A Quiet Place to Kill (1973)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Both Carroll Baker and Jean Sorel began their career with great directors: the former was Lucky enough to be directed by George Stevens ,Elia Kazan (who gave her her lifetime role "baby doll" ),John Ford.The latter was best remembered for his movies with such luminaries as Duvivier,Bunuel and Visconti:but even in these works ,his good looks went against him and his male co-stars easily outclassed him.Besides,he resembled Alain Delon and there was no room for both of them.More than Clouzot's "LES Diaboliques" which anyway inspired hundreds of thrillers ,it's Clement's classic "Plein Soleil" (aka "purple noon" ) ,which put Delon on the map ,that provides the movie with two of its more important scenes:the murder on the boat ,and even more the final shot which is a complete ripoff.That said ," paranoia " is probably the most satisfying of all Baker's soft porn extravaganzas :unlike "Cosi Dolce Cosi Perversa","or "Il Diavolo A Sette Facce" ,this one has a relatively firm screenplay ,with several unexpected twists ,and a few good scenes of its own:Constance's lesbian side ,the flash forwards (Maurice killed by the harpoon) and chiefly the film which scares the criminals (a great moment of suspense).The cinematography is more painstaking than in your average B movie and there's a good use of the wide screen which takes advantage of the location.Maurice utters a few words in his first language ("Charmante N'Est-Ce-Pas?"),and there are soft erotic scenes .Miss Baker is not very credible as a racing driver(!) but she's really a babe.NB:in the eighties,CB made a Volte face and went back ,for a while ,to great cinema: in "ironweed" ,she was convincing as Jack Nicholson's wife.

To begin with, when I acquired this, I was under the impression it'd be the 1969 Lenzi/Carroll Baker giallo released in English-speaking countries as PARANOIA and originally given the lurid title ORGASMO; I watched that film, which was quite decent (and had a jaw-dropping final twist, to boot), during the 2004 Venice Film Festival – with the genial elderly director in attendance! This one, then, was released in Italy as PARANOIA and, to confuse matters even more, its English title was very similar to the director's follow-up effort (and which I'll get to presently), UN POSTO IDEALE PER UCCIDERE – translating to AN IDEAL PLACE TO KILL – which was itself retitled OASIS OF FEAR for export purposes! For the record, Lenzi made eight giallos in all: none would perhaps rank among the genre's finest offerings – though, with this, I'm only half-way through them (having checked out KNIFE OF ICE [1972] and SPASMO [1974] as well, the latter also at Venice as part of a night-long marathon!). Anyway, the film turned out to be something of a disappointment: the plot recalls Henri Georges Clouzot's classic DIABOLIQUE (1955) but, given rather indifferent treatment, it's not particularly engaging in this case. Incidentally, both stars – Carroll Baker again and Jean Sorel – would appear in a number of giallos over the years: the two, in fact, had already made THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH (1968) together and, while the former would make four for Lenzi alone, the latter appeared (among others) in two of Lucio Fulci's best films…one of which, ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER aka PERVERSION STORY (1969), was also partly inspired by the aforementioned Clouzot thriller! Perhaps the most determining factors in PARANOIA's lack of stature are its positively underwhelming credentials (the film is an Italian/French/Spanish co-production); that said, the glossy look – particularly in the beautiful widescreen print I viewed – and Gregorio Garcia Segura's bouncy lounge score easily emerge as its most pleasing (and durable) assets.After a fairly dreary first half, the narrative gets pretty complicated, though the many plot twists aren't exactly surprising: one I liked, however, was when the scheme of playboy Sorel's two wives to get rid of him backfires, he's quick to take matters into his own hands and dispose of the current spouse (which would leave him tremendously wealthy) there and then! Even so, a third woman enters the picture soon after – the daughter of the deceased (gorgeous if perennially sullen Marina Coffa) who, then, conspires with him to oust his ex (Baker) by elaborately framing her for Sorel's 'murder'! The frenzied climax, in fact, sees the distraught heroine's car plunging from a cliff (she's being chased by the police when Sorel's phantom suddenly 'haunts' her) – but Baker has the last laugh after all as, in the search to find his 'missing' body, the corpse of Sorel's second bride literally turns up to incriminate him! Mind you, the film's still quite watchable – as much for the reasons already stated as for Baker's frequent nude scenes

A Quiet Place to Kill is not be confused with the earlier Orgasmo, though unfortunately confusing the pair is very easy as they're from the same director, both feature American actress Carroll Baker and they were both released under the title 'Paranoia'! Quite what the reason for both films featuring the same title is anyone's guess: I know that Italian filmmakers were more interested in making money than anything else, but surely releasing two films under the same title would do more harm than good when it came to the box office...but oh well. It's usually Orgasmo that gets most of the fans; but if you ask me, this second version of Paranoia is the better of the two. Like Lenzi's earlier 'So Sweet, So Perverse', it would appear that the plot has been lifted from the French classic 'Les Diaboliques', and focuses on a love triangle. Playboy Maurice is married to Constance, a woman who decides to invite Maurice's ex-wife Helen to stay with them. Helen doesn't question it too much and accepts the invitation, and soon learns that the reason she's there is to help Constance kill Maurice.The first half of the film is much better than the second, as A Quiet Place to Kill unfortunately looses a bit of steam once it gets the first part of the plot out of the way. In spite of that, however, the film is certainly a very interesting Giallo and definitely delivered many of the things I love about this type of film. Umberto Lenzi manages to ensure that all of the major players are interesting, and Lenzi also ensures that all are guilty in one way or another, which ensures that everyone deserves what they get by the time it finishes. Carroll Baker is not my favourite Giallo heroine, but I liked her in this one. She seems to enjoy acting alongside Jean Sorel, who is as charming as ever. Unknown actresses Anna Proclemer and Marina Coffa round off the cast, along with the experienced Alberto Dalbés - all of which fit into their roles well. The upper class setting does the film a lot of favours, and the locations and fashions are all nice to look at. The plot mostly flows well and while it's usually fairly clear where it's going, A Quiet Place to Kill still manages to be interesting. This is not the best Giallo that Lenzi made (that would be Seven Blood-Stained Orchids), but it's certainly a good one and I recommend it.

Welcome to Umberto Lenzi's early 70's giallo/crime thriller "Paranoia" starring the unearthly beautiful Carroll Baker… Hey, wait a minute, haven't I watched and reviewed this movie a couple of days ago already? Oh right, that was the OTHER Umberto Lenzi early 70's giallo/crime thriller "Paranoia" starring the unearthly beautiful Carroll Baker, more commonly known as "Orgasmo". Confusing? Well, maybe a little, but rest assured these are two entirely different movies of which the stories & characters aren't linked to each other at all. The other "Paranoia" is also far superior to this one. That particular movie had tons of suspense, likable characters and convoluted plot-twists whereas this one is painfully boring. This film features TWO worthwhile scenes, both involving wild car accidents, one at the beginning and one at the end and everything in between is one gigantically uninteresting, predictable and overlong love-triangle between three characters. It all starts with Mrs. Baker stars as a rather free-spirited race car pilot who crash-parks her car on the circuit and ends up slightly wounded in a hospital. During her period of recovery, she accepts to stay at her ex-husband and his new wife's mansion. Two attractive women and one incomprehensibly handsome guy (really, Jean Sorel is way too good-looking!) in one house can only result in extended sequences of sexual intrigue, double-crossing and conspiracies to murder. It's all a lot less exciting than it sounds and only the good acting performances keep it endurable. The filming locations and music are stylish, but that's not enough in this case. Easily the most disappointing Lenzi-film I've seen thus far.