The hardnosed British spinster Margaret Johnston is so uppity and uptight that she makes Maggie Smith in 'A Room With a View" seem like Lady Godiva. The situation is similar. Two sisters (Johnston and Dulcie Gray) arrive in Naples, having inherited the estate of their uncle whom their father had not talked to you in years. Shy Gray longs to live like any young lady, but her domineering sister I won't allow it. Johnston instantly forgets that she is no longer in her Homeland as she demands that the servants carry themselves as if it was a British household. Not a surprise that she becomes a victim of a possible poisoning! Sexy Kieron Moore is initially the brunt of much of her snobbery, but the sexy singing and beautiful estate filled with romance puts some glow in her girdle, and her attitude slowly lightens up. But after insulting the use of garlic in the cook's food and the demand that the sexy young chambermaid wear shoes, it will take more than a bit of lightning up on her part (and the camera man's) to make her someone to root for. Had she not inherited this estate, she may have indeed become a rival to infamous housekeeper Mrs. Danvers and ladies maid O'Brien.
I love the British gothic period melodramas of the 40's and 50's, from the Margaret Lockwood films at Gainsborough to obscure films like "Three Weird Sisters" and "The Late Edwina Black", and my personal favorite, "Footsteps in the Fog". This one adds a bit of Dean Martin's song "That's Amore" with its Mediterranean setting that stirs up the heat in a spinster's hard heart and could lead to her room. Moore, who is certainly not Italian, does a good job in convincing the audience that he is, a sinister grin appearing every now and then, but the camera for some reason changing the state of his hair, going from light to dark at one point to another. There's a great frivolous attitude at times, including a vivacious grape stomping sequence, but then Johnston shows up to darken it, eventually trapped by it. The script keeps you guessing as to what will happen and who the culprit is, and that makes this a great deal of fun. I believe that's Gina Lollobrigida who gets smacked in the face for flirting with Moore.
I love the British gothic period melodramas of the 40's and 50's, from the Margaret Lockwood films at Gainsborough to obscure films like "Three Weird Sisters" and "The Late Edwina Black", and my personal favorite, "Footsteps in the Fog". This one adds a bit of Dean Martin's song "That's Amore" with its Mediterranean setting that stirs up the heat in a spinster's hard heart and could lead to her room. Moore, who is certainly not Italian, does a good job in convincing the audience that he is, a sinister grin appearing every now and then, but the camera for some reason changing the state of his hair, going from light to dark at one point to another. There's a great frivolous attitude at times, including a vivacious grape stomping sequence, but then Johnston shows up to darken it, eventually trapped by it. The script keeps you guessing as to what will happen and who the culprit is, and that makes this a great deal of fun. I believe that's Gina Lollobrigida who gets smacked in the face for flirting with Moore.