Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video 
Directed by: Giuliano Carnimeo. Produced by: Luciano Martino. Written by: Ernesto Gastaldi & Francesco Milizia. Director of Photography: Marcello Masciocchi. Edited by: Eugenio Alabiso. Music by: Luciano Michelini. Released by: NoShame Films. Language: Italian with English subtitles or English audio. Country of Origin: Italy. 95 min. Not Rated. With: Edwige Fenech, Corrado Pani, Richard Conte, Eltore Manni, John Richardson, Bruno Corazzari, Umberto Raho. DVD Features: "Memories of a Call Girl" (25 min.) featurette with director Giuliano Carnimeo, actress Edwige Fenech, & writer Ernesto Gastaldi. Trailer. Poster & still gallery. Italian & English audio. Italian & English subtitles.
THE SENSUOUS NURSE (L'INFERMIERA) (1973)
Unified by a common theme of hookers and breasts, The Sensuous Nurse
and Secrets of a Call Girl are distributor NoShame's latest rejuvenations
from obscurity. If you've ever shied away from
watching Porky's or
American Pie, you can use the following three excuses to quell your
hesitations and validate watching The Sensuous Nurse: it's European, it's
a time capsule from 1973, and it features ex-Bond girls Ursula Andress and Luciana Paluzzi
splayed in all their splendor. As the wealthy owner of a vineyard
falls into a sudden coma, his impatient heirs hire nurse Anna (Ursula
Andress) and her Nordic bounty to finish him off by lusting him to death.
Wackiness does indeed ensue.
NoShame's other new release is a more complicated fare. Secrets of a Call
Girl combines genres
(crime drama, woman's picture, and carnal sex-fest) into one hell of a bad
movie. Cashier Anna (Edwige Fenech), pretty and poor, meets sexy Guido (Corrado Pani) at
her café counter. He proceeds to stalk her, beat her, rape her, force her
into prostitution and to abort her baby - but he's sexy so it doesn't bother
her. The story turns in the second hour when Anna realizes her pimp/lover
is raping her and she starts to mean it when she says, "No"
(as opposed to before, when she was just kidding). From that point on it's a
dull game of sex and vengeance. Offensive attempt at making a woman's picture
aside, it's the ridiculous characters, a shameless and uninspired story line,
horrible screenwriting, and overindulged editing that make
this a cheesy movie.
DVD Extras: There's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that
both films are given a truly remarkable transfer to christen their DVD debut. The bad news is that everything else falls short of that
minor joy. Both films include production stills and their original
theatrical trailers (which are worth watching if only to calculate the ratio
of nude to clothed shots in the minute-long trailer).
"Memories of a Call Girl" begins as screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi and actress Edwige Fenech (looking as if she hasn't aged since filming wrapped) admit they can barely remember
anything about the film. They manage to continue talking for another 20
minutes. Faring slightly better, the Rosatti brothers, who directed
and designed The Sensual Nurse, seem a little less surprised to be
talking about their movie in a sterile series of interviews for "Calling the Nurse." That said, both
DVD releases offer the only opportunity to own these films. And since the
digital transfer is excellent, each DVD is a solid purchase for collectors of Italian obscurities and those beleaguered souls tired of watching the same Shannon Tweed movie on Cinemax. Zachary Jones
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