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 paper 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 right 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.

Black Angel/Arabella l’angelo nero

Italy, 1989

Directed by Stelvio Massi

Cast:
Tinì Cansino, Francesco Casale, Valentina Visconti, Evelyn Stewart, Rena Niehaus, Carlo Mucari, Renato D’Amore, Giosè Davì, David D’Ingeo, Vinicio Diamanti


Known for his many forays into the poliziesco genre, prolific filmmaker Stelvio Massi only directed two entries in the popular giallo genre. The first one was Five Women for the Killer (1974), a rather sleazy and tasteless effort about a killer who gorily mutilates pregnant women. It would take 15 years before Massi took another stab at the genre with Black Angel and it does not come as a big surprise that this effort, too, is a very seedy and tasteless affair.

In the film’s opening sequence we see a flame-haired and sluttily dressed woman named Deborah (Tinì Cansino – dubbed by Carolynn De Fonseca) driving around in a fancy red car while laughing and sipping from a mini bottle of J&B. Unbeknownst to her, she is being tailed by a seedy-looking man (Giosè Davì – dubbed by Robert Spafford) who eagerly follows her every move. Deborah parks her car and heads for a big, secluded mansion that turns out to be a kinky bordello where all kinds of perversions are catered to.


Deborah - out looking for thrills




Various bordello delights


Deborah doesn’t waste any time and quickly starts getting it on with two studly young men while the guy who’s following her watches from a distance – gleefully taking plenty of pictures of the spectacle. However, Deborah gets more than she bargained for when her two studs suddenly turn nasty and pull a knife on her.


Deborah’s three-way goes from steamy...

...to very nasty...

...all under the leery gaze of Deborah’s stalker


Fortunately for Deborah, she is saved by a surprise police raid, and hurriedly flees to her car. But before she can drive off, Deborah is apprehended by a cop named De Rosa (Carlo Mucari). Distraught, Deborah tries to explain that she is not a prostitute but a well-off lady but to no avail as De Rosa swiftly handcuffs her, bends her over the hood of the car and rapes her – all the while Deborah’s sweaty stalker is secretly photographing the act from a distance! We’re not even 10 minutes into the film yet and we’ve already been bombarded with non-stop sleazy imagery. Talk about an opening!


Hopefully, this isn’t the standard operating procedure of the Italian police force


After he’s had his way with her, detective De Rosa uncuffs the poor woman, who sobbingly drives back home. We soon learn that Deborah is indeed a well-off lady as she is married to the wealthy, best-selling author Frank Veronesi (Francesco Casale – dubbed by Ted Rusoff), and lives in a huge villa together with him and his doting mother Marta (Evelyn Stewart). Oh, and for some inexplicable reason, it turns out that when Deborah is at home, she always wears a dark Bettie Page-style wig instead of the curly red hair we saw her with in the opening sequence. Anyway, Frank and Deborah’s marriage is anything but idyllic. They used to be very happy but a flashback reveals that on their wedding day, Deborah was giving her husband a blowjob while he was driving – causing him to crash the car and become paralyzed. Deborah still loves her husband and tries her best to be a good, supportive wife but Frank, however, is boiling with bitterness and rage, and even suffers from a writer’s block. He blames Deborah for putting him in a wheelchair and relishes every opportunity to yell at her and demean her.


Frank, the mean, crippled husband

Deborah in one of her numerous fits of sobbing brought on by her husband


Soon, things go from bad to worse as the vile detective La Rosa arrives at the dysfunctional household to look for Deborah. Having found out that she really does belong to the upper class, De Rosa demands Deborah to have sex with him again – threatening to tell Frank about her visits to kinky bordellos if she doesn’t obey. Desperate to keep her nightly activities secret, Deborah is forced to oblige and sneaks into the garage with La Rosa to do the dirty deed. However, a suspicious Frank catches them just as De Rosa is going down on Deborah – at which point she promptly grabs a hammer and bashes in De Rosa’s head.




Deborah disposes of De Rosa while her husband watches in disbelief


Frank helps her bury the body as Deborah confesses the details of her secret nocturnal life. Somewhat unexpectedly, this causes the estranged couple to rekindle their love for each other. It also gives Frank an idea on how to overcome his writer’s block. He insists that Deborah must continue her kinky nighttime activities and report back to Frank so that he can use her experiences as inspiration for the Black Angel, the protagonist of his new novel. Though highly reluctant, Deborah complies with her husband’s wishes and picks up a young gigolo with a cowboy outfit and has dirty sex with him in a cheap motel. But soon after Deborah has left, the young man is savagely stabbed to death with a pair of scissors before getting his genitalia sliced off.



Deborah’s one-nighter meets a horrifying end


Police Inspector Gina Fowler (Valentina Visconti) is assigned to solve the murder but she has trouble dealing with the grisly case, which visibly sickens and upsets her. However, it quickly transpires that it’s not so much the gruesome nature of the crime that upsets Fowler but rather the familiarity of the killing, which triggers a deeply traumatic childhood memory in her. And in the meantime the scissor murders continue...


Violent murders bring back traumatizing memories from Inspector Fowler’s childhood - surely one of the most iconic plot elements of the giallo


The giallo genre was having a bit of a resurgence in the 1980s thanks to the huge success of Dario Argento’s Tenebrae (1982). Nevertheless it was Carlo Vanzina’s Nothing Underneath (1985), a glossy giallo set in the fashion industry world, that would prove to be the most instrumental in shaping the look and feel of the genre during the mid to late 1980s. In the wake of Vanzina’s film, movie goers were treated to a wave of fashion-oriented gialli featuring slick and sometimes bizarre music video-style aesthetics, such as Lamberto Bava’s Delirium (1987), Dario Piana’s Too Beautiful to Die (1988), Piccio Raffanini’s A Taste for Fear (1988), Stelio Fiorenza’s Dark Bar (1988) and Bruno Gaburro’s Fashion Crimes (1989). But with Black Angel, director Stelvio Massi breaks free of this mold – opting instead for a seedier setting and much grislier murders. Black Angel also has much greater emphasis on sex and one might very well argue that this is more of an erotic film (albeit a very kinky one) in the guise of a giallo than it is an all out giallo. The giallo elements that are on display are pretty iconic, though, and clearly show the influence of Argento rather than the fashion-gialli initiated by Vanzina. The script (by a certain R. Filippucci) offers a few deliciously ridiculous plot twists and enjoyable nods to Argento but it must be said that the big reveal does not come as any major surprise – at least not to seasoned giallo viewers or Argento buffs.

But in spite of several clear similarities to the classic gialli of the 1970s, Black Angel is not nearly as much fun to watch. On the contrary it is a very grim film drenched in an atmosphere of extreme bleakness and cynicism. It plays out in an utterly joyless world where no one seems to be happy, and it’s abundantly clear that solving the scissor murders will do little to change this. It’s also hard to get emotionally invested in any of the characters, who seem to consist primarily of two different types: abusive scumbags and powerless victims. The latter category is moslty made up of women, and the former of men, starting with Frank, the bitter and crippled writer. He seems to put the blame for his paralysis solely on Deborah even though he is shown to be just as much at blame himself, and he clearly enjoys subjecting his wife to all kinds of indignities. But if Frank is bad, he seriously pales in comparison to how the officers of the law are portrayed. The worst of the lot is the loathsome detective De Rosa, who exploits his position by blackmailing law offenders into becoming his sex slaves. Not much better is Inspector Fowler’s assistant and lesbian lover Agnes (played by Rena Niehaus, and dubbed by Pat Starke), who tricks Fowler into revealing her childhood trauma – only to promptly use the story in an attempt to steal her job. The naïve Fowler is completely taken aback by her lover’s actions: “I always thought that girls had better souls than men”, she despairs. Upon which Agnes condescendingly remarks that: “These are typical lesbian thoughts, my dear”. Agnes is interesting in that she is the only strong female character in the film but this is only because she has adopted the cynical attitudes of the male characters and discarded any sort of humane – i.e. feminine – traits.


Agnes (left) momentarily feigns feminine values in order to exploit her lover


In stark contrast to Agnes, Inspector Fowler is portrayed as rather pathetic – a helpless victim of her own weak sex. Although a capable police inspector, she is nevertheless unable to cope with the strains of her childhood trauma, has dreams about being violated, gets backstabbed because she naively trusts in her lover, and then – worst of all – actually begs Agnes to take her back after having been betrayed by her. Fowler’s reason for doing so appears to be some sort of basic feminine fear of being abandoned and left alone – a fear which also causes her to makes another questionable decision later on. The same fear of abandonment and not being loved is exhibited by Deborah throughout most of the film. She seems to genuinely love Frank and hence she is willing to let herself be submitted to any kind of sexual degradation for his sake. Here, however, it is interesting to note that even though Frank is pressuring Deborah into degrading herself by dressing like a slut and cruising the streets in search of casual lovers, she is also shown to enjoy having to do this. While this may be seen merely as director Massi trying to cater to the male fantasy that women enjoy being treated badly, it can also add a bit of complexity to the Deborah character – making it somewhat ambiguous whether she is driven by a submissive need to do anything for the man she loves, or if she’s actually motivated by a more selfish urge to fulfill her own kinky desires. The film never gives us a clear answer and this makes Deborah a much more fascinating character. It’s just such a damn shame then that she is so prone to hysterical, sobbing outbursts as this tends to render her more pathetic (at least in the English dub, where Carolynn De Fonseca really lays it on with the sobbing in the dubbing studio).

Surprisingly, nearly all the victims are males, which is quite unusual for a film of this type. With that said, though, the women are victimized and abused in just about every other way. Fowler has recurring nightmares in which the killer caresses her naked body with a pair of bloody scissors before violently stabbing her in the crotch, and Deborah is raped, demeaned, objectified and spied on throughout the film. She is made to disrobe at frequent intervals and the camera ogles her shapely body in leering detail.




Deborah readies herself for a night of cruising - under the voyeuristic and objectifying gaze of her husband, the audience and herself



Inspector Fowler dreams of being violated


It should be said that Black Angel probably contains a bit too many long sex scenes that tend to grind the narrative to a halt, and this is probably the film’s most serious flaw. Sadly, the trend of putting too much emphasis on sex would become more and more dominant in gialli during the late 1980s and by the early to mid 1990s the once thriving sub-genre had been reduced to little more than a series of generic ‘erotic thrillers’ with few, if any, distinguishing traits to separate them from similar American products. Black Angel, however, is in no danger of this – thanks to a thick atmosphere of extreme sleaze and depravation characteristic of Italian B movie cinema at its finest. It also comes with a great, rousing and typically Italian synth score (credited to a certain Serfran) which suits the proceedings nicely.

Although the visual style of Black Angel is less striking than your average giallo from the 1970s, it is nevertheless slickly shot and contains a couple of stylish moments. Warranting special mention is a delightfully kitschy sequence in which Deborah is cruising the strip in search of male hustlers. Adopting Deborah’s point of view, the camera pans across a long line of young – and obviously gay – hustlers dressed in outrageous kink outfits strutting their stuff trying to entice anyone willing to shell out for their services.




A bunch of gay hustlers striking their poses in this great and wonderfully lit sequence


A big part of the film’s appeal undeniably comes from its delectable leading lady Tinì Cansino. Born in Greece as Photina Lappa, Cansino went to Italy to pursue an acting career in the 1980s. Possessing a passing resemblance to Hollywood legend Rita Hayworth, she modeled her look and appearance as closely to Hayworth as possible, changed her name to Tinì Cansino (Hayworth’s birth name being Margarita Carmen Cansino) and fabricated a story about being Hayworth’s niece. Her strategy was successful and she quickly became a regular fixture in such “dirty magazines” as Playmen and Gin Fizz, and appeared in a fair share of sexy film roles. Cansino is hardly what one would call a great actress but she does look incredibly sexy and participates in all the sordid and graphic material with unashamed enthusiasm. Oh, and the Hayworth resemblance manages to add an extra layer of sleaziness to the proceedings.



Tinì Cansino eagerly participates in a number of explicit scenes. Somewhat surprisingly, though, Black Angel was to become her final film


The only other notable actors in the cast are old pros Evelyn Stewart and Rena Niehaus. Stewart (who is also known under her real name Ida Galli) is a veteran giallo actress, having appeared in a number of classics such as The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968), The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail (1971), A White Dress for Marialè (1972) and Knife of Ice (1972). By the late 1980s, Stewart was in semi-retirement and it is wonderful to see this versatile and iconic giallo actress make a genre comeback. It’s not a huge part but Stewart plays it to perfection and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her take on the role of the maternal figure in the decadent Veronesi household. Interestingly, Black Angel was not just a comeback movie for Stewart but also for German actress Rena Niehaus, who had achieved some success in the 1970s with leading roles in films such as Eriprando Visconti’s La orca (1976) and Ugo Liberatore’s horror film Damned in Venice (1978) before she abruptly abandoned the film industry. Black Angel was Niehaus’ first film in 10 years and she would only appear in one more film, the little-known crime film Mafia Docks (1991), before retiring for good. I don’t know why her comeback was so short-lived because she was still quite attractive and delivers a very enjoyable performance here as the bitchy lesbian cop Agnes.


The great Evelyn Stewart – still attractive in her late 40s – is one of the film’s strongest assets


Finally, the film boasts amusing uncredited cameo appearances by two highly interesting personalities who should be familiar to fans of Italian B movie cinema: Vinicio Diamanti and Zaira Zoccheddu. Diamanti is an extravagant character actor who specialized in playing comical parts as flamboyant homosexuals or drag queens. His most well-known film was no doubt La cage aux folles (1978), in which he played a small role, but he also pops up in Fernando Di Leo’s To Be Twenty (1978), Umberto Lenzi’s Excuse Me, Are Your Normal? (1979) and the cop-comedy Cop in Drag (1984) with Tomas Milian. In Black Angel, Diamanti appears as extravagant as always in the role of the doorman at the kinky bordello - sporting heavy make-up and full S&M gear while playing on an accordion.
Zaira Zoccheddu is perhaps a more obscure figure as she appeared almost exclusively in grade-Z trash. Originally a beauty queen, Zoccheddu represented Italy in the 1974 Miss World pageant before embarking on a series of sleazy adventures in the likes of Luigi Batzella’s ultra-trashy nazisploitation romp Achtung! The Desert Tigers (1976), Tano Cimarosa’s violent crime film Death Hunt (1977), the Ajita Wilson WIP flicks Escape from Hell and Hotel Paradise (made back-to-back in 1979), and the hardcore porn movie Gocce d’amore (1981). By the late 1980s, Zoccheddu’s career was reduced to appearing in the unbelievably awful (though highly enjoyable) horror film The Cross of Seven Jewels (1987), doing frequent pictorials in the nudie magazine Gin Fizz, as well as various small uncredited parts such as her role in Black Angel, where she is seen briefly as a topless woman with a Freddy Krueger-style glove who makes lewd gestures with her tongue and fingers to Deborah when she arrives at the bordello at the start of the film.


Vinicio Diamanti’s outrageous cameo as the bordello doorman



A very brief but welcome cameo by trash actress extraordinaire Zaira Zoccheddu


So, is Black Angel an enjoyable film? No, not particularly – for that it is much too depressing and cynical. It is also rather tacky and vulgar, as well as occasionally ludicrous, and this combination will probably be off-putting to several viewers. But in spite of this, Black Angel is a film that makes much more of a lasting impact than any of the fashion-gialli from the same era. Indeed, it remained on my mind for a long time after I’d finished watching it and I dare say it is made with more intelligence than a look at its jaded surface would have you thinking. It is definitely a memorable film and, ultimately, I would recommend all serious giallo fans to check it out.


A final note about the film’s English version

This film is usually referred to by the English language title Arabella the Black Angel, which is a direct translation of the original Italian title Arabella l’angelo nero. However, the film has never actually had any kind of official release under this title, and understandably so as the main character is only named Arabella in the Italian version whereas she has been renamed Deborah for the English dub. The film’s English export title is simply Black Angel, and I am certain that this is the only official English title even though the notoriously unreliable IMDb lists both Angel: Black Angel and Angela, the Black Angel as alternate titles – none of which make any sort of sense since there is no one named Angel or Angela in neither the Italian nor the English language version. Trivia buffs may want to note that Arabella isn’t the only character to be renamed. In fact, the majority of the character names have been anglicized for the English dubbed version. For example, Frank and Inspector Fowler are named Francesco and Inspector Falco, respectively, in the Italian version, but the biggest difference is Police lieutenant Marlowe, whose name in the Italian dub is Scognamillo. Of course, it’s not unusual for the English dubbing to attempt to obscure a film’s Italian origins (there are countless other examples of this) but, strangely enough, the surname Veronesi is retained in both the English and Italian language versions.


© 2012 Johan Melle



The cast:


Tinì Cansino as Deborah Veronesi


Francesco Casale as Frank Veronesi


Valentina Visconti as Inspector Gina Fowler


Evelyn Stewart as Marta Veronesi


Rena Niehaus as Agnes


Carlo Mucari as Detective De Rosa


Renato D’Amore as Lt. Marlowe


Giosè Davì as Private detective


David D'Ingeo as Gigolo

Vinicio Diamanti as Doorman at the bordello