When is a giallo not a giallo, but is a giallo anyway? When it features virtually no blood, no boobs, but still looks gorgeous and has you wondering what's going on right up until the end of the film. Klaus Kinski certainly makes easy money in this one, barely appearing as a strange scientist conducting experiments on astronauts on the moon and never interacting with anyone in the actual main plotline. In fact, he might just be a guy in a scenario dreamt up by Florinda Bolkan, because that's the impression we're given when she wakes up from dreaming about an astronaut abandoned on the moon.Florinda work and lives in the EUR, Rome's neo-classical business district, as a translator and after she sparks up a Dunhill and heads for work, she discovers to her bafflement that somehow she's blacked out and missed a few days of work without telling anyone. After confiding in her friend Ida Galli (don't get attached to her because she's in this for about two minutes), Florinda heads home and finds a torn-up postcard in her bin, showing a hotel in a place called Garma. Seemingly fired from her job due to vanishing, Florinda heads to Garma and things get even stranger. She meets up with a little girl (Nicoletta Elmi) who insists that she was there a couple of days ago, although she had red hair and called herself Nicole. Other people on the island seem to think the same thing, which causes Florinda to dig deeper, and she may not like what she finds. Meanwhile, Kinski appears now again in black and white, eerie sequences experimenting on astronauts on the moon...That's enough plot, seeing as the whole thing revolves around Florinda wandering around the island. There's a whole load of atmosphere in this one, and the whole film, give or take, has almost been bled of colour on purpose, just to emphasise Florinda's isolation (or maybe to reflect her blank memory of the past few days). If you've watched Bazzoni's Fifth Cord (you should) you'll get more of the same lush cinematography here, only here the introduction of colour here and there, for example a yellow dress, really stands out. I wonder if this is why the start of the film is set in the EUR, which is also a place strangely bled of colour. Dario Argento would do the same for his later giallo Tenebrae.Of course, watching someone wandering around an island and shouting at people would get boring really quickly, but Florinda Bolkan's the kind of actress who can carry a film on her own. She really does look troubled as the evidence piles up that she was at the island a few days before, or at least someone who really looked like her.This is a mild film (rated 12 in the UK) but shouldn't be missed. It's a shame this was Bazzoni's last film. I'll have to track to down his Spaghetti Western version of the opera Carmen

This film blew me away. It captured me right from the start of the movie. The longer you watch, the more is revealed but the more confusing and stranger it becomes... builds to a super climax into a bang up ending that will leave you wondering when the credits role.Is Alice really Alice? If not, is she Nichole? What in the heck does Alice/Nichole's nightmares of astronauts have to do with it? Has Alice/Nichole gone mad? Is all this real? And many more questions will arise during the viewing of this film.I acquired this film from the Sci-Fi Invasion 50-Pack. And this is most definitely one of the best films in the collection. The movie is worth watching if you like mystery-thrillers. I fell in-love with the movie the first time I watched it.9/10

A slim but occasionally thrilling giallo yarn with an offbeat plot that might be of interest to cult fans: the inclusion of a bizarre and spooky black and white science fiction film that makes repeated appearances throughout the movie, concerning an astronaut who finds himself abandoned on the lunar landscape after being deserted by his crew mates. What this has to do with the rest of the movie is unclear but it certainly makes things more interesting. Otherwise this is a character-focused mystery that falls under the definition of being a "giallo", although the main elements of the giallo - ie. the murders - are missing here, replaced by subtlety, atmosphere, and tons of mystery.FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON is a rather slow-going experience, tough to sit through due to the fact that absolutely nothing happens in the movie until the last ten minutes. Sure, lots of different characters are introduced and segments of the puzzle unearthed or remembered, but nothing in the way of action actually happens to further the plot in anyway. In fact, aside from the ending, the rest of the film chronicles Bolkan's attempt to discover what has happened in her past, events which are gradually uncovered in flashback. Despite being an uncomfortable viewing experience, there are numerous factors in this film's favour, not least the engaging turn from lead Florinda Bolkan, never better as the woman frustrated by her own identity. Although her amnesia is a done-to-the-death plot device, the formula still works in places and the heavy air of mystery and suspense makes things more bearable.Numerous familiar faces pop up in the cast, including fellow giallo veteran Evelyn Stewart (aka Ida Galli), wasted in a nothing role. Annoying redhead child Nicoletta Elmi (who later grew up in DEMONS) proves pivotal in helping Bolkan uncover some of her secrets, whilst veteran performer John Carlsen (THE SHE BEAST) makes an almost cameo appearance. But it's Klaus Kinski who is the most memorable, in an extremely small but important part as another kooky weirdo, and the film makes excellent use of his presence. Another memorable factor is the strong score by Nicola Piovani, which helps add to the experience. The ending, which I refer to repeatedly throughout this review, is unsettling and deeply horrifying stuff, best resembling a nightmare from which the protagonist cannot awake, definitely the strongest moment the film has to offer. Sadly the rest of the movie just can't match it.

Unable to cope with mounting pressures at work and haunted by visions of a lone astronaut abandoned on the surface of the moon, Alice travels to the exotic sea side town of Garma to get away from it all. She encounters a number of people there who claim to know her from earlier as Nicole, even though she insists this is her first time there. Brazillian born Florinda Bolkan turns in a solid performance as the elusive Portugese translator caught in the grips of a fugue. A strange but oddly compelling existential mystery about dual identities and self-fulfilling prophecies, Footprints on the moon is more reminiscent of art-house favorites such as Antonioni's L'aventura and Passenger and Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad, than say other Mystery/Thriller Genre fare so popular at the time in Italy. The story unfolds at a languorous pace and things get redundant after a while, but it does allow Cinematographer extraordinaire Vittorio Storaro to really explore the unique locations and dazzle with his wonderfully dexterous camera-work. He furthers the style he pioneered in The Conformist. Also, watch out for Klaus Kinski in a small role as a sinister Space Commander on the lookout for guinea pigs to conduct his secret experiments for a shadowy Government agency. Yes, I'm talking about the same movie.