Sergio Martino's directorial efforts have run the gamut — from straight exploitation (Mondo Sex and Mountain of the Cannibal God, which features Stacy Keach and Ursula Andress, as well as real animal mutilation which we'd never endorse) to horror (Island of the Fishmen, which in addition to starring Barbara Bach and Joseph Cotten, was re-edited by Jim Wynorski and re-entitled Screamers), post-apocalyptic action (2019 After the Fall of New York and Hands of Steel, which is more Terminator rip off than Road Warrior), spaghetti westerns, crime dramas, war films, comedies and even Italian TV, where he's worked for the last several decades. But this week we're here to discuss his contributions to the world of giallo.This is his first effort and the start of the ensemble case in which he'd use in his films. George Hilton would appear in four of his films, Ivan Rassimov in three and one of the queens of the giallo, Edwige Fenech, would star in three (in fact, she was married to Sergio's brother, the late producer Luciano Martino, at one time).Julie Wardh (Fenech) is the wealthy heir to a retailing company. But she's also a fragile flower, back in Vienna, a city packed with memories and former lovers. She's married to Neil (Alberto de Mendoza from Horror Express and Lizard in a Woman's Skin), a man so wealthy and powerful that he leaves for business the moment they land.As Julie rides alone in the rain, her car is stopped by the police who are on the hunt for a killer. The sound of the wiper blades reminds her of the last time she was here, recalling a vicious fight between her and a lover who repeatedly slapped her around before they made love in the rain. There's a gorgeous shot here at the end, where the lovers are to the left of the camera while rain descends on them, almost illuminating them and a sports card pushes into the right foreground. Compared to other giallo which seem content to merely ape Argento or seem like boring police procedurals, Martino aspires to art within his direction (which honestly is why this site is planning on a week of his films).A green light and honking horns snap Julie from her reverie and she returns to her apartment, where she takes strange notice of a car. Her apartment has been left exactly as it was the last time she was here — it's a white pop art explosion of metallic, green and blue lines contrasted with oval windows — and just as she's getting ready to take a bath, the buzzer rings. A dozen roses with a note attached: The worst part of you is the best thing you have and will always be mine – Jean.We cut to a party, where Caroll (Conchita Airoldi, who would go on to produce Cemetery Man) is trying to hook Julie up with her cousin George (George Hilton, All the Colors of the Dark, The Case of the Bloody Iris) as a catfight between two girls in paper dresses goes down. Tell you what — if I am to learn anything from giallo, it's that every party in 1970's Italy was packed with drugs, crazy music and the chance that anything from a fist fight to an orgy could happen at any minute. People had to be exhausted all the time. Jean (Ivan Rassimov from Planet of the Vampires, Your Vice is a Locked Door and Only I Have the Key, Eaten Alive!), the guy who sent the roses and was the man she remembered in the earlier flashback, is there extending a salute. This enrages Julie, who leaves the party, but he follows her into the street. He reminds her that she belongs to him, but she counters that she married Neil to escape him, which is cemented when Neil shows up and punches the dude. Jean just laughs, looking at both of them, knowing that he owns Julie body and soul.Read more at bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/09/04/the-strange-vice-of-mrs-wardh-1971

A leather-gloved maniac is slicing up girls with an open razor. Married woman Julie (Edwige Fenech) finds herself menaced by the killer, but is the culprit her sadistic ex-lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov) or someone much closer to her (possible suspects including husband Neil and new lover George)?Immediately prior to watching The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, I saw the unofficial Turkish remake, Thirsty For Love, Sex and Murder, which replayed many of the Italian film's scenes verbatim. I was hoping that Sergio Martino's original would be a little more coherent (it runs about half an hour longer than its Turkish counterpart), and it is, but there are still a few moments that prevent it from being a truly great giallo—scenes that take quite a bit of swallowing.Thankfully, 'The Strange Vice…' doesn't have the silly decapitated head trick that rendered the remake laughable, but the alternative is still pretty daft (how long did Jean have to lie in that bloody bath pretending to be dead before Julie and George found him?). Then there's the issue of Julie's plush, high spec apartment having a leaky, rusting radiator. The ending also stretches plausibility an awful lot, with Julie also playing possum in order to help catch the real villains. Still, at least this one offers up a whole lot of gratuitous nudity (a giallo staple) and violence, is better acted and far more stylish than 'Thirsty For Love…', the excellent cinematography and lush score making it both an audio and visual delight.Fenech fans, of course, won't need convincing that the film is worthy of a watch: with the brunette beauty frequently stripping off, this one's a no-brainer for admirers of the Latin lovely.

The beginning of the seventies saw the full spread of the "Giallo" genre mainly thanks to the works of Mario Bava (who started it in the mid-sixties), Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Nevertheless a few other directors left a mark: one to remember was Aldo Lado with his amazing "Short Night of the Glass Dolls" and another was Sergio Martino with "Lo Strano Vizio...". Anyone interested in those nicely aged Italian B movies where settings, screenplay, direction, music... all seem to work very easily in perfect harmony, should definitely not miss this movie! Thrill, violence, stylish interiors, smart dialogues, a memorable score, and a very inventive plot together with some awesome (often naked) actresses, will capture your attention all the way through... contributing once again to leave us a visually stunning portrait of the Seventies like no other movie genre was able to do. A fantastic and recommended movie, also for non-giallo fanatics. Really enjoyable!

This is a great typical Italian Giallo genre example, that has all of the usual and required elements in it, such as lots of fake blood, bad dubbing, weird sound effects, some surreal dream-like sequences, a lunatic murderer, an eerie atmosphere and lots of sex and naked women (for some reason they even start to wrestle naked in the movie).These Italian thriller/horror productions from the '70's and '80's are often fantastic to watch and are totally overlooked by the big audience. It's a great and original genre on its own and it uses different 'rules' than the Hollywood productions from the same era and beyond. It for instance has different kind of editing, different kind of cinematography (often also hand-held to increase the movie its atmosphere and tension), a different style of build-up (real European-style). It's always something special and unusual to watch. It has an unpleasant and creepy kind of atmosphere, in which unexpected things happen all the time. There's never really much to the story of these sort of movie, even though they always try hard. It's simple but it always works well. This movie is not really an exception to this, even though it surely has its original moments and like always a great twist at the end and some twists in between.The acing is above average and is by genre standards. The women are cast because of their beautiful looks and the men because of their charismatic appearances, both pretty and villainously ugly. Especially Ivan Rassimov works out great, while Edwige Fenech is also a pretty good leading lady, who perhaps faints and scream one or two too many times. She now also plays a small part in "Hostel: Part II", an obvious reference and homage to her Giallo past, by director Eli Roth. The movie has a great typical Italian genre movie musical score by Nora Orlandi. The kind of stuff Ennio Morricone also used to compose in his most early days. Very unusual sounding but wonderful at the same time. The musical score was even reused later again by Quentin Tarantino, for his movie "Kill Bill: Vol. 2".Not the best but still a great example of the genre.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/