10/10
A Jayne Mansfield Giallo!
28 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
While Darlene (Jayne Mansfield) writhes orgasmically on a bed of cash, her lover is pushing Corbett (Cameron Mitchell) over a cliff. All three have just stolen a million dollars bound for the States to be destroyed and a European manhunt has begun because they kill a guard. The manager of the hotel they're staying at and his lover, the hotel proprietress (Isa Miranda), find out and hatch a plan to murder the two and take the money for themselves right under the nose of the police. Darlene and her man soon hide out on a deserted Aegean island that once housed Europe's most famous bordello with the manager and his sister in hot pursuit. But Corbett isn't dead and the island isn't deserted: the deranged brothel owner and her manservant have come home for the old lady to die. The money goes missing, the cast go after it and it's dog-eat-dog as a killer picks them off one by one...

Here's another link between the Film Noir and the Giallo. There's "giallo" written all over it although there's no color and the killings aren't exactly set pieces. The stark B&W photography and crime caper plot give the proceedings a noir "feel" and the denouement is the perfect blend of THE KILLING (1956) and Mario Bava's BAY OF BLOOD (1971). This den-of-thieves whodunit contains many future staples of the giallo genre: sunglasses, leather gloves, strange sibling relationships, nymphomania, greed and death by various gruesome means including defenestration, garrote, gun, knife, fire, water and painting. DOG EAT DOG also pays tribute to at least two dark films of the Golden Age: the mad madame and her bald manservant living in the abandoned villa hark back to SUNSET BLVD and one murder mirrors THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. This film is more than highly recommended; it's important in the evolution of the "Golden Age Of The Giallo" and there's more than enough noir to satisfy those desiring the dark. The bitterly cynical world-view outdoes even Monogram's DECOY in its ending and, like that film, there isn't one incorruptible character in the whole motley crew. The lusty Mansfield spends much of the time in various states of undress while crying out for clean panties, exclaiming "Crackers!" a lot, and spouting wisdom like "I've got a pash for the cash." There's even a knock-down, drag-out cat-fight between Jayne and the hotel manager's sister (Dody Heath). International actress Isa Miranda had a small but pivotal part in Mario Bava's masterpiece: BAY OF BLOOD and DOG EAT DOG was long rumored to have been directed by schlockmeister Albert Zugsmith but this is incorrect. The project was begun by Zugsmith & Co. two years earlier but was abandoned before filming began; it was later resumed by a German/European conglomerate. Based on the novel by Robert Bloomfield.

See it ASAP!
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