A Lizard with Hot Breath

This week I watched a Giallo with the amazing title:

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971).

This is one of those Gialli that was filmed abroad because that was considered more sophisticated than just filming at home in Italy. Iguana is set in Ireland, but apart from that it is a fairly typical Giallo. Which isn't a bad thing at all.

We start with a woman being brutally murdered as she waits for her lover. Her corpse then turns up in the trunk of the Swiss ambassador Sobiesky's (Anton Diffring) Rolls-Royce. The police chief is aware that diplomatic issues could be a problem so he gives the case to Detective Norton (Luigi Pistilli) who is a bit of a dark horse due to his history of brutality. Like in most Gialli, more people are soon killed, with Norton hot on the killers heels, when he's not going out with Helen Sobiesky (Dagmar Lassander), the ambassadors pretty daughter. With the murderer even threatening Norton's aging mother and his teenaged daughter, it becomes a high stakes game of cat and mouse.

I was warned that trying to figure out who the killer is in Iguana is impossible, and I agree. All the suspects act incredibly suspiciously, almost to a comical degree. There is a hint early on, and I picked up on it but promptly forgot it as it isn't mentioned again. I wouldn't say that The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire cheats, it's just not interested in being a solvable mystery.

Since the movie is filmed in Ireland, the scenery is amazing, and makes for a welcome change from Italy. The shots are competent, but not mind blowing and the effects are gory but clumsy. You can always tell that it is a dummy being hacked open, which is fine, but one of the victims has a red line going across her clavicle, yet everyone acts like she had her throat cut. A bit sloppy in other words. There are some continuity errors that would have been easy to fix, but there isn't really anything majorly wrong. A special mention must be made about the dubbing in Iguana. All Italian movies were dubbed, and this is no exception, but when we meet Norton he has a ridiculously broad Irish accent, yet three scenes later it's gone, only to appear sporadically. Almost as if the voice actor couldn't be bothered to do it too often.

I have on occasion talked about Gialli with strong elements of comedy and how rare it is that it works. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire does this surprisingly well. Norton's mother, a gray haired lady who is half blind and fairly deaf is mostly played off as comedic relief, but because it is isolated to her and not over used, it actually works! The rest of the movie is suitably grim and bloody.

So, do I recommend The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire? To Giallo fans, absolutely. Other movie lovers will probably be a bit too confused at the goings on, as this is pretty much a Giallo for Giallo lovers. The director, Riccardo Freda made a lot of odd decisions, but the end result is good. It shouldn't work, but for some odd reason it does. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is not, and never will be one of my favorite Gialli, but I had a great time watching it.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!