Category Archives: Italy

2016 Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt

Posted on 20 December 2016 by Cavershamragu

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 →

The romance of Brian De Palma

Posted on 13 September 2016 by Cavershamragu

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 →

Posted in 'In praise of ...', Brian de Palma, Chicago, Cuba, Florida, France, Germany, Hollywood, Italy, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tuesday's Overlooked Film, Vietnam, Washington DC | 37 Comments

DEAD MEN DON’T SKI (1959) by Patricia Moyes

Posted on 29 April 2016 by Cavershamragu

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 →

Posted in 2016 Golden Age Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt, Friday's Forgotten Book, Italy, Patricia Moyes | 38 Comments

SMEAR JOB (1975) by James Mitchell

Posted on 15 April 2016 by Cavershamragu

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 →

Posted in 2016 Silver Vintage Scavenger Hunt, Cold War, David Callan, Espionage, Friday's Forgotten Book, Germany, Italy, James Mitchell, Las Vegas, London, Mexico, Ostara Publishing | Tagged Edward Woodward | 18 Comments

The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970)

Posted on 20 October 2015 by Cavershamragu

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

Posted on 25 June 2015 by Cavershamragu

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)

Posted on 15 February 2015 by Cavershamragu

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

Posted on 24 October 2014 by Cavershamragu

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 →

Posted in 2014 Vintage Mystery Challenge Bingo, England, Gideon Fell, Italy, John Dickson Carr, Locked Room Mystery | 80 Comments

Mr Arkadin (1955) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film

Posted on 25 March 2014 by Cavershamragu

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 →

Posted in 2014 Book to Movie Challenge, 2014 Vintage Mystery Challenge Bingo, Amnesia, France, Italy, Mexico, New York, Novelisation, Orson Welles, Spain, Tuesday's Overlooked Film | 27 Comments

Avanti! (1972) – Tuesday’s Overlooked Film

Posted on 5 November 2013 by Cavershamragu

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

Posted on 29 October 2013 by Cavershamragu

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 →

Posted in 2013 Book to Movie Challenge, Bryan Forbes, Italy, Michael Gilbert, Tuesday's Overlooked Film, World War II | Tagged Richard Todd | 25 Comments

DEATH IN CAPTIVITY (1952) by Michael Gilbert

Posted on 25 October 2013 by Cavershamragu

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 →