After a businessman's unfaithful wife is seemingly killed in a car accident, he is led by several unscrupulous characters to believe that she is actually alive.After a businessman's unfaithful wife is seemingly killed in a car accident, he is led by several unscrupulous characters to believe that she is actually alive.After a businessman's unfaithful wife is seemingly killed in a car accident, he is led by several unscrupulous characters to believe that she is actually alive.
Fulvio Pellegrino
- Policeman
- (uncredited)
Domenico Ravenna
- Horserace Spectator
- (uncredited)
Alfred Vohrer
- Edgar Wallace
- (archive footage)
- (German version)
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThough not an adaption of original material by Edgar Wallace, this film was advertised in Germany as part of the famous Edgar Wallace Series. It was such a huge flop that the producers at Rialto Film decided to delay any future plans to do further Wallace films. Due to the great success of Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), which was advertised as an adaption of a story by Wallace's son Bryan Edgar Wallace, Rialto's series re-started in 1971.
- Alternate versionsNudity removed for US television screenings not restored to video. Rerelease in France had new sex footage featuring Alice Arno added.
- ConnectionsEdited from The Man with the Glass Eye (1969)
- SoundtracksNon Dirmi Una Bugia
Sung by Nora Orlandi (as Silvie St Laurent)
Featured review
Freda Goes Wild, Kinski Plays It Cool
I fell in love with this movie from its first frame. Or, at any rate, the first BOOM-BANG-CRASH-WALLOP of its fabulously over-the-top piano soundtrack - as if Liberace were stationed just off camera, with blazing gold candelabra and rhinestone-studded Steinway grand. Its visuals are, if possible, lusher than its score. Crystal vases weep rose petals over the photo of a murdered woman. Venetian glass mirrors reflect the elegantly chiselled face of Klaus Kinski - glowering at us seductively over a polka-dotted silk cravat.
If you are used to Kinski hamming it up in a Herzog epic, his role here is a revelation. As a London millionaire who may or may not have murdered his lesbian wife, he is so subtle and ambiguous, so - dare I say it? - restrained that he keeps us guessing right up until the last few seconds. Seeing her 'come back to life' in a porno film (shot after her death) Kinski's face takes on a haunted look that outdoes all his raving, eye-rolling and tooth-gnashing in more famous roles.
Proof, if proof were needed, that director Riccardo Freda was not just a great unsung visual stylist, but a maestro of mood and suspense. Imagine a Chabrol or Hitchcock with the eye of a Renaissance painter, and you come close to the splendours of this film. So exquisite in its visual detail that its minor flaws - i.e. blatantly fake model car wrecks; continuity howlers such as Kinski walking bareheaded through Soho, then sitting in a nightclub with his hat on - simply evaporate before our eyes.
Oh, and I even like the tacky Italian pop ballad that keeps recurring as a 'clue' - to oddly chilling effect. So perhaps I'm just a sucker for this type of film.
David Melville
If you are used to Kinski hamming it up in a Herzog epic, his role here is a revelation. As a London millionaire who may or may not have murdered his lesbian wife, he is so subtle and ambiguous, so - dare I say it? - restrained that he keeps us guessing right up until the last few seconds. Seeing her 'come back to life' in a porno film (shot after her death) Kinski's face takes on a haunted look that outdoes all his raving, eye-rolling and tooth-gnashing in more famous roles.
Proof, if proof were needed, that director Riccardo Freda was not just a great unsung visual stylist, but a maestro of mood and suspense. Imagine a Chabrol or Hitchcock with the eye of a Renaissance painter, and you come close to the splendours of this film. So exquisite in its visual detail that its minor flaws - i.e. blatantly fake model car wrecks; continuity howlers such as Kinski walking bareheaded through Soho, then sitting in a nightclub with his hat on - simply evaporate before our eyes.
Oh, and I even like the tacky Italian pop ballad that keeps recurring as a 'clue' - to oddly chilling effect. So perhaps I'm just a sucker for this type of film.
David Melville
helpful•205
- dwingrove
- Jan 29, 2003
- How long is Double Face?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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