The Sweet Body of Deborah aka Il dolce corpo di Deborah (1968) Film Soleil Noir on the Cusp

Directed by Romolo Guerrieri.

Written by Ernesto Gastaldi and based on a story by Luciano Martino and Ernesto Gastaldi. Cinematography by Marcello Masciocchi and the Music was by Nora Orlandi.

The film stars Carroll Baker (Baby Doll 1956, Transitional Noirs Something Wild (1961) and Sylvia (1965)) as Deborah, Jean Sorel (One On Top The Other (1969)) as Marcel, George Hilton as Robert (the voyeur), Evelyn Stewart (La Dolce Vita (1960)) as Susan/Suzanne Boileau, and Luigi Pistilli (For A Few Dollars More (1965), The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966), Death Rides A Horse (1967), and The Great Silence (1968)) as Philip. 

Here is one of those films on the Cusp between Film Noir/Film Soleil and what would become Giallo. Giallos would evolve into a combo of suspense, thriller, eroticism, and slasher violence, with the stylistic violence eventually being the defining characteristic. I'll admit I haven't seen many Giallo but almost all the ones that I have seen are invariably about boring rich jetsetters, zooming around in expensive sports cars living the high life in ornate villas, or in seaside castles/estates along the Italian and French Riviera and playing sexual and psychological games with psyche and fragile mental states of each others characters. 

 Carroll Baker as Deborah, Jean Sorel as Marcel

Evelyn Stewart as Susan/Suzanne Boileau, and Luigi Pistilli as Philip

George Hilton as Robert 

And since its the late 60s and 70s and the disco era the fashion trends towards, for the women, backless halter tops, hot pants and body-hugging catsuits, glitter makeup big hair and platform shoes, for the men leisure suits with flared bell bottoms haircuts were styled with soft and long layers, sideburns and porn star moustaches.

These films are usually never about everyday poor schmucks from the wrong side of the tracks who spiral out of control through no fault of their own into the abyss of Noirsville. 

James Ellroy put it this way “Here’s what film noir is to me. It’s a righteous, generically American film movement that went from 1945 to 1958 and exposited one great theme and that theme is… you’re fucked. You have just met a woman, you are inches away from the greatest sex of your life but within six weeks of meeting the woman you will be framed for a crime you did not commit and you’ll end up in the gas chamber and as they strap you in and you’re about to breath the cyanide fumes you’ll be grateful for the few weeks you had with her and grateful for your own death.”

The Story

Deborah and Marcel. Newlyweds. Deborah is a rich American woman from California and her husband was a relatively average kid from Geneva, Switzerland. They are on their honeymoon in Europe and driving Deborah's red 1967 Fiat Dino Spider convertible with her California plates. On a side trip Marcel takes Deborah to Geneva to show her his hometown. 

More honeymoon rituals in Geneva with Deborah and Marcel.

While out at a nightclub Deborah and Marcel are watching an elaborate strip show. Marcel spots Philip an old friend across the room. Philip ignores him. 

Marcel is confused and upset and follows Philip out to his car. Deborah follows at a distance. When Marcel catches up to Philip, Philip gives him the cold shoulder. When he asks him what is wrong Philip calls him a murderer. Philip then tells him that when he left the girl that he broke up with, Susan, killed herself.

Marcel along with Susan drive up to the Boileau Mansion, Susan's parents house. Marcel wants to speak with Susan's parents. The gate is dummy locked. Marcel unhooks the lock removes the chain and opens the gate and drives up to the house. The house is deserted. 

1967 Fiat Dino Spider

Boileau Mansion

However while wandering around the deserted rooms, a piano is heard eerily tinkling what will become Susan's "leitmotif" later a phonograph is found mysteriously playing the same song. 

A phone also rings and when Marcel answers he gets a threatening message. While Deborah and Marcel drive out of the gate and down the road we see Philip step out of the bushes and watch them depart. 

Ah ha! Obviously, we know now that this is not a ghost story and that Philip has some nefarious plan. 

Back in their hotel room, Deborah and Marcel enjoying their honeymoon, make love. The phone rings and another threatening message is given. Deborah is upset enough, that she takes a tranquilizer. Later at a boxing match Marcel again sees Philip in the crowd. 

On the day Marcel wants to go do some errands including going to the airport to change their flight plans. They are going to drive down to the their next stop, the Riviera, he goes into the hotel garage to pick up the Fiat, but he finds that Deborah ordered it to be washed waxed and lubed. So Marcel takes a taxi. 

Later, during the course his taxi ride he spots the red Fiat with California plates parked outside a bar. He tells the taxi drier to let him off. He looks in the window and spots Deborah speaking with Philip. They look awful friendly together to Marcel. 

Ah ha! Now we wonder if this is a plot against Marcel by Deborah and Philip.

When confronted by Marcel, Deborah explains that she wanted to meet with Philip to convince him that it was not Marcel's fault that Susan killed herself. Marcel buys that explanation. So they drive down to the Riviera and check into another hotel. They make love again. But another call threatening Deborah's life upsets their marital bliss, Deborah takes more tranquillizers. 

The next day she decides to rent a furnished estate where they will be in peace. They move in and are happy until they are surprised by their eccentric neighbor who is an artist. They first meet him sitting on a tall ladder with an easel painting a landscape. He jokingly tells them that he is a voyeur. 

It all goes Noirsville when Philip shows up one night at the estate and tries to kill Deborah. Marcel is able to kill him but instead of reporting the crime to the police, they decide to just burry him on the grounds (in true bonehead Film Noir fashion). 

The next rainy morning Deborah wakes up in an empty bed, a note explains for her to pack all their clothes and that Marcel has gone to the airport and is getting flight tickets. When Deborah looks out the window towards the burial site she sees an open grave and the supposedly dead and buried Philip standing their looking at her.

 In another window the long dead Susan is also watching her. Deborah takes all her tranquillizers.

Noirsville

It's watchable, mostly for Carroll Baker, and Jean Sorel reminds you a lot of Robert Wagner, but probably only once for me. I like a bit more big city grime and grittiness in my Noirs or sun baked Southwest Mojave deserts with crumbling flyspeck towns in my Film Soleil rather than glamour and Euro glitz. 6-7/10

  The film is like an elaborate twisty-turn Hitchcock film where us, the audience, is never let in on what is going on until the absolute very end