DEADLY SWEET (1967)
Directed by TINTO BRASS
Review by PHIL ALLELY


Released by Cult Epics
Running Time: 105 minutes
Rating: NR
Color format: Color/B&W
Audio/Subtitles: Italian, English Subtitles
Region Code: 1, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 1.85:1
16:9 Enhanced: Yes
Special Features: Restored directors cut, lobby card gallery, trailer, commentary by Tinto Brass.
Trailer Online: No

Many of us will know filmmaker Tinto Brass as a soft-core erotica maker, but that is not the be all and end all of this man’s talent. He is a super writer/director and filmmaker as well, his countless fans will attest to that also.

This early effort by Tinto Brass is a great example of his untapped work. DEADLY SWEET is a thriller of the crime genre, but it has a few other fingers in pies also. At the very basic level this is a movie that tries to blend genres (before genres even knew they really existed). Brass and his team have moulded a film that actually gave a whole new generation of filmmaker a reason to live.

This as I’ve stated is very early Tinto Brass and it is also one of those films that does nothing like what you’d expect by its publicity material. DEADLY SWEET has a nice little edge in sultry 1969s sex; it’s got an abundance of miniskirts, mostly worn by the very sexual lead actress (Ewa Aulin) as Candy.

If I was pushed I would say that this is one of the films that pushed the boundaries of the crime genre of moviemaking and gave filmmakers a chance to reach further than ever before. The makers here have taken the traditional ideas and added in some neat little split screen images, inserted black and white scenes and even taken a page or two out of the popular (at the time) comic book market in making the story seem real.

In this feature we meet a strong man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and a vulnerable young girl (the nymph like Aulin), he character Candy is found standing over the dead body of a disco owner, who just happened to be blackmailing her father it’s set in a seedy 1960s London underground club scene. Of course our hero is there to step in and help, he has his work cut out for him as he tries to assist the damsel in distress. Tinto’s more recent fans may not like this early effort, but I’d recommend it to anyone, the ideas here are well throughout and the overall concept has much potential.

Whilst this idea has a few negatives going for it these days, you have to look at the bigger picture and see that when it was produced such ideas were so fresh and unknown that they were not even conceivable. This film has a lot going for it, in its heritage (director and stars), its place in the annals of filmmaking and its stature as one of Tinto Brass’s few non porn style films, but it also in my opinion has a spot to fill as an early film in the genre of comic book adaptations, I have an idea that DEADLY SWEEY has a future as a pulp fiction comic book forerunner somewhere down the line also.

The restored version here has at least cleaned up any 1960s picture issues and perhaps now it’s a good time to listen to Mr Brass’s audio commentary which offers so many great ideas as to why this film worked so well.