One on Top of the Other

One on Top of the Other (Una sull'altra)
Italian film poster
Directed by	Lucio Fulci
Produced by	Edmondo Amati
Screenplay by	Lucio Fulci Roberto Gianviti José Luis Martínez Mollá
Story by	Roberto Gianviti Lucio Fulci
Starring	Jean Sorel Marisa Mell Elsa Martinelli John Ireland Alberto de Mendoza Jean Sobieski Faith Domergue
Music by	Riz Ortolani
Cinematography	Alejandro Ulloa
Edited by	Ornella Micheli
Production company	Empire Films Les Productions Jacques Roitfeld Trébol Films C.C.
Distributed by	Fida Cinematografica
Release date	15 August 1969
Running time	97 minutes 107 minutes (uncut version)
Country	Italy France Spain[1]
Language	English Italian
Box office	₤869,000,000

One on Top of the Other (Italian: Una sull'altra)^[2], also known as Perversion Story, is a 1969 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci. Written by Fulci and Roberto Gianviti, the film stars Jean Sorel, Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, Alberto de Mendoza and John Ireland.

Una sull'altra was filmed on location in several United States cities, including a scene filmed in San Quentin State Prison's gas chamber. The film went on to gross ₤869,000,000, and has been cited as a thematic precursor to later films such as Basic Instinct and Body of Evidence.

Plot summary

George Dumurrier (Jean Sorel) is a wealthy doctor with the emphasis on the business. He runs a clinic with his younger brother Henry (Alberto De Mendoza), but leaves care of his asthma-stricken wife Susan (Marisa Mell) to her sister Martha (Faith Domergue) and a local nurse. George is soon revealed to be having an affair with Jane (Elsa Martinelli), the personal assistant to Larry (Jean Sobiesky), a trendy photographer. Although very much in love with George, Jane is fatalistic about the future of their relationship.

George and Jane travel out of town for a romantic break in Reno. But after arriving at the casino, George receives a phone call from Henry telling him that Susan has died during a violent asthma attack. Returning home to his plush San Francisco home, George is consoled by Henry, but frozen out by the hostile Martha who has always disapproved of George marrying her sister. However, a $1 million insurance policy left by Susan is a timely bonus for George's recklessly extended business enterprise. But perhaps too likely as an insurance agent (Bill Vanders) begins tailing George, discovers his affair with Jane, and brings his suspicions to the local police detective, Inspector Wald (John Ireland).

Meanwhile, an anonymous tip-off leads George and Jane to 'The Roaring Twenties', a strip club where they are both astonished at the appearance of Monica, a nightclub stripper who, although a luxuriant blond, bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead Susan. George is morbidly attracted to her and soon embarks on an affair that is part detection, part willing seduction. When the police, who have been tailing him, arrest Monica, she tells them that she was paid to pose as Susan by a woman calling herself Betty. Monica, as the police discover, is a popular fixture lately among the city's high class prostitutes. She has a devoted wealthy client, named Benjamin Wormser (Riccardo Cucciola), whose hopeless passion she toys with. When Benjamin hears about Monica's arrest, he arrives at the police station with her exorbitant bail, but soon discover that she has already been spring by someone the police will not name.

A police search led by Inspector Wald of Monica's apartment turns up an envelope containing money. When George's fingerprints are found on the envelope, the police arrest him and charge him with murdering his wife for the life insurance policy. Monica goes missing, and George is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Some months later, on the eve of George's execution, his brother Henry arrives for a visit where in the privacy of an interrogation room, the gloating Henry reveals all that has happened: he and Susan have hatched up this entire plot to get him out of the way and get the insurance money all for themselves. Monica is really Susan all along and faked her own death to implicate him. After Henry leaves, George tries to get a stay of execution by informing his lawyer about what Henry said. But despite some last-minute investigation by Inspector Wald, George is unable to clear his name. Only Jane continues to believe his innocence, but she is held in check by Larry.

The day arrives as George is taken out of his cell to the gas chamber to be executed, still protesting his innocence. At the last moment, a phone rings where the state governor orders the execution halted as a telex arrives at the local FBI office that is forwarded to the prison authorities. In a twist of fate, the French police in Paris have informed the U.S. authorities that a woman identified as Susan Weston and her brother-in-law Henry have been shot dead in a local café by the spurned and jealous Benjamin Wormser.

Production

Prior to Una sull'altra, director and screenwriter Lucio Fulci had mostly worked in comedies. The move to the giallo genre was a big change for Fulci, and may be that he was simply dabbling in an emergent and popular genre.^{[3] [4]} Una sull'altra has been cited as having been inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo.^[5] Fulci felt that the script for Una sull'altra was among his best work.^[6] Fulci and fellow writer Roberto Gianviti collaborated on a number of films together, including Operazione San Pietro, Una lucertola con la pelle di donna, Zanna Bianca, Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca and Sette note in nero.^[7] Producer Edmondo Amati agreed to work on the film as he was already present in the United States, working on Alberto di Martino's Femmine insaziabili.^[6] Fulci worked with two assistant directors on the film, Mario Castellani and Albino Cocco; while Vittoria Vigorelli served as script supervisor.^[1]

Much of the film was shot on location in San Francisco, Reno and Sacramento; however, interior shots were filmed in Italy. Production began on 2 December 1968 and lasted eight weeks.^[6] The film's gas chamber scene was filmed on location in the gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison in California.^[8] Ironically, Fulci's wife Maria killed herself with a gas oven several months after this film was released.^[9]

Cast

• Jean Sorel - George Dummurrier
• Marisa Mell - Susan Dummurrier/Monica Weston
• Elsa Martinelli - Jane
• John Ireland - Inspector Wald
• Alberto de Mendoza - Henry Dumurrier
• Jean Sobiesky - Larry
• Faith Domergue - Marta
• Riccardo Cucciolla - Benjamin Wormser
• Bill Vanders: Insurance Agent
• Franco Balducci: Officer Loveday
• John Douglas: Brent
• Felix De Fauce: Royal Insurance Official #1
• Jesús Puente: Sergeant Rodriguez
• George Rigaud: Arthur Mitchell

Release

Una sull'altra (Translation: "One on Top of the Other")^[10] was released in Italy on 15 August 1969,^[8] and went on to gross approximately ₤869 million.^[6] The film was also distributed under the titles One on Top of the Other (the uncut 107 minute version)^{[11] [12]} and Perversion Story (an edited 97 minute version).^{[13] [14]} It has been released on DVD under the latter title by Severin Films, packaged together with the film's soundtrack.^[15]

Reception

AllMovie's Donald Guarisco felt that the film was "a memorable example of [Lucio Fulci's] work", noting that it "isn't quite as masterful as Argento or Mario Bava's best giallo outings, but Una Sull'Altra is a worthy, well-crafted outing that fans of the genre will find impressive."^[16] The film has been cited as a thematic precursor to the later films Basic Instinct and Body of Evidence.^[5] Writing for DVD Talk, Ian Jane rated the film four stars out of five, calling it "a well made thriller with some great twists, a strong plot and some fine performances". Jane compared the film to Double Face, an earlier film Fulci had co-plotted for Riccardo Freda.^[14] The film has been described as contributing to the emergence of the giallo genre as one of increasing eroticism during the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[17]

Footnotes

References

• Albiero, Paolo; Cacciatore, Giacomo (2004). Il terrorista dei generi. Tutto il cinema di Lucio Fulci. Uno monde a parte. ISBN 8890062967. 
• Hutchings, Peter (2009). The A to Z of Horror Cinema. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810868873. 
• Moliterno, Gino (2009). The A to Z of Italian Cinema. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810868962. 
• Shipka, Danny (2011). Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960–1980 (illustrated ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786448881. 

External links

• One on Top of the Other on IMDb
• One on Top of the Other at AllMovie