4/10
So-So Crime Drama Appeals to Lovers of 60s Euro Trash
3 February 2024
Inaccurately listed in some film books as a thriller, this movie is more accurately a melodramatic soap opera with occasional violence and a few memorable nude scenes from stars Marisa Mell and Sylva Koscina.

Carla walks along a high cliff overlooking the sea, contemplating suicide, when artist Anton (Stephen Boyd) drives by in his Jeep. His appearance dissuades Carla from jumping, and the two of them begin an affair.

In and around their dates and lovemaking, Carla thinks about her wealthy ex-lover, Luis (Fernando Rey), who was stolen from her by her sometimes-lesbian lover, Lola (Sylva Koscina). The film's flashback structure makes for occasionally fun watching, as both Marisa and Sylva get to be seen in a multitude of 1970s fashions, lots of heavy eye makeup, and strange hairdos. Sometimes, their wardrobe changes drastically from one minute to the next.

The movie's Spanish-language title, HISTORIA DE UNA TRAICÎON (or, HISTORY OF A BETRAYAL), is more appropriate, as Carla is turned out in the cold by Luis and later discovers Anton has been working her for a scam. In the end, Carla and Lola turn to murder to get even with the men that hurt them, and settle down to the good life (care of Luis' vast estate).

This was the second of two movies featuring Mell and Boyd, and directed by J. A. Nieves Conde. The first film, MARTA (1971), was an authentic Italian thriller and at least benefited from Boyd playing an insane killer. The director previously made a bizarre monster movie, SOUND OF HORROR (1964), which was about invisible dinosaurs.
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