should-be Italian director, Sergio Martino (shown at right, whose most famous films on this side of the Atlantic may be Torso and The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh), a filmmaker best known for his action movies than the several other genres in which he labored. Martino was relatively prolific -- 66 titles in all, the last made for Italian TV in 2012 -- and he was also skilled in many genres. In THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR, he has so many of these bumping up against each other that the effect, finally, seems almost as though Martino has melded them all into a single unit. With one exception -- which would be comedy. I don't think this genre was anything near his forte.

The comedy here mostly takes place around the 40-minute mark -- in the midst of murder, possible underage sex trafficking and more -- as a car chase which goes on and on for so long that you eventually wonder if Martini is trying to set some new car-chase endurance record. Plus, the comedy is so heavy-handed and misplaced that it reaches the humor level of a cretin.

Then suddenly it ends -- in a wonderful surprise that sets the movie off on a totally new track. From there on, Suspicious Death... gets better and better, as one surprise is followed by another that makes the movie as timely as Goldman Sachs. "Are you asking us to investigate the government -- or overthrow it?" wonders Mel Ferrer (who may be the biggest "name" in  the cast, but who has but a supporting role in these goings-on).

The actual star is a fellow named Claudio Cassinelli, who makes a most interesting near-anti-hero. He uses brass knuckles to fight and is not above having sex with those under investigation. But he has a soft spot for the young thief (Adolfo Caruso, below, right and further below, prone) whom he takes under his wing and teaches the tricks of the trade. Cassinelli had a nice film career that was cut suddenly short by an accident that Signore Martino tells us about in the excellent interview, shot only recently, that appears in the disc's Bonus Features. This is a "must" to watch.

There's a gun battle on a roller coaster, a couple more murders, and an investigation that leads all the way to a top-tier banker (Ossessione's Massimo Girotti) and a load of truly nefarious doings. Some of the dialog along the way is terse and smart, too: Notes our hero, after he has been bribed by the villain, "If we have to serve the big interest, we really ought to make it pay."

The movie's original title, as we learn from that Bonus Feature interview, was Violent Milan, until the distributor stupidly changed it something longer and dumber. As both decent entertainment and a look into what Milan and Italy was going through during that 70s era (and the Western world is still going through today), the movie proves an interesting time capsule that holds up pretty well.

From Arrow Video, distributed here in the USA by MVD Entertainment, The Suspicious Death of a Minor, running 100 minutes, in Italian with English subtitles (or dubbed into English, if you prefer) hits the street on Blu-ray and DVD next Tuesday, October 3, for purchase and (I hope) rental.