the audience applauded

Must See Movie...

hyped garbage

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is the sort of movie I usually would not watch. I got the DVD because it had two films by the famed Italian director, Mario Bava--a man usually associated with horror films. To my complete surprise, it turned out to be a soft-core porno film!! I was surprised but decided to keep watching because it looked for all the world like a cheapo sexed up version of Akira Kurosawa's "Roshomon". Like "Roshomon", you see some events through three different eyes. Each time you think you are seeing exactly what occurred but the truth is still something entirely different. One account, the lady's, is of her being held prisoner and attacked by a pervert. In his version, he's attacked by a nympho who won't take 'no' for an answer! And, in a strange version, the pervo doorman explains his version which he saw with binoculars--and it involves homosexuality and drugs! In a bizarre finale, some creepy guy in a lab coat and armed with Rorschach-style ink blots explains the truth--that not much of anything happened that evening after all! So is the film worth seeing? Well, it's not entirely without charm and has some clever touches. However, the direction (despite Bava's reputation) is terrible as is some of the acting--and as a result, the film is a bit cheesy. However, compared to a more modern film, its nudity is pretty tame---though I probably wouldn't recommend you buy this for your mother-in-law! Kind of cute, kind of cheesy...and a film that won't be mistaken for "Roshomon" despite its similarities!!

Dashing playboy John Price (handsome Brett Halsey) meets sweet virgin Tina Brandt (ravishing brunette knockout Daniela Giordano, who was Miss Italy 1966) in a park. The two strike up an immediate rapport and go on a date which goes disastrously wrong. Depending on the person relating the incident, the date went down like this: 1) amorous cad Price attempted to rape the innocent Tina, 2) shameless and insatiable nymphomaniac slut Tina aggressively came on to the hapless John, or 3) Tina was seduced by predatory lesbian Esmeralda (a memorably spiky Pascale Petit). Director Mario Bava relates the amusing story at a constant quick pace and expertly maintains a playfully light and bouncy good-natured tone throughout. Antonio Rinaldi's crisp, polished cinematography fills the screen with lots of rich, vibrant colors while Cariolano Gori's frothy, groovy score totally hits the swinging spot. Moreover, this amiably silly and innocuous fluff further benefits from charming performances from attractive and personable leads Halsey and Giordano. Co-producer Dick Randall is a real hoot as the sleazy voyeur doorman. The delectable Brigitte Skay, the ill-fated skinny-dipper in "Bay of Blood," has a sexy bit as naive bimbo Mumu. Bava even manages amidst all the delightfully inane tomfoolery to make a relevant point about how individual perspectives radically vary from person to person. A cute little romp.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from a Bava sex comedy which, thankfully, emerged to be not quite as low-brow and vulgar as most genre offerings (which the Italians would soon make their own); for the record, Lucio Fulci also dabbled in the subgenre a few years later with the THE EROTICIST (1972), which has just been released on R1 DVD. Even so, the film also wasn’t particularly interesting per se, albeit a typically stylish effort from this director. As a matter of fact, despite being undeniably amusing in its RASHOMON (1950)-like multiple (and hugely contrasting) depiction of the central situation, it made for a rather tedious – and dated – whole! Anyway, the plot involves a young couple (Brett Halsey and Daniela Giordano) who meet by accident one day and then decide to go out together that night – which ends with the girl having her dress torn and the man with scratches on his forehead! Both of them then recount the way things went (she to her mother and he to his pals) – according to Giordano, Halsey tried to rape her; he, on the other hand, passes himself off as a shy person with the girl an insatiable vamp! A third version of events is told by the oversexed middle-aged concierge of the complex where Halsey lives, which sees the latter depicted as a homosexual who brought Giordano to his flat so that she could serve as partner for his lover’s lesbian companion. This is the funniest, but also campiest, part of the film – funny due to the banter between the concierge and his dumb listener and campy because of the stereotypical representation of the male gay lifestyle, though the women’s angle is treated with greater sensitivity)! The last interpretation is then offered by a psychiatrist which rather deliberately supplies the most innocent and, frankly, dull outcome possible for that fateful night – since the closing narration goes on to ask the audience whether they actually swallowed his ‘theory’! Despite having an American lead in Brett Halsey (who’s somewhat uneasy with the fluctuations in his character), the film really revolves around statuesque beauty Daniela Giordano (a former winner of the Miss Italy contest, no less). She looks confident in her various suggestive poses (this is easily Bava’s most explicit film with respect to nudity, though still pretty mild – there’s a similar hilarious contrivance to conceal private parts in bed as seen in DANGER: DIABOLIK [1968]!) but also demonstrates reasonable talent in her various facets of virtuous ingénue, sultry seductress, annoyed object of desire, etc.Accompanying the film is a lounge soundtrack all-too-typical of its era. Incidentally, there’s some confusion concerning the year in which the film was made – many give it as 1972, but the look and feel of it all simply spells 1960s to me and, in fact, it’s listed in other sources as 1969 (which I’m inclined to believe); others yet seem to concede that the latter is true but then report its actual date of release as late as 1976!! Interestingly, the print on display has the film split into two parts – where the title in Italian is actually given as QUATTRO VOLTE…QUELLA NOTTE (which fits the English translation, whereas the original QUANTE VOLTE…QUELLA NOTTE means HOW MANY TIMES THAT NIGHT!); strangely enough, just as the film goes into its second half, the audio level drops considerably! By the way, this proved to be the director’s first collaboration with producer Alfredo Leone (who eventually got hold of the rights to a sizable portion of Bava’s back catalog!).

Four Times that Night is the story of what happened during Tina and John's first date. According to Tina, John tried to rape her and she barely escaped with her innocence intact. According to John, Tina was an insatiable wild woman he couldn't get away from. According to John's voyeuristic doorman, while John was in the bedroom having "homosexual sex", Tina was having her own lesbian encounter. So, just what did happen? Mario Bava wasn't afraid to try different genres. He directed Gothic horrors (Black Sunday), gialli (Blood and Black Lace), sword & sandal movies (Hercules in the Haunted World), westerns (Roy Colt and Winchester Jack), spy movies (Danger Diabolik), science fiction (Planet of the Vampires), and so on. But Four Times that Night is his only "sex comedy". Bava called it his "blue movie". While it may have represented a departure for Bava, you can clearly see his trademark style all over the movie. Everything from the bright, rich colors to the camera zooms screams Bava.While I enjoyed the movie, it's far from being my favorite thing that Bava ever made. It is interesting to see how different people's perceptions are given the same set of events. In the fourth segment of the film, we get to see what really happened. And, as is often the case, reality can't match the sensationalism that our imaginations can dream up. Much of my enjoyment in the movie comes from the casting of John and Tina. Bret Halsey and Daniela Giordano are simply perfect in their roles. They are very believable even in the most absurd situations.