Don't Torture a Duckling

Don't Torture a Duckling

Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Produced by Renato Jaboni
Screenplay by Lucio Fulci
Roberto Gianviti
Gianfranco Clerici
Story by Lucio Fulci
Roberto Gianviti
Starring Florinda Bolkan
Barbara Bouchet
Tomas Milian
Irene Papas
Marc Porel
Georges Wilson
Music by Ritz Ortolani
Cinematography Sergio D'Offizi
Edited by Ornella Micheli
Production
company
Medusa Produzione
Distributed by Medusa Produzione
Release dates
 29 September 1972
Running time
 102 minutes
Country Italy
Language Italian
English
Box office ITL 1,101,461,000

Don't Torture a Duckling (Italian: Non si sevizia un paperino) is a 1972 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci. It is significant within Fulci's filmography as it is one of the first in which he began using violent gore effects, something he would continue to do in his later films, most notably Zombi 2, The Beyond and City of the Living Dead. The soundtrack was composed by Riz Ortolani and features vocals by Ornella Vanoni.

Plot

In the small Southern Italian village of Accendura, three local boys, Bruno, Michele, and Tonino are engaged in mischief. Giuseppe Barra (Vito Passeri) a local simpleton and peeping tom, who is seen spying on two swinging couples, is taunted by the boys.

When Bruno goes missing, reporters converge on the town. One of them is Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian) a sharp-witted journalist from Rome whose insights into the case are acknowledged by the regional police commissioner (Virginio Gazzolo) working with village chief of police Captain Modesti (Ugo D'Alessio).

While researching his story Martelli, who's also spending time with local thrill-seeking girl Patrizia, interviews the local priest, Don Alberto. Elsewhere, Captain Modesti and his aide meet with Francesco (George Wilson), an old hermit living in a stone hut who practices black magic and offers charms and potions to the superstitious. He tells the police he has passed his knowledge of black magic to his disciple, a woman nicknamed "La Maciara" (the witch).

In the end Don Alberto is revealed to be the killer and is caught trying to throw his little sister off a cliff. In a fistfight with Martelli, Don Alberto loses his footing and falls off the cliff to a gruesome death.

Cast

Analysis

According to Danny Shipka, the small Italian town of the setting turns out to be an Italian version of Harper Valley PTA, with suspects including voyeurs, drug addicted pedophiles, gypsies and priests.[1] He finds that the film provides a thought-provoking depiction of life and politics in a small town of Italy. The main themes are "repression, sin and guilt".[1] The motive of the murder turns out to be a desire to rescue the boys from the effects of their own sexuality.[2] In other words, the killer attempts to preserve the innocence of the victims.[3] He is attempting to send them to Heaven while they remained in a stage of uncorrupted grace.[4]

Shipka finds that the film also demonstrates the tendency of giallo filmmakers to seriously question religion and priesthood.[5] Mikel J. Koven points that predatory priests also appeared in Who Saw Her Die? (1972) and The Bloodstained Shadow (1978).[3]

Release

When the film was first released in 1972 it received only a limited release in Europe, due to the film's themes, among which was criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. Though an English language audio track was created for the movie, it was not released in the United States and remained unreleased until 1999 when Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film on DVD and VHS.

Critical reception

The film has received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Bloody Disgusting awarded the film a positive score of 4 1/2 out of 5. Praising the film's cinematography, music, and gory special effects, calling it one of their all-time favorite film by director Fulci.[6] AllMovie gave the film a positive review calling the film "one of Fulci's more successful outings".[7] TV Guide awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars. Complimenting the film's direction, atmosphere, and well executed murder scenes, stating "Lucio Fulci's murder mystery paints an exceptionally unflattering portrait of small-town Sicily as a backwater rife with perversion, ignorance, madness and murderous small-mindedness".[8]

Home video

The film was made available for the first time ever in the United States on both VHS and DVD through Anchor Bay Entertainment as part of the "Lucio Fulci Collection", uncut and remastered, containing its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 for the DVD release. American distribution company Blue Underground released the same version of the film on DVD on 27 February 2007.[9]

In the United Kingdom, Shameless Screen Entertainment made the film available on DVD on 29 August 2011 in a "Shameless Fan Edition", which contains, for the first time, optional English and Italian audio and subtitles, the Italian theatrical trailer and a booklet adapted by Stephen Thrower from Beyond Terror, his definitive book.[10]

Sources

References

  1. 1 2 Shipka (2011), p. 104
  2. ↑ Shipka (2011), p. 91
  3. 1 2 Koven (2006), p. 66
  4. ↑ Koven (2006), p. 57
  5. ↑ Shipka (2011), p. 143
  6. ↑ "Don't Torture a Duckling -". Bloody Disgusting.com. Bloody Disgusting Staff. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Firsching, Robert. "Don't Torture a Duckling - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "Don't Torture a Duckling Review". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  9. ↑ "DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING by Blue Underground, directed by Lucio Fulci (Zombie, House by the Cemetery, The Beyond)". blue-underground.com. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  10. ↑ "Don't Torture a Duckling". shameless-films.com. Retrieved 30 July 2012.

External links

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