Disc Reviews

You Gotta Have Face: Kinski Finds Kinky in Freda’s “Double Face” (1969) | Blu-ray Review

Published on June 25, 2019

Arrow Video seems to be staging a bit of a Riccardo Freda renaissance. Several weeks after recuperating his odd 1971 Irish giallo The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, they unleash his London set Double Face, which straddles the line between the popular Edgar Wallace krimi genre (which it was marketed as in West Germany) and a giallo in Italy. But what’s most notable about this late period Freda offering is for a subdued performance from the inimitable Klaus Kinski as a cuckolded businessman haunted by the notion his recently deceased wife is alive and well and making local pornographic films, no less. Taking advantage of the swinging sixties vibe, this odd mash-up of exploitation elements needlessly complicates an overly simplistic plot, but the psychosexual undertones, paired with a sobering Kinski performance, ensures an unpredictable, utterly watchable experience.

After a whirlwind romance, London industrialist John Alexander (Kinski) weds Helen (Margaret Lee). But once they’ve settled into their wealthy lifestyle, it seems Helen is clearly more attracted to Liz (Annabella Incontrera). As their relationship dissolves and Helen seems primed to move on, she is tragically killed in a fiery car crash in a vehicle which looks to have been tampered with. When a mysterious woman (Christine Kruger) ingratiates herself upon John, he’s introduced to a porno film which appears to feature Helen and was filmed after her death. Quickly, John becomes obsessed with discovering if his hunch is correct.

While Kinski may be uncharacteristically strait-laced in Double Face, his John Alexander is hardly a kind-hearted, enthusiastic character to empathize with, which makes his haunted mourning all a bit (and as it turns out, justifiably) suspect. As the cheating lesbian wife Helen (Margaret Lee, who also starred opposite Kinski in Venus in Furs, also 1969), she’s clearly the emotionally abusive partner (suggesting she could care less if her husband sleeps with his secretary since she’s embarked on a highly charged affair with her friend Liz). But John’s no walk in the park, as evidenced by his curious treatment of Christine Kruger’s enigmatic catalyst Christine, who crashes at his isolated mansion a la Losey’s Eva (1962), and leading him to the party where he witnesses Helen, hidden behind a thick matting, in a pornographic film.

The Egyptian born Freda began his career in early 1940s Italy and developed a strong filmography of historical epics and fantasy horror films. Double Face, like The Iguana with the Tongue on Fire came towards the tail end of his career, reflecting popular genre trends (both films also reflect the sentiments of their co-producing countries). The krimi genre, inspired by the works of British author Edgar Wallace in 1950s and 60s German cinema, was a bit of an archaic model by 1969, while Double Face also predates the outlandish flourishes which became a customary popular trend following the success of Argento’s The Bird with the Crustal Plumage (1970), a title Freda’s Iguana certainly seems to reflect. As with the latter title, Freda seems overtly disinterested in visual narrative style, however, with many aspects of Double Face feeling a bit slapdash (an early skiing sequence is an egregious eyesore, for instance, but so are much of the rest of DP Gábor Pogány’s efforts, including some rather unenthusiastic snippets of London’s youth culture, about as rote as the Geraldine Chaplin led troupe in the ridiculous Simenon adaptation, Cop Out, 1967). Still, once we get to the revelation of Helen, one can appreciate the methodical Gothic ambience built up in Double Face, which was co-written by Lucio Fulci and based on a Wallace novel. Sydney Chaplin, the second son of Charlie Chaplin, also pops up as a supporting character.

Disc Review:

Arrow Video presents Double Face as a new 2K restoration of the full-length Italian version from the original 35mm camera negative in 1.85:1 with 1.0 uncompressed LPCM audio. Picture and sound quality are impressive, particularly Nora Orlandi’s eerie, classically inspired score. An audio commentary track from author and critic Tim Lucas is also available.

The Many Faces of Nora Orlandi:
Musician and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon presents this new appreciation of Nora Orlandi’s varied career in this forty-three-minute segment

7 Notes for a Murder:
Arrow recorded this new half-hour interview with Nora Orlandi in March 2019.

The Terrifying Dr. Freda:
Author and critic Amy Simmons presents this new nineteen-minute video essay on Riccardo Freda’s gialli.

Film Review: ★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
Disc Review: ★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆

Related Topics:Christiane Krüger, Double Face, Foreign Film Blu Ray Review, Günther Stoll, Klaus Kinski, Riccardo Freda

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.