Review #983: 'What Have You Done to Solange?' (1972)

Massimo Dallamano is rarely mentioned in the same breath as his fellow Italian heavyweights Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci or Umberto Lenzi, yet he was responsible for two gialli that can be considered two of the best of their kind. One is What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974) and the other another Edgar Wallace adaptation that poses a similarly eye-catching question in its title, What Have You Done to Solange? The latter is one of the finest giallo I've seen, favouring tension and character above blood and boobs - although there's plenty of the red stuff too, and an admittedly unnecessary all-girls-school-shower scene.

Enrico Rosseni (Fabio Testi) is a suave Italian teacher at a School for Girls in London. He is stuck in an unhappy marriage with Herta (Karin Baal), who works at the same school teaching German. To escape the tedium of married life, he embarks on an affair with one of his lovely young students Elizabeth (Cristina Galbo). When on a secret date in the woods, Elizabeth witnesses a murder in which a masked man murders a girl by knifing her between the legs. Enrico dismisses her claims, but when he hears the murder reported on the news, he re-visits the scene and is captured on camera in the process. With the police and his wife breathing down his neck, Enrico tries to divert suspicion without his secret getting out.

Backed by a tremendous Ennio Morricone score (are there any movies he didn't provide the music for?) and gorgeous cinematography by Aristide Massaccesi (a.k.a. shlockmeister Joe D'Amato), Solange's great hook is its engaging plot. Working out who the mysterious killer is as much fun as watching the likeable Testi squirm out of his increasingly desperate predicament. The Solange of the title doesn't get mentioned until the final third, but when she does turn up in the form of I Spit on Your Grave's Camille Keaton, the film avoids cheap thrills and delivers carefully constructed shocks during the fittingly upsetting climax. If there's any justice in the cinematic world, Dallamano will someday receive the respect he deserves.


Directed by: Massimo Dallamano
Starring: Fabio Testi, Cristina Galbó, Karin Baal, Joachim Fuchsberger, Camille Keaton
Country: Italy/West Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie