What Have They Done to Solange

"What were you doing in the boat, fishing?"

STORY/HISTORY

Another day, another giallo…I guess. With the start of giallo craze in the early to mid seventies, one was responsible; The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. Argento's mastery shines through in every aspect of the film and defined him as the "Italian Hitchcock". I don't consider it his best film, nut merely a starting ground for all his other work to later be based upon. With the unsuspected success of plumage, everyone and their mothers quickly jumped on the bandwagon. We got a slew of imitations. Some rivaling Plumage, most not even coming close. But, a few managed to garner a following and secure a place in fans hearts all over. Dallamano is one of those directors. While using the standard formula, he always added something that caught your attention. In Solange, the killer (most of the time) stabs the female victims in the vaginal area, which must have pushed the boundaries back in 1972. Take that trait away and what do we have, your regular thriller being churned out by the dozens. The movie isn't bad, not at all, rather just plain.

The good part is D'Amato, moonlighting as Aristide Massaccesi, handles the role of Director of Photography and does a splendid job doing such. His work here, reminiscent of his earlier (better) films helps create a tension not found in the writing or direction. This alone turns out to be Solange's saving grace and aides in placing this film in the middle of the giallo stack. Originally entitled "Cosa Avete Fatto a Solange?", EC brings us this lost work from Dallamano under the title "Solange" and does a fine job in the process. Here goes.

VIDEO

The film is shown widescreen at 1.85:1 (NTSC) and overall is quite good. Nicks and scratches are almost non-existent and grain isn't too bad for the most part. There is no noise either which all add up to a good transfer right? Well, the problems I found were small, but still there. First, the transfer was a little soft for my taste. I know I lean towards an image sharper than film, but that is just me, so you decide. Secondly, some scenes were too dark and others, the contrast was way too high creating a ridiculously bright picture during some scenes. Like I said, the issues were minor but I wanted to point them out. Finally there is a hair on the print for around three minutes which is very annoying. After all is said and done, a nice job by EC.

AUDIO

The only sound option is an English DD stereo track and it gets the job done. The dialogue is clear and without breakup, but the music possesses an old quality that differentiates itself from the dialogue. The music contains hiss, and frankly sounds analog. I also didn't care for the soundtrack as I am not a big fan of Morricone. Don't get me wrong, his work on Salo and The Thing are astounding, but his earlier giallo work is just a turnoff. If you love classic Morricone, rest assured you will love the music to Solange. Nothing life changing in the sound department, but we didn't expect that, did we?

EXTRAS

We get a standard fare of EC extras on this disc that is similar to all their other releases. We get a still gallery of artwork, lobby cards, & stills from Solange to start. You'll go through them once and feel satisfied you did. Looking at release artwork from all over is something I always enjoy and there is a good amount for this release. Next we get trailers for Fulci's Black Cat & Soavi's Stagefright, but no trailer for Solange. I really was looking forward to the trailer and was disappointed when I found this feature was absent. EC could have spent more time compiling extras, but then again, Dallamano could have spent more time making a better giallo.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Of all the people I talked to about this one, they were all extreme in their opinion. They either loved it, or they hated it. I fell somewhere in the middle. It has nothing to make it stand out from other giallos and certainly cannot compete with the great ones. The movie is slow paced, and once you are half way into it, you almost have no interest in picking out the killer. This gets tossed in with films like Torso and Autopsy-been there, done that. So please, if you want a good, more obscure giallo, I found that Dallamano's follow-up What Have They Done to Your Daughters, was a better crafted thriller, so you might be better off checking that one out instead.

DISC RATINGS

MOVIE-C

VIDEO-B

AUDIO-B

EXTRAS-C

Review by Dolph Chiarino