Femme fatale

Among the many actresses who were trying to build their fame in genre cinema, one was sadly under-employed and did not appear in the best productions: Marina Malfatti.
With her beautiful yet strange looks, she's a typical European "femme fatale" of the 70's. Severe but charming, Italian with a hint of German style, mysterious and vulnerable, she probably epitomises ambiguity better than any other.

Her magnetic presence in the role of Mary, Jane's (Edwige Fenech) mysterious neighbour in "All the colors of the dark" (Sergio Martino - 1972), by far makes her the most interesting character in this otherwise particularly disappointing giallo. She manages to exhude a poisonous beauty which perfectly suits her character and makes her very attractive yet scary at the same time. Probably the modern idea of a witch.

In the film, she is the one who leads Jane to a satanic sect, then vanishes. She is Mary, not that immaculate.


If "Tutti i colori del buio" is a giallo you can easily live without, its score by Bruno Nicolai is a great one you can find here.
Marina Malfatti was also quickly appearing in Umberto Lenzi's "Seven Bloodstained Orchids", on which I wrote a few words there.