The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971)

Fresh and Exciting

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

'The Case of the Scorpion's Tail' is a fantastic visual treat that allures you into a plot of an intriguing mystery and murderous mayhem, it begins rather abruptly with a suspicious death of businessman Karl Baumer dies when his plane explodes mid-air, while his wife Lisa indulges in an affair in London with her lover, then she inherits a cool $1 Million from his life insurance and this where the fun really begins with assorted characters keen to get their hands on the money where she gets threatened and blackmailed that eventually leads to murder.This is movie is definitely a intense thriller with an interesting storyline that keeps you hooked as well as second guessing everybody's motivation throughout and despite the odd ropey special effect (like the laughable plane explosion) everything else in this is top notch and well and truly benefits from an unpredictable script and even taking a cue from Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' where the movie switches heroines part way through, which honestly was a total surprise and did not see that coming and was a neat little twist. Of course like many Italian thrillers a large part of the attraction is seeing glorious exotic locations, which this movie does and thanks to excellent direction of Sergio Martino who showcases the globetrotting form in all its purest glory. Of course the other standard trademarks are here such as the black gloved killer, beautiful women and wonderfully crafted death scenes, all of which makes this an enjoyable ride. Also this movie is efficiently paced with many twists and turns throughout, including throwing a total spanner in the works towards the last act as well as several other tense scenes littered throughout.The cast is very good here also with the ever wonderful George Hilton playing the insurance investigator who really sinks his teeth into the role, and the beautiful Anita Strindberg another Giallo legend plays the feisty photographer and really pulls you in with her astonishing beauty and has great chemistry with George. Evelyn Stewart was also a nice inclusion to the cast playing the adulterous wife Lisa who does well to keep you interested in her story during the first half of the movie and Janine Reynaud was just brilliant as the spiteful scorned ex-lover showing true menace and just having a ball with it.So in all 'The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail' is yet another definite classic in the Italian Giallo genre with an engaging story with many plot twists and turns with some set pieces and beautiful scenery that is very elegant and a must see for fans.

After dipping his toes in the giallo pool with the masterful film "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (1971), director Sergio Martino followed up that same year with what turns out to be another twisty suspense thriller, "The Case of the Scorpion's Tail." Like his earlier effort, this one stars handsome macho dude George Hilton, who would go on to star in Martino's Satanic/giallo hybrid "All the Colors of the Dark" the following year. "Scorpion's Tail" also features the actors Luigi Pistilli and Anita Strindberg, who would go on to portray an unhappy couple (to put it mildly!) in Martino's "Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key" (1972). (I just love that title!) I suppose Edwige Fenech was busy the month they shot this! Anyway, this film boasts the stylish direction that Martino fans would expect, as well as a twisty plot, some finely done murder set pieces, and beautiful Athenian location shooting. The story this time concerns an insurance investigator (Hilton) and a journalist (Strindberg, here looking like Farrah Fawcett's prettier, smarter sister) who become embroiled in a series of grisly murders following a plane crash and the inheritance of $1 million by a beautiful widow. I really thought I had this picture figured out halfway through, but I was dead wrong. Although the plot does make perfect sense in this giallo, I may have to watch the film again to fully appreciate all its subtleties. Highlights of the picture, for me, were Anita's cat-and-mouse struggle with the killer at the end, a particularly suspenseful house break-in, and a nifty fight atop a tiled roof; lots of good action bursts in this movie! The fine folks at No Shame are to be thanked for still another great-looking DVD, with nice subtitling and interesting extras. Whotta great outfit it's turned out to be, in its ongoing quest to bring these lost Italian gems back from oblivion.

THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL (Sergio Martino - Italy/Spain 1971).Not a great, but a very decent Giallo from the ever reliable Sergio Martino. Quite a restrained but surprisingly effective if somewhat tame effort. Lisa Baumer (Ida Galli, but credited as "Evelyn Stewart") is enjoying the good life in London, when she learns her husband died in a dramatic airplane explosion (hilariously done on the cheap with a scale model). Due to the loss of her husband she can collect on his million-dollar insurance policy, and from this point on the setting is shifted to Athens. Naturally, the million dollars starts to attract all kinds of malicious characters and when a suspicious insurance agent (George Hilton) starts investigating the case, the corpses start piling up.The film is almost worth seeing for one scene alone, shot in typical Giallo fashion. When Lisa Baumer meets her husband's mistress (Janine Reynaud) in a beautiful abandoned theater in Athens, we see the brightly overlit faces, almost white with the ink black backgrounds. A beautiful set-up with stunning photography. In some other scenes, Martino does show some visual flair, but overall it's a bit sloppy. George Hilton, in his usual smooth turn, is so smitten with blonde beauty Anita Strindberg in some scenes, he seems to forget about acting at all. Furthermore, there are some nice locations and at one point the story is moved to a nice yacht on the Aegean (for preposterous reasons), only to show Anita Strindberg in her bikini. Very nice...The plotting is a bit over-complicated and marred by some incredibly dumb dialog and silly remarks by the investigating officers, from Interpol to the local Athens detectives. When Lisa Baumer is found murdered in her hotel room, the police inspector arriving at the scene claims it's the work of a sex maniac, even though he already met the victim and knew her background. Therefore he knew she had one million dollars in her room at the time of the killing, which are now missing! Furthermore, she is suspected of blowing up (!) the airplane her husband was in. Two obvious motives for murder, one might think, but later in the film he even comes back with this silly theory of the sex maniac. I think Martino somehow liked to the word so much he just had to use it a couple of times. Although the murders are quite imaginatively filmed, Sergio Martino is no Argento and the film falls a little short when it comes to visual spectacle, but the story is basically well told. Despite some laughable dialog and moronic secondary characters, it's made just well enough to pass as a competently made thriller, that should appeal to Giallo-fans.Camera Obscura --- 7/10

I'm American so when dealing with foreign films, I'm willing to accept it when not all of the pieces fall exactly into place (especially in light that some things can become lost in translation from the original script to the English dubbing and/or subtitles), but this film leaves so many loose ends behind that it's difficult not to be feel a bit cheated at the end. However, it does provide giallo fans with exactly what they want and expect to see, so it's not exactly a total washout, either. After an (obvious toy) airplane explosion kills her husband Kurt, London socialite Lisa Baumer ("Evelyn Stewart"/Ida Galli, who was used to much better effect in the underrated MURDER MANSION) is set to inherit one million dollars from an insurance policy. Not an ideal wife to begin with (she's in bed with one of her many lovers when she hears the "bad" news), we get the strong feeling that Lisa's days are seriously numbered and get an even stronger impression of this when an ex-lover who tries to blackmail her is knifed to death inside her apartment. Lisa flees to Athens, Greece to both escape the killer and cash in the policy but is trailed by several characters; including Interpol agent Stavros (Luigi Pistilli) and insurance investigator Peter Lynch (George Hilton), both of whom seem to think that Lisa was somehow involved with planting explosives on the airplane. While in Greece, Lisa also meets up with her hubby's obnoxious short-fused mistress Lara (Janine Reynaud), who demands half the money... or else. Lara sends her "lawyer" Sharif (Luis Barboo) after Lisa with a switchblade, but Peter shows up just in time to save. A bit flustered, Lisa goes ahead and cashes the policy in, books an evening flight out to Tokyo and decides to spend her few hours left in Greece all alone in her hotel room. Big mistake. Someone dressed in the standard mad killer outfit (black outfit, leather gloves and mask), sneaks in, slashes her throat, guts her and walks away with her bag of money.  A few more characters are introduced (including blonde Anita Strinberg as a journalist who hooks up with Peter), there are several more murders (including a memorable close-up eyeball gouging with a shard of glass) and the plot twists are laid on thick and heavy (handed). And, oh yeah... the scorpion of the title refers to a cuff-link left behind at the scene of an attack, which seems to have belonged to Lisa's (dead?) husband.In all honesty, I had a difficult time dealing with some of the plot holes and multiple loose ends in the story. Some of the twists (particularly the identity of the mystery killer) are in annoying defiance to what we've already seen and don't make much sense. But as expected, the murder scenes are directed, lit and photographed with some style. The occasional cool green and red lighting brightens things up considerably. There's also one scene that Argento lifted wholesale for SUSPIRIA, as the killer teasingly tries to open a lock from between a crack in the door with a knife blade. Gore-wise, it is barely sufficient if you don't mind bright red blood. The cast is decent, with Hilton and Strindberg very attractive leads, though there's far less nudity here than in similar movies, with only Anita providing some brief topless nudity. Good score by Bruno Nicolai. Overall it's about average from what I've seen in the genre.