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Category Archives: Italy
2016 Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt
For as long as I’ve been hosting this blog, I’ve participated in Bev Hankins’ irresistible vintage mystery reading challenges. The rules have been amended over the years, but the basic criteria is the same – review a mystery from two … Continue reading
Posted in 2016 Golden Age Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt, 2016 Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt, 87th Precinct, Albert Campion, Bill Pronzini, California, Canada, Catherine Aird, Chicago, Cosy Cozy, David Callan, Don DeLillo, Dorothy L. Sayers, Edgar Wallace, Ellery Queen, England, Fletcher Fliora, Florida, Germany, Gideon Fell, Inspector Wexford, Italy, James Hadley Chase, James Mitchell, John Dickson Carr, John le Carre, Kansas City, London, Louisiana, Margery Allingham, Middle East, Montana, New York, Noir, Ostara Publishing, Patricia Moyes, Police procedural, Private Eye, Radio, Ruth Rendell, San Francisco, Stark House Press, Vintage Mystery Cover Scavenger Hunt 2016
18 Comments
The romance of Brian De Palma
The following revisit of a favourite film and director is offered for the Brian De Palma Blogathon being hosted by Ratnakar Sadasyula at his site, Seetimaar – Diary of a Movie Lover from 11 to 21 September to celebrate the great filmmaker’s birthday … Continue reading
DEAD MEN DON’T SKI (1959) by Patricia Moyes
Apparently written to pass the time while the author was recovering from a skiing accident, this ended up being the first of nineteen novels featuring Inspector Henry Tibbett. Having really enjoyed the intricately plotted Who Is Simon Warwick?, one of the … Continue reading
SMEAR JOB (1975) by James Mitchell
David Callan is a dyspeptic working-class spy employed by a spartan MI6 black ops unit known only as ‘The Section.’ An exceptional marksman with a deep-rooted (and usually well-founded) distrust of authority, his nasty assignments do little to assuage his sense … Continue reading
The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970)
Dagmar Lassander is a bored housewife who has been relying too much on drink to keep herself together. Her husband knows he has been neglecting her but his business (underwater diving equipment) is at a critical stage. One night she … Continue reading
Posted in Film Noir, Giallo, Hammer Studios, Italy, Jimmy Sangster, Tuesday's Overlooked Film
40 Comments
Going walkabout
Fedora will be going ‘dark’ for the next few weeks while I catch up with la famiglia in Umbria. Arrivederci – and hope to see you all again in late July.
Posted in Italy
26 Comments
Portrait of Alison (1956)
Also known as Postmark for Danger, this is a typically engaging thriller by Francis Durbridge (1912-1998), for many the heir to Edgar Wallace’s thriller crown. He first came to prominence with his hugely popular Paul Temple serials for BBC radio. … Continue reading
Posted in Film Noir, Francis Durbridge, Italy, London, Tuesday's Overlooked Film
41 Comments
THE BLACK SPECTACLES (1939) by John Dickson Carr
I was always predisposed to love this book: first off, it’s an impossible crime mystery, second it’s by John Dickson Carr and third it involves movie-making equipment – perfect! It sees the titanic powers of lexicographer detective Gideon Fell at … Continue reading
Mr Arkadin (1955) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film
In considering this quirky and delirious movie and book by Orson Welles, I am reminded of Winston’s Churchill’s quote about pre-war Russia: “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.” Arkadin … Continue reading
Avanti! (1972) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film
Uptight Baltimore business executive Jack Lemmon and lovelorn British hairdresser Juliet Mills meet cute in Italy, lose their inhibitions (and their clothes) and get mixed up in blackmail, murder and a dash of body snatching in Avanti!, Billy Wilder’s autumnal … Continue reading
Posted in Billy Wilder, Italy, Tuesday's Overlooked Film, Uncategorized
Tagged Ischia, Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills
26 Comments
Danger Within (1959) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film
The late Bryan Forbes co-adapted Michael Gilbert’s wartime mystery Death in Captivity (which I previously reviewed here) into this tight little movie, released in the US as Breakout. Set in an Italian POW camp in the Summer of 1943, it is a … Continue reading
DEATH IN CAPTIVITY (1952) by Michael Gilbert
The unusual background for this superb locked room mystery is a POW camp in Italy, loosely based on the author’s own experiences during the Second World War. It was filmed with Richard Todd in 1959 as Danger Within, the book’s US … Continue reading
