Smile Before Death (1972)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The acting in this movie is really good.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great, fun giallo, full of twists and turns and a complete mystery till the end. Also, no police in this at all and the characters explain the situation as we go along and at what appears to be the end. Rosalba Neri is superb and although it seems churlish, if it had been her disrobing every couple of minutes, instead of Jenny Tamburi, this would probably have got another star! Always colourful, totally absorbing and a wonderfully tinkling and infuriatingly catchy soundtrack from Roberto Pregadio. Hard to find but giallo fans must search it out. Such were my notes made after watching this some years ago.PS Watched this again, without at first realising I had seen it before, and although it did gradually dawn upon me, still couldn't remember what happened because of all the twists. Poor Jenny Tambour works really hard here, clothed and unclothed but Neri is still the centre of our attention.

The classy 'Smile Before Death' is an extremely rare and unjustly obscure giallo from cult Italian film-maker, Silvio Amadio. This violent, sexy thriller stars the delightful, Rosalba Neri and Hiram Keller as a villainous duo plotting to do in the stepdaughter of Hiram's character. Director, Silvio Amadio's stylish and sexy follow-up to "Amuck!", is full of giddy plot twists, lurid stalk an' slash, and the ubiquitous "shock" ending; 'Smile before Death' is guaranteed to amuse and confound in equal measure, and is a worthy entry to this most histrionic idiom. Its current rarity is wholly undeserved and one hopes that eventually it will get a pristine DVD release that it so deserves.

Teenaged Nancy Thompson arrives unexpectedly at her mothers county villa.She discovers that her mom has died a violent death.The police investigate and believe the she killed herself by cutting her throat with a piece of broken of glass.Nancy meets and becomes friends with Gina who was her mothers best friend and who has a special relationship with her stepfather.Soon the older man turns his roving eye toward this young beauty as suspicion about the suicide starts to come to light.Pretty sleazy and entertaining Italian giallo with plenty of nudity and some nasty surprises.I haven't seen Silvio Amadio's "Amuck" yet,but I'd like to.The performances of Jenny Tamburi and sexy Rosalba Neri are fantastic and I must say that they are perhaps the main reasons to see this surprisingly obscure giallo.8 out of 10.

Judging by the plot and the fact that it's directed by Silvio Amandio, I feared that this Giallo would be a lot like the director's earlier success 'Amuck!', but despite similarities between the pair; Smile Before Death is a lot more than merely a retread of the earlier work. This film adheres more closely to the Giallo tradition of stylish and bloody murders than the earlier movie, but still finds time to ensure that the plot always revolves around the central situation. In fact, it's a miracle that Amandio has managed to keep his script from becoming a complete mess; as aside from this new flair for murders, and the central situation; Smile Before Death is also a twisty little thriller, which manages to pull several things out of the hat before boiling down to a superb and unexpected conclusion. The plot follows the death of a woman named Dorothy. The police declare it suicide, but it's not long before Dorothy's daughter, Nancy, makes her way to her mother's house; where she meets the seductive Gena and her stepfather, Marco. However, things turn sinister when the housekeeper divulges some information that means Dorothy's death may not have been suicide...The film starts off slowly, and aside from some lush photography that makes good use of its female leads, the film doesn't really commence until the half way point. Amandio keeps the tension bubbling throughout, and sex is always at the forefront of the action. Roberto Pregadio provides a suitable catchy jingle, which accompanies nearly every scene in the movie. The tune is typically Italian, and fits the movie well; but I'd have preferred it if it was played a bit less often, as it soon starts to get old, and the overall impact is lessened. The movie benefits, as Amuck did, from a great leading performance from Rosalba Neri, who is joined by the stunning Luciana Della Robbia. The pair doesn't share any scenes together that are as great as those between Neri and Barbara Bouchet in Amuck, but Silvio Amandio obviously enjoys filming lesbian scenes; and when they're this good, I enjoy watching them! The film is rounded off by an isolated atmosphere, which provides a pressure cooker for the lead characters to roast in. This is a rare Giallo in that, by the conclusion, most aspects of it make sense and while Smile Before Death is hard to track down, I recommend making the effort!