Being Film #22 for Hooptober 2024
Sometimes a film is so generic, so typical of its genre trappings without standing out there’s very little to write about. I’m actually kind of curious as what the two critics on the audio commentary for Riccardo Freda’s The Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire would talk about, because as a giallo perhaps its only standout components is 1) it primarily takes place in Ireland, and 2) the plot is so nonsensical it reaches the point of distraction. Is that a selling point for you? It wasn’t for me, so I’m left to do little here other than summarize and post some random thoughts.
oTHE QUICK (INCOHERENT) SUMMARY: A young woman is viciously burned with acid and has her throat slit by – you guessed it – a killer in black leather gloves. Soon she’s found in the trunk of the car that services the Swiss Ambassador to Ireland (I think). There are many, many secrets the Ambassador would prefer to keep within the family, so claiming diplomatic immunity he clams up quick. Since we don’t have Riggs and Murtaugh to set things straight we have to go with ex-Inspector Norton, nicknamed “the brute” on account of his violent actions when he was on the force. He’ll sleep with whoever he needs to and beat up whoever he has to in order to get to the truth the police are unable to find. The problem is, every single person is a suspect, and as the murders continue Norton finds himself getting deeper into a mystery that has no clues, because this plot is so sloppy there’s no way of knowing who the killer (or killers) is (or are) and their motivation for doing so. Giallo surprise!
What else can I say about a film that embarrassed director Riccardo Freda so much he took him name off it? Well, there’s a moment when the Ambassador and the police inspector are discussing whether it could be a man or a woman who committed the murder because of the use of vitriol to burn the victim’s face. “Could be,” the police inspector says.” Woman and colored re known to use vitriol.”
I was pretty much out after that.
The rest of The Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire (there’s a brief mention of the title in the film – “tongue of fire” is the vitriol the killer uses) has Luigi Pistilli as ex-inspector Norton chasing red herrings and sleeping with the Ambassador’s daughter. The murders are all basically throat slashings, with two cases of the acid being used to tired effect. We also get one good gloopy brain exploding from a suicide, a head based into an iron, and a frankly disturbing scene in the climax where the killer almost kills what I thought was a young school girl – Norton’s daughter – by burning her face under a heart lamp and trying to slash her throat. I say I thought she was a school girl. She still might be, but then I have no idea why they had to have multiple scenes of her nude crying with her face burned.
Is that what you’re looking for in your giallo? It’s here, but it’s never interesting. The ending is so abrupt with the killer’s reveal and a denouement involving the Ambassador’s immunity that you’re left with a shrug more than anything else.
There. That’s your review of this turkey. I love giallo but man I can see why Freda took his name off this.
Cinema Dual 
Leave a comment