A Brilliant Conflict

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Mary and Julie Harrison (both played by Carroll Baker) are in trouble with knife-wielding thugs. Julie turns to attorney Dave Barton and his detective friend Tony. A love triangle develops while the body count begins to rise.The film was written by Tito Carpi (who also wrote Ruggero Deodato's "Last Cannibal World") and directed by Osvaldo Civirani. The film is Italian, filmed and set in the Netherlands, and dubbed by British actors. There is a lot of sexual nonsense going on, with Barton openly trying to get with Julie and a secretary with a boyfriend simultaneously. And succeeding wonderfully.Luca Palmerini says the film "is rather short on thrills and lacking in action." Which, I suppose, is pretty accurate. I can say, though, the product placement is well done, with prominently displayed PEER brand cigarettes (made in Germany, but also available in the Netherlands).The Alpha Video DVD is decent for a bare bones disc (all it has are some interesting and humorous exploitation trailers). Its biggest flaw is crediting Carroll Baker as "Carol", Dave Barton as "Steve" and titling the film "The Devil has 7 Faces" rather than "The Devil with 7 Faces", contrary to the opening credits.

It's tough to pigeonhole a movie like The Devil Has 7 Faces. While I'm going to call it a Giallo, I do so with reservations. The Devil Has 7 Faces may not include the normal black-gloved, knife-welding mania, or even a body count usually associated with this kind of movie, but it does have enough of the Giallo feel to it in my mind to be called a Giallo. And when you mix in a smarmy George Hilton, Carroll Baker (who I'm not particularly a fan of), a super "loungey" score from Stelvio Cipriani, and a convoluted plot, the result is a film that most any Giallo/Euro-Crime fan can find something to enjoy.The plot involves a woman named Julie Harrison (Baker) who is being terrorized by a gang of jewel thieves. It soon comes out that her twin sister, Mary, was involved in major diamond heist, but double-crossed her husband/partner. Have the jewel thieves confused Julie and Mary?Unfortunately, the movie is not without its problems. Chief among them is the mediocre direction of Osvaldo Civirani. He seems incapable of creating suspense or tension even in the most obvious of moments. He also handles many of the key plot twists with all the finesse of a gorilla. Much of the movie's outcome is painfully obvious long before it should be. Finally, there are a couple of "What the . . . " type moments in The Devil Has 7 Faces. I don't want to give anything away, but there are some things that happen in the movie that just left me scratching my head.

This is one of those "slick" Italian movies where the world is populated with easy-to-bed don't ever wed women, well-heeled "where is my next lay"? wheeler-dealer men who are all connected to each other trying to pull off the big "heist", a dialogue that is fleshed out with the serving of drinks and the lighting of cigarettes, cinematography that looks like it was captured from an assortment from the airport post-card stand and music that is meant for the tourists.The acting is uninspired, the action scenes do keep your interest and the scene at the windmill is a hoot since all of the nefarious parties become conglomerated like a row of pins that get knocked over in succession. Then? Ta-taaaaa...the police arrive to tell the still non-sleeping members of the audience that they knew what was going on all the time. As usual.What is an endless fascination to me is these movies are usually starring some actors who had at one time some momentum in their careers but then fell flat. Two of these such performers are Caroll Baker in The Carpetbaggers & Stephen Boyd as the baddie in The Ten Commandments who tried to slice Chuck Heston's chariot in the Coliseum. Stephen Boyd went on to bigger and better things but never made it big on a consistent basis but his career lasted much longer that Baker's, who had a kind of unbuxsome Mae West/Jean Harlowe kind of thing going on.This film is for the videohounds only, since you never know what you are going to find.F.Y.I Never select an old movie title with two recognizable actors in it on the basis of the title since it RARELY has a connection with the film but is usually a loose translation of the original title name that is stylized to entice the American audience!

This film was one of two videos featuring Carroll Baker that I found in a resale shop in Portland, Oregon. The reason I say this is that they both seem to be specialty videos dubbed from international sources and initially sold on a "request only" basis. Being a fan of La Baker, I was anxious to try both. This movie was lensed by a director primarily known for peplum and spaghetti westerns, but manages a nice steady clip and passable performances from the international cast. The plot involves Baker and her "twin sister" with international jewel thieves and a missing diamond. It appears that the criminal element believes Baker is her sister, involved with the potentate whose gem was stolen. Baker approaches solicitor Stephen Boyd and sidekick George Hilton for protection. Those with even a cursory knowledge of Italian gialli know that "all-is-not-what-it-seems" and perhaps knowing this will dilute some of the surprises.The music is gloriously overblown Morricone-esque lounge, and Baker's blue wig worn at seaside is worth the price of viewing. If you can find this film, I recommend viewing for the sheer brilliance of having an action pursuit taking place in and around a windmill! The setting has been used before and since (most memorably in Black Windmill), but creates a nice frisson not usually associated with Italian thrillers.