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Double Face
Double Face
	German film poster
Directed by	Riccardo Freda
Screenplay by	Riccardo Freda; Paul Hengge;
Story by	Romano Migliorini; Gianbattista Mussetto; Lucio Fulci;
Produced by	Oreste Coltellacci; Horst Wendlandt;
Starring	Klaus Kinski; Annabella Incontrera; Sydney Chaplin; Christiane Krüger; Günther Stoll; Barbara Nelli; Margaret Lee;
Cinematography	Gábor Pogány
Edited by	Hanna Amedei; Jutta Hering;
Music by	Nora Orlandi
Production; companies	Colt Produzioni Cinematografiche; Mega Film; Rialto Film;
Distributed by	Panta Cinematografica (Italy); Constantin Film (West Germany);
Release dates	4 July 1969 (West Germany); 26 July 1969 (Italy);
Running time	90 minutes (Italy); 80 minutes (West Germany);
Countries	Italy; West Germany;
Budget	DM 1.3 million
Box office	₤175.626 million

Double Face (Italian: A doppia faccia,^[a] German: Das Gesicht im Dunkeln, lit. 'The Face in the Dark') is a 1969 thriller film directed by Riccardo Freda and starring Klaus Kinski, Christiane Krüger and Annabella Incontrera. It is part of the series of Edgar Wallace adaptations made by Rialto Film.

Plot

A businessman named John Alexander learns that his wealthy wife Helen has died in a car accident. After mourning, he runs afoul of some shady characters who lead him to believe that his wife is still alive.

Cast

Cast information from the book Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker.^[1]

Klaus Kinski as John Alexander
Christiane Krüger as Christine
Annabella Incontrera as Liz
Sydney Chaplin as Mr. Brown
Luciano Spadoni as Inspector Gordon
Barbara Nelli as Alice
Margaret Lee as Helen Alexander, née Brown
Gastone Pescucci as Peter Nader^[2]
Günther Stoll as Inspector Stevens
Carlo Marcolino as Butler
Ignazio Dolce

The following cast went uncredited.^[1]

Bedy Moratti
Fulvio Pellegrino as a Policeman
Domenico Ravenna as Man at a horse race

Production

During the later part of director Riccardo Freda's career, the director began attempting commercially viable genres.^[4] Freda met with Italian producer Oreste Coltellacci who set up a deal with the German company Rialto who created several work in the German subgenre called the krimi.^[4] The krimis were inspired by the works of Edgar Wallace and had been popular since Harald Reinl's film Der Frosch mit der Maske (1959)^[4] In Germany, the film was promoted as being based on Das Gesicht im Dunkeln by Edgar Wallace.^[4] This was done for commercial reasons as the script had nothing to do with the book.^[4] The original story for the film was developed by Lucio Fulci, Romano Migliorini and Gianbattista Mussetto.^[4] The film's screenplay is credited to Freda and Austrian-born Paul Hengge.^[4] According to Giusti, Fulci wrote the first treatment.^[5] Fulci would claim in an interview in 1994 that he wrote the film for Freda.^[4]^[6] He disliked the film, stating that Freda had "completely crushed it down to a pulp; at that time, he just didn't care anymore."^[6]^[7] Fulci would revisit Double Face's central theme ― of a man learning that his wife has seemingly faked her death ― in his own film One on Top of the Other (1969).^[8]

When casting the film, Freda met with Klaus Kinski in Rome where Kinski initially refused to be in the film not wanting to play another psychopathic character.^[9] Freda convinced him to take the role after learning he would play the part of a victim instead.^[9]

Double Face was shot between 20 January and 15 March 1969 at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome and on location in London and Liverpool.^[1] Freda and Kinski did not get along on set, with Freda referring to him as "the Crown Prince of Assholes"^[9] and eventually proceeding to shoot the film with a Kinski double he found on the set of a Federico Fellini film.^[9] When Kinski found out about this, he put aside his differences and continued working on the film.^[9]

Release

Double Face was released in West Germany on 4 July 1969 under the title of Das Gesicht im Dunkeln (lit. The Face in the Dark) with an 80 minute runtime.^[2]^[1]^[10] It was distributed in West Germany by Constantin Film GmbH.^[2] It was released theatrically in Italy as A doppia faccia on 26 July 1969 where it was distributed by Panta with a 90 minute runtime.^[1]^[10] The film grossed 175,626,000 Italian lire domestically in Italy.^[1]^[10]

It was released later in France as Liz et Helen (lit. 'Liz and Helen') and also with added adult scenes involving actress Alice Arno as Chaleur et Jouissance (lit. 'Heat and Pleasure').^[11] It was released in the United States as Puzzle of Horrors.^[10]

Reception

Film critic Marco Giusti writes that Kinski "is mad, hysterical, but dominates the film", remembers the nice intrigue around Kinski's character, and praises the lesbian scenes.^[7]

Legacy

Novelist and film historian Tim Lucas has cited the scene in which John Alexander watches a stag film starring Christine and a woman he believes to be Helen due to a scar on the back of her neck as an inspiration for his 1994 novel Throat Sprockets.^[12]

Notes

^ Although "Double Face" is a literal translation of A doppia faccia, Tim Lucas has suggested that more precise interpretations of the Italian title include "Double-Sided" or "Duplicitous".^[3]

References

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Curti 2017, p. 325.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Das Gesicht im Dunkeln". Filmportal.de.
^ Lucas, Tim (2019). Double Face (Audio Commentary) (Blu-ray). Arrow Video. Event occurs at 0:01:25. FCD1894.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Curti 2017, p. 238.
^ Giusti 1999, p. 3.
^ ^a ^b Curti 2017, p. 239.
^ ^a ^b Giusti 1999, p. 5.
^ Lucas, Tim (2019). Double Face (Audio Commentary) (Blu-ray). Arrow Video. Event occurs at 0:48:00. FCD1894.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Curti 2017, p. 240.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Curti 2017, p. 326.
^ Lucas, Tim. Blood and Black Lace DVD, Image Entertainment, 2005. ASIN: B000BB1926
^ Lucas, Tim (2019). Double Face (Audio Commentary) (Blu-ray). Arrow Video. Event occurs at 0:46:51. FCD1894.

Sources

Brizio-Skov, Flavia (2011). Popular Italian Cinema: Culture and Politics in a Postwar Society. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84885-572-4.
Curti, Roberto (2017). Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-2838-7.
Giusti, Marco (1999). dizionario dei film italiani STRACULT [sic]. Cles: Sterling & Kupfer. ISBN 88-200-2919-7.
Paul, Louis (2005). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8749-3.