CINE CITY

While on vacation in the Swiss Alps, John Alexander falls in love with the beautiful heiress Helen Brown. Within a short time they are married and return to home to England. John’s life would seem to be perfect now, as his marriage to Helen has enabled him to become part owner of her fathers large insurance company. But the blissful marriage is short lived as Helen’s love for John deteriorates and she turns to her lesbian lover, Liz, for compassion. On the night Helen decides to leave John, she has a horrible car accident and is killed. John, now devastated, slips into a deep depression over the loss. He decides to travel to help him get over his malaise. Upon his return he is met by detectives from Scotland Yard who consider Helen’s death a possible murder with John as a prime suspect. Distressed and now under suspicion for murder, he is surprised to discover a beautiful young woman in his home. The stranger, Christine, seems to be very attracted to John as she takes him to a wild psychedelic drug in Soho area of London. While wandering though the party, John views a lesbian porno film that not only features his new friend Christine but also a mysterious woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Helen! Falling into a delirium John begins to believe that his wife is still alive and becomes obsessed with finding the woman in the film. He finds himself involved with the seedy porno underworld of drugs and mobsters as the police detectives are one step behind him.

One of the last films in the series of Edgar Wallace crime films, this erotic thriller relies more on style and mood then the routine mystery scenario that the plot would suggest. This VERTIGO-like story of the dead wife that reappears is deftly directed by the master of the Italian gothic thriller; Riccardo Freda. Here, set in late 60s swinging London, Freda successfully infuses a Gothic atmosphere in a modern context. Dark alleyways are full of strange figures that follow John Brown as he searches the misty London night for his dead wife. Freda also makes a profound statement about the generation gap, as wild and naked drugged-out Hippies fill the screen.