La casa de las muertas vivientes

Spain/Italy, 1972

Directed by Alfonso Balcazar

Cast:
José Antonio Amor, Daniela Giordano, Nuria Torray, Teresa Gimpera, Gioia Desideri, Osvaldo Genazzani, Alicia Tomás, Carlo Gentili

It recently dawned on me that for the longest time I’ve been reviewing nothing but Italian movies here, even though there are so many strange and wonderful films from Spain, France, Germany etc out there that are equally worthy of rediscovery. So to make amends I have taken a closer look at the forgotten Spanish thriller La casa de las muertas vivientes.

The plot deals with Oliver Bromfield (José Antonio Amor), a handsome but alcoholized young aristocrat who is haunted by the tragic death of his wife Helen (Gioia Desideri). Unable to continue living in the large country mansion he had shared with Helen, Oliver leaves his home in an attempt to forget the past. But he hasn’t been away very long before he finds a new love, the sweet and sexy Ruth (Daniela Giordano), whom he promptly marries. Suddenly, Oliver decides it would be a good idea to move back to his old house and build a new life together with Ruth.

The newlyweds

Ruth is excited about moving into a new home but she’s a bit disappointed to discover that Oliver’s huge mansion is far more secluded than she had pictured. Things aren’t made any better by the fact that she is given a decidedly chilly welcome by Sarah (Nuria Torray), the widow of Oliver’s father. Oliver’s stepmom is actually not that much older than him, and she greets him with an inappropriately passionate kiss on the cheek while giving poor Ruth the evil eye. Sarah is also quick to point out that today is the anniversary of Helen’s death, which visibly upsets Oliver.

Stepmom marks her territory

It quickly transpires that Sarah is madly in love with her stepson and she’s terribly jealous of Ruth. At day, she tries her best to drive Ruth and Oliver apart, and at night she spies on their lovemaking through a secret hole in the wall – obscured by a pendulum clock.

I spy with my little eye...

Also living in the house is Oliver’s sister Jenny (Teresa Gimpera), a reclusive painter and sculptor, who – like Sarah – takes an instant dislike to Ruth. Not for the same reasons, however. Jenny, we learn, had been carrying on a lesbian affair with Helen, and she hates the idea of someone else taking over Helen’s role as the lady of the house.

Jenny laments the loss of her lesbian lover

Poor Ruth doesn’t exactly feel very welcome in the house, and things quickly go from bad to worse as Oliver starts being haunted by memories of his dead wife. He’s drinking heavily and at night he has nightmares about Helen’s mysterious death from falling down the stairs. In his sleep he even shouts out that “I didn’t mean to kill her!”

Oliver has recurring nightmares about Helen’s death

Naturally, all of this has Ruth getting pretty worried. Oliver has told her that Helen fell because she was suffering from a series of dizzy spells but she soon learn from Helen’s physician, Dr. Roberts (Carlo Gentili), that Helen had no history of dizziness. As Ruth continues to look into Helen’s death, strange things start happening to her. Clearly, there is someone who doesn’t want the truth about Helen’s death to be revealed. Could it be that Oliver killed his wife because he was jealous of her lesbian affair with Jenny? Or was it the obsessively jealous Sarah who wanted Oliver all to herself? Or could the suspiciously acting Jenny be responsible?

Who’s the killer?

La casa de las muertas vivientes is a thoroughly obscure little Spanish-Italian co-production and there appear to be very few people who have heard about it – much less actually seen it. An English dub doesn’t seem to exist but the film was released under a series of different titles in Spain and Italy – none of which suit it particularly well. The original Spanish title translates to ‘The House of the Living Dead’, which is highly inappropriate as this is by no means a zombie film, and it never really pursues any supernatural angle either. The Italian title Una tomba aperta... Una bara vuota – i.e. ‘An Open Tomb... An Empty Coffin’, the title used by most of the bootleggers who sell it – is just as unsuitable because the film features neither opened tombs nor empty coffins, or any other kind of beyond the grave shenanigans for that matter. The alternate Italian title Il cadavere di Helen non mi dava pace – i.e. ‘Helen’s Cadaver Gives Me No Peace’ – is probably the most suitable since Oliver being haunted by memories of Helen’s death is a vital part of the plot, but it still hints at a type of film that this certainly isn’t.

Stylish newspaper ad under the film’s alternate Italian title

The misleading and inappropriate titles are probably part of the reason why most of the people who have actually seen the film react negatively to it. Anyone expecting to see some kind of zombie movie or ghost story will be sorely disappointed, and those seeking a flashy and gory Argento-style giallo will not get their money’s worth either. It is important to point out that even though this was an Italian co-production, it is ostensibly a Spanish film, and like many other Spanish productions, La casa de las muertas vivientes is more rustic and old-fashioned in appearance than its stylized Italian counterparts. Giallo elements are certainly present – with a knife-wielding, black-gloved killer coming into play in the last third – but these seem like more of an afterthought and the film draws more on Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) than it does on Argento. I think the best way to describe the film is like a deliberately paced Spanish psycho-drama with a gialloesque final third. If you approach it as such, you are more likely to appreciate the film.

With that said, La casa de las muertas vivientes is still a problematic film in many ways. The story is credited to the director, Euro-western expert Alfonso Balcazar, and José Ramón Larraz, the Spanish director famous for his British-made horror films Scream and Die! (1973), Symptoms (1974) and Vampyres (1974). This appears to have been the first Spanish film Larraz worked on and the plot features several of his characteristic traits, including the secluded country house setting, repressed sexual desires, and intense claustrophobic relationships. It’s just too bad that Larraz didn’t write the actual screenplay, which was instead penned by Balcazar and Italian Eurospy scribe Giovanni Simonelli. Unfortunately, neither of them appear to feel quite at home within the thriller format. Saving all of the killings for the final third is fair enough, but a few more suspense sequences scattered throughout the first two thirds would definitely not have hurt. As it is, the film is too talky and generously paced to keep the interest up for the duration of the film. It must be said, though, that the occasionally waning interest has just as much – if not more – to do with the characters. Oliver is a pretty boring protagonist, and José Antonio Amor’s blank and inexpressive performance fails to ignite any sort of interest for the character. Daniela Giordano on the other hand is perfectly fine in the role of Ruth but the character is so poorly written and developed that it is hard to become particularly invested in her.

The only really interesting characters are Oliver’s sister and stepmother. These sexy and constantly chain-smoking figures are better fleshed out their dark and mysterious nature makes them very intriguing. They are also very well played, with the always welcome Teresa Gimpera – a familiar face from numerous interesting Spanish-Italian horrors including The Feast of Satan (1971) and Night of the Devils (1972) – giving a wonderful performance as the mysterious lesbian sister who is obsessed by the memory of her dead lover. However, the show is stolen by the sensuous Nuria Torray, who is absolutely terrific as the unbalanced and obsessively jealous Sarah. She’s very sexy in the scenes which require her to act catty or seductive, but Torray is at her very best when she gets to tackle the sinister sides of the character. Her obsessive spying on Oliver and Ruth through the peephole is a good example but the best part is when she has a warped fantasy in which she stabs a sleeping Ruth to death, pushes her out of the bed, wipes her bloody hands on her nightgown and then jumps into the bed to resume Ruth’s place next to Oliver. Torray comes across as thoroughly disturbed and creepy in these scenes, but at the same time she is able to convey a truly heartfelt desperation, which renders the character somewhat pitiful too.

Nuria Torray is fabulous as the disturbed stepmother

Technical credits are solid – boasting some attractive cinematography and art direction, as well as a fine score by Italian composer Piero Piccioni – but the most memorable aspect to the film is its atmosphere. Balcazar successfully imbues the story with an air of morbidness as all of the characters seem obsessed in one way or the other with the death of Helen. The more perverse material in the plot is expertly handled, with the stylishly shot sequences detailing Sarah’s voyeurism coming across as delightfully twisted. Throughout the film there’s a strong aura of unease, repressed emotions and sexual tension seaming through the dysfunctional household and this keeps it all interesting even though if the plot progresses slowly.

In the last 30 minutes, the film finally goes into giallo mode as the cast starts getting picked off by a mysterious black-gloved killer who gorily slashes their throats. As I’ve already mentioned, this plot point seems like somewhat of an afterthought – presumably added at the insistence of the Italian co-producers. It undeniably shakes things up a bit and adds some welcome frisson to the proceedings but not all of the murders are quite successfully staged. It should also be mentioned that the identity of the killer is not too hard to figure out, and the rushed finale, which is more or less over and done with in a matter of seconds, is disappointing.

The horror kicks in during the final act

In spite of its obscurity La casa de las muertas vivientes is not too hard to get hold of but as of now there is no definite version available. A Spanish DVD was released by Filmax, and this release features a good-looking widescreen (albeit non-anamorphic) transfer of the film. The disc features no English options but has been made available in a fan-subbed version among collectors. It is unfortunate, however, that this is the version most people have been exposed to because it is far from an ideal way to watch the film. In the 1970s, the strict Spanish film censorship did not allow nudity, so Spanish productions from this era usually shot two versions of a film’s sexy scenes: a “clothed” one where the actors are covered up by nightgowns or underwear, and an “unclothed” one in which the actors get naked. The clothed variants were released in Spain, while the steamier unclothed versions would be exported to foreign markets with more relaxed censorship policies. The print of La casa de las muertas vivientes featured on the Filmax DVD is the Spanish version and – as expected – it is shorn of all nudity. A stronger version with nude scenes does exist, however, and was released in Italy but it has yet to receive any sort of DVD release. There is a TV rip in circulation, though, and while it is cropped, has a logo in the lower right corner and generally looks a lot less impressive than the Spanish DVD, it is still worth watching since it not only adds nudity but also entire scenes missing from the Spanish print. I have compared the two versions and here is an overview of the differences between the Spanish and Italian cuts of the film:

1. The Italian version obviously has credits in Italian – displaying the title Una tomba aperta... Una bara vuota in bold red letters. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the alternate title Il cadavere di Helen non mi dava pace is printed in smaller letters at the bottom of the screen.

The Italian title card

2. In the Italian cut, each murder is followed by a rapid montage of still shots of the various characters – clearly signaling them as possible suspects. This is a very unwelcome addition that looks cheesy and silly. It plays out much better in the Spanish version, which does not include these shots.

3. After the scene of Helen’s funeral, the Italian version features an extra pre-credits scene in which Oliver announces to Sarah that he’s moving out of the house, and she tries in vain to dissuade him from leaving. The scene runs 2 minutes and 26 seconds, and while it introduces Sarah’s feelings for Oliver at an earlier point than the Spanish version, it doesn’t really add anything new to the proceedings.

Extra scene between Oliver and Sarah

4. The lesbian relationship between Jenny and Helen is more explicit in the Italian version. The flashback scene where Oliver catches them together is very tame in the Spanish version – with Oliver walking in as Helen is merely caressing Jenny’s hair. In the Italian cut, however, Helen pulls down her nightgown to expose her breasts, and the two women press up against each other as Oliver suddenly walks in on them. This situation is a lot more compromising, and consequently Oliver’s angered reaction comes across as much more justified here than it does in the Spanish cut.

This is as steamy as it gets in the Spanish version

The extra naughty bits from the Italian version

5. The Italian version also includes an extra flashback scene between Jenny and Helen which is completely absent from the Spanish cut. In this scene, Helen strips naked and poses on a sofa while Jenny is painting a portrait of her. Helen says that she doesn’t love Oliver and that she only married him for his money. The scene only runs 1 minute and 35 seconds but is fairly important in that it puts Helen in a more negative light than in the Spanish version, and hence also makes Oliver more sympathetic.

Extra scene with Jenny and Helen

6. The scene where Sarah climbs into bed with a drunken Oliver and tries to seduce him is slightly longer in the Italian version, which includes an extra close-up shot of Oliver pulling down Sarah’s nightgown and fondling her breast.

This is as far as it goes in the Spanish version

Additional boob fondling shot from the Italian version

7. Another slight difference between the Spanish and Italian versions occurs in the scene where Sarah tries to entice Oliver by pulling down her dress to show him her bare breasts. In the Spanish cut we only see Sarah from behind and Oliver’s facial reaction, whereas the Italian cut includes a brief shot of her naked breasts. Sarah’s face and breasts never appear in the same shot, however, and it looks as if a body double may have been used for this scene.

How it looks in the Spanish cut

The brief frontal shot from the Italian cut

8. The final addition of nudity occurs in Sarah’s fantasy sequence where she stabs Ruth to death, pushes her out of the bed and climbs in to take her place next to Oliver. The Spanish version obviously does not feature any nudity but the Italian version features an extra shot with rear nudity as we see Sarah climbing into the bed.

Additional rear nudity from the Italian version

It must be mentioned that, surprisingly enough, the Italian and Spanish edits are actually not clothed and unclothed variants of the film. As I’ve already mentioned, the norm with such variants was to shoot the sexy scenes twice – with and without nudity – but the Spanish version of La casa de las muertas vivientes does not feature any kind of alternate scenes. Instead, it merely cuts out all of the nudity shown in the Italian version, and as such it is a censored version rather than a clothed one. Interestingly, there are several scenes where the actors are covered in both the Italian and Spanish versions, including the scene where Sarah spies on Oliver and Ruth making love, and Sarah fantasizing about stabbing Ruth. Indeed, Daniela Giordano and Teresa Gimpera stay fully clothed in both versions – with the majority of the nudity being performed by the sexy Italian actress Gioia Desideri, a minor starlet who was a regular presence in the violent Don Archer photo-novels and who also appeared in Fernando Di Leo’s sleazy giallo Slaughter Hotel (1971).

The fantasy stabbing is clothed in both the Spanish and Italian variants of the film

Daniela Giordano stays decent throughout the film but looks smashing nonetheless

Of course, the real question is whether or not the addition of the nude scenes makes La casa de las muertas vivientes a better film. Well, it doesn’t radically alter the film but it certainly spices it up a bit. Furthermore, the extra details of the lesbian relationship add a few interesting nuances that the film benefits from, and overall the Italian cut plays out better.

In sum, La casa de las muertas vivientes is an interesting little Spanish psycho-drama. It is slow and not always effective but the morbid atmosphere and Nuria Torray’s terrific performance work in its favor, and José Ramón Larraz fans will probably enjoy his contributions to the story. It isn’t a perfect film but it is definitely better than its reputation and well worth a look.

© 2013 Johan Melle

The cast:

José Antonio Amor as Oliver

Daniela Giordano as Ruth

Nuria Torray as Sarah

Teresa Gimpera as Jenny

Gioia Desideri as Helen

Osvaldo Genazzani as Private Detective

Alicia Tomás as Clara, the maid

??? as Peter, the gardener

Carlo Gentili as Dr. Roberts

Newspaper clippings of sexy Euro actresses

One of Italy's best known and most influential newspapers is La Stampa, published since 1867 and still going strong. The peper launched its own website in 1999 and they have since made their historical archives available - free of charge. So everyone with an inclination to do so can browse through scanned versions of old La Stampa issues dating all the way back to the beginning in 1867. So if you're interested in finding old pictures and articles about Italian actors, this is a nice place to start. Of course, La Stampa is a serious newspaper and primarily deals with "real" news, but there's usually a page or two dedicated to entertainment news, and in this section you can find pictures and interesting info about popular actors. The articles are usually not too long, though. In fact, there's often just a picture of an actress and a brief notice that she is currently starring in this or that film. These notices are nevertheless of great interest because they frequently announce films under different titles than the ones they were eventually released under, and also because they sometimes mention films which were apparently never finished or released. And it's also great because of the wonderful pictures. So if you have a lot of free time on your hands, you can have fun browsing through thousands upon thousands of pages of old La Stampa issues. And if you don't have the patience, you can find some pretty cool clippings of sexy Euro actress from 1971-73 issues here:

"An orchid for Edwige" reads the headline for this notice from March 1972. The text informs us that Edwige Fenech is shooting the film Una strana orchidea - i.e. A Strange Orchid - togeher with Paola Quattrini and Annabella Incontrera. The title of this film would later be changed to Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer? and it was released in English as The Case of the Bloody Iris. It is strange to see that this earlier title makes reference to an orchid instead of an iris but it's possible that the flower was changed in order to avoid confusion with Umberto Lenzi's giallo Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, which was made around the same time.

This great picture of the lovely Evelyn Stewart was published in May 1972. According to the text, Evelyn is relaxing in her Roman home after shooting the thriller Uccidi tre volte - meaning Kill Three Times in English - which is close to being finished. No film by that title was ever released but Evelyn was appearing a lot of gialli around that time, so I am assuming that Uccidi tre volte was the shooting title for one of them.

This notice from August 1971 features the gorgeous Barbara Bouchet in a scene from a film titled Dove fa male? which translates to Where Does it Hurt? in English. I recognize the scene, however, and it is from the great giallo La tarantola dal ventre nero, a.k.a. The Black Belly of the Tarantula, which is a far more intriguing title.

Barbara Bouchet also features in this clipping from January 1973, which bears the headline "Accused of corruption". According to the text, she was accused of corrupting of a minor because of the infamous scene in Lucio Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling, in which a buck naked Barbara attempts to seduce an adolescent boy. Apparently, Barbara had to go before a tribunal, where she defended herself by saying that an adult man of very small stature was used for the scene. And I believe she was telling the truth. If you look at the scene you'll notice that the only time the boy is in the same shot as the naked Barbara is when he's seen from behind, so it does indeed appear as though he was doubled by a dwarf. I'm sure it was a very enjoyable day's work for the double!

According to the text, this photo published in May 1972 shows the beautiful actress Erika Blanc on holiday in Fregene but it's quite obviously a publicity shot, and a lovely one at that.

This notice from August 1971 announces that the beautiful Swedish actress Ewa Aulin is starring in the film La controfigura, released in English as The Double.

Ewa Aulin is also the subject of this notice from April 1972, which announces that she is playing the leading role in a giallo named Un uomo da uccidere (A Man to Kill if translated to English), directed by a certain Sala. Unfortunately, no such film appears to have been made. The director Sala is presumably either Vittorio Sala or Adimaro Sala but Ewa Aulin never made any films for any of them, so it appears that Un uomo da uccidere is an unmade or unfinished production.

We're still not quite done with Ewa Aulin, though. This clipping from April 1973 - marked as Eva vs. Ewa - features the sexy Eva Czemerys, and the text announces that she and Ewa Aulin are playing rivals in a romantic film with Mino Reitano. Although no title is mentioned, the film in question is Ferdinando Baldi's Una vita lunga un giorno, known in English as Long Lasting Days.

Up next is a notice from February 1972 featuring the irresistable Rosalba Neri. The brief text tells us that Rosalba is a young actress who loves thrillers, and that she is appearing in the giallo Il sorriso della jena. The title translates to The Smile of the Hyena but the film was released in English as Smile Before Death.

Striking, blonde German actress Solvi Stubing is the focus of this clipping from February 1972. According to the text, Solvi is in Bermuda to shoot a film labelled as a 'giallo-rosa', a termed used for describing crime films with a strong romantic content.

Swedish-born giallo queen Anita Strindberg strikes a pose in this picture published in May 1971. The short text informs us that this is Anita with a new bikini. Not what I'd call news worthy but a definitely a terrific excuse to print a revealing picture of the statuesque, blonde actress.

Here's another wonderful shot of Anita Strindberg - published in July 1972. It shows the actress on a beach in picturesque San Felice Circeo, where she is shooting a 'giallo-rosa'.

"A western for everyone" reads the headline to this notice from July 1972, featuring the stunning Marisa Mell in a scene from an Italian western. I'm not really into westerns so I'm not sure which film the picture is taken from but I'm assuming it's from Tutti fratelli nel west... per parte di padre, a.k.a. Lady Dynamite.

Here is a lovely shot of British actress Shirley Corrigan, printed in July 1972, and promoting her appearance in Sergio Pastore's giallo Sette scialli di seta gialla, which was released in English as The Crimes of the Black Cat.

A striking headshot of beautiful giallo regular Marina Malfatti (published in June 1972) announcing her participation in the giallo La dama rossa uccide 7 volte. The title translates to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times in English, and while it is often referred to by this title, the original English export title is actually The Lady in Red Kills Seven Times.

This clipping from June 1971 features an interesting photo of the gorgeous American actress Pamela Tiffin. According to the text, the picture shows Pamela in a scene from Luigi Bazzoni's film La giornata dell'Ariete - i.e. The Day of the Aries - which was released two months later under the slightly modified title Giornata nera per l'Ariete (i.e. Black Day for the Aries) and in English-speaking territories as The Fifth Cord. But, clearly, this is not an actual scene from the film but rather an on-set photo showing Pamela getting her hair fixed before shooting a scene.

This terrific photo of American actress Camille Keaton was published in November 1972. The text stresses Camille's relation to the legendary American comedian Buster Keaton, and announces that she is shooting the film Il gatto di Brooklyn, i.e. The Cat of Brooklyn.

Here we have a really nice picture of the wonderful Italian actress Anna Maria Pierangeli, known during her Hollywood years simply as Pier Angeli. "It's not too late" reads the headline of this notice from May 1971, which tells us that the actress - at age 38 - is about to embark on a new acting career. After being neglected and given poor roles in Italy, Anna Maria has received interesting offers from Hollywood, the text reveals. Knowing what was in store for Anna Maria undeniably makes it rather sad to read a notice that is so optimistic about her future. She did indeed land a role in a new American production but it was in Octaman, a terrible piece of low budget schlock, and Anna Maria died of a barbiturate overdose in September 1971 - less than four months after the publication of this notice.

Here's a smashing picture of the ravishing Yugoslavian actress Beba Loncar, a big European star throughout the 1960s and 70s. This notice from January 1973, announces that Beba is in Naples shooting a giallo with Hollywood actor Richard Widmark. The title of the film is not mentioned but it is said to take place in the slums of the port of Naples. Beba had appeared alongside Richard Widmark ten years earlier in the British adventure film The Long Ships (1963) but I have been unable to find any information about a film from 1973 featuring the two of them. Presumably, the project never got off the ground, or it was never finished.

This notice from June 1971 announces that American actress Jean Seberg, who was working exclusively in Europe during the 1970s, is starring alongside James Mason and Curd Jürgens in the film La piovra dai 7 tentacoli, which translates to The Octopus with Seven Tentacles. Ultimately, the film was released under the much more simplistic title Kill.

Beautiful British actress Rosemarie Dexter is the focus of this notice from June 1972. According to the text, Rosemarie is back in Rome after the shooting of her third western in Spain.

Up next is this terrific shot of Austrian actress Senta Berger. Published in April 1973, this notice announces Senta's participation in the comedy Amore e ginnastica, known in English as Love and Gymnastics.

Sexy Cuban spitfire Chelo Alonso was one of the greatest female stars of Italian peplum and swashbuckler movies during the late 1950s and early 1960s but when the popularity of such films started to wane, Chelo more or less disappeared from films. Her final film appearance was a supporting role in the western Night of the Serpent in 1969, but although she abandoned films, she did not withdraw from public life. In fact, Chelo turned her attention to television, and this notice from June 1972 - which shows that the Cuban actress was still spectacularly sexy - announces her new music show E perche no?, which she hosted, and also featured in song and dance numbers.

Blonde, beatiful German starlet Karin Schubert strikes a sexy pose in this clipping from August 1972, which show Karin in a shot from a film called Le bellissime donzelle - i.e. The Beautiful Damsels. I can't find any film by that title, so this is yet another case of a film that changed titles. My guess is that this film eventually became Quel gran pezzo della Ubalda tutta nuda e tutta calda, a.k.a. Ubalda, All Naked and Warm, which I haven't seen.

This notice from February 1972 features the very sexy Rita Calderoni, who according to the text has signed on to star in the film La reincarnazione. This film - directed by Renato Polselli - was released nearly a year later under the delirious title Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento, translating to Rites, Black Magic and Secret Orgies in the 14th Century, and is known in English as both The Reincarnation of Isabel and Black Magic Rites.

This fantastic shot of the very attractive Paola Tedesco was published in April 1972, and the text informs us that the actress is in Morocco making a film about the mafia. Paola did make a mafia picture in 1972, Alberto De Martino's Crime Boss, in which she starred alongside Telly Savalas and Antonio Sabatò. However, this film was neither shot or set in Morocco.

Texas-born Penny Brown was a very successful singer and musical theater actress in Italy in the 1960s and 70s but she also did occasional acting in films - most notably as a hippie in Lucio Fulci's giallo A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971). This notice from January 1973 announces Penny as a cast member in the film Tecnicamente dolce (translation: Technically Sweet), directed by the renowned Michelangelo Antonioni. Unfortunately for Penny, Tecnicamente dolce would never be made. Antonioni had written the screenplay in the 1960s and the film was to be shot in Sardinia, Rome, New York and in the Amazonian jungle, with Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider as the stars. But just as all the preparation for the film was ready, producer Dino De Laurentiis pulled the funding because he feared the production would become too expensive. Instead, Antonioni was offered to direct The Passenger (1975) with the same lead actors, and Tecnicamente dolce was never made. The screenplay, however, was published in 1976.