The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, 1971.
Directed by Riccardo Freda.
Starring Luigi Pistilli, Dagmar Lassander, Anton Diffring, Valentina Cortese.
SYNOPSIS:
A grizzled detective investigating the murder of a young woman gets romantically involved with the daughter of the victim’s lover as each of the primary suspects is killed off one by one.
Coming in the wake of Dario Argento’s so-called ‘Animal Trilogy’ of gialli in the early 1970s, the excellently titled The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is a giallo that contains no iguanas or fire (although they are mentioned) but does feature a black-gloved killer with a penchant for throwing acid in their victim’s faces before slitting their throat with a straight razor, and then in a very convoluted – even for a giallo – way it manages to make every character in the film a suspect, just to really throw you off the scent.
And it sort of works as when the final reveals come they do make you go “Eh?” but when you go back across the film and try to see the clues they are there – in fact, you’ll probably feel pretty dumb for not realising who the murderer is but then again, part of the fun with giallo movies is trying to piece it all together and failing miserably. Another fun part of post-Argento gialli is the way people are dispatched and the filmmakers aren’t shy in showing us acid melting faces and throats not just being cut but totally mutilated, with some extreme close-ups on prosthetic heads that might have looked a bit like the actors they represent if you were watching the film on an old VHS but this is a 2K scan and is very unforgiving when it comes to showing off how the gags were done. Still, it shows that the Italians were trying to up their game when it came to violence.
The cast is also worthy of a mention as there are some familiar faces here all doing a grand job, not least Luigi Pistilli (Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) as John Norton, the prickly detective who lives with his daughter and elderly mother (who reads a lot of Agatha Christie novels, funnily enough) and strikes up a relationship with Helen Sobiesky (Dagmar Lassander – Werewolf Woman), the step-daughter of Ambassador Sobiesky (Anton Diffring – Escape to Victory) who owns the car used to hide the first body, but is the slimy Ambassador the murderer? Given Anton Diffring’s stoic performance you’d have him clearly marked out as the killer from the first time you see him but given the complex nature of this plot that would be too easy. However, he is certainly guilty of something…
Rumour has it that director Riccardo Freda originally wanted Roger Moore in the role of John Norton but had to settle for Luigi Pistilli. Not sure how close he came to landing Moore but given that James Bond was beckoning it is unlikely that the suave Sir Roger would have signed on for this. Probably just as well as Luigi Pistilli does his best to be an action hero, romantic lead and intuitive detective, and he pulls it off convincingly enough for this type of movie, although the dodgy dubbed accents that are used don’t help in keeping the tone as serious as it probably should be. There aren’t many gialli set and filmed in Dublin so that makes this film unique but the comedy Irish accents don’t do the steely-eyed detective any favours, let alone the campy servants and stuffy police officials, but it does add to the fun.
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is a strange one. Strange in that it is highly enjoyable but for all the wrong reasons, and it is easy to see why ‘serious’ giallo enthusiasts (and the director himself) may not view it too favourably as it is completely absurd with a plot that is messy and contrived, flat direction with little flair and dumb dialogue delivered with all the nuance of a stand-up comedian from a 1970s working men’s club. However, if you are able to get past all of that and view it with a slightly ironic eye then it is one of the more entertaining exercises in post-Argento giallo trash and although it does get muddled and confused in its own story it is never boring, the actors all deliver and for a fix of sex-and-death murder mystery it hits the spot. Just don’t judge it too harshly.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
