''Col cuore in gola'' () is a 1967 ''

giallo In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...

'' film directed by

Tinto Brass Giovanni "Tinto" Brass (born 26 March 1933) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. In the 1960s and 1970s, he directed many critically acclaimed avant-garde films of various genres. Today, he is mainly known for his later work in the er ...

. It is loosely based on the novel ''Il sepolcro di carta'' ( The Paper Tomb) written by

Sergio Donati Sergio Donati (born 13 April 1933) is an Italian screenwriter. He has written for more than 70 films since 1952. He was born in Rome, Italy. He started as a writer and had some of his books optioned for film. He is well known for his collaborati ...

. The film used storyboards from cartoonist

Guido Crepax Guido Crepas (15 July 1933, in Milan – 31 July 2003, in Milan), better known by his pen name Guido Crepax, was an Italian comics artist. He is most famous for his character '' Valentina'', created in 1965 and very representative of the spirit of ...

. It has been released under several titles including ''Deadly Sweet'' and ''I Am What I Am''.

Plot

A French actor named Bernard (Jean-Louis Trintignant) comes across a beautiful young woman (Ewa Aulin) bending over the corpse of a murdered nightclub owner in London. He believes her that she is innocent of the crime, and runs off with her to protect her from a group of criminal types who are stalking her.

Cast

Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-war era. He starred in many classic fi ...

as Bernard *

Ewa Aulin Ewa Birgitta Aulin (born 13 February 1950) is a Swedish former actress who appeared in a number of Italian and some American films in the 1960s and 1970s. She is remembered for playing the title character in the cult film ''Candy'' where she appea ...

as Jane *

Vira Silenti Vira Silenti (16 April 1931 – 1 November 2014) was an Italian actress. Career Born in Naples as Elvira Giovene, Silenti debuted as child actress at ten years old in ''Una notte dopo l’opera'' (1942). She studied law at the university and ...

as Martha *

Roberto Bisacco Roberto Bisacco (1 March 1939 – 10 October 2022)David Prowse David Charles Prowse (1 July 1935 – 28 November 2020) was an English actor, bodybuilder and weightlifter. He portrayed Darth Vader (voiced by American actor James Earl Jones) in the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy and a manservant in Stanle ...

as Jelly-Roll's Partner (uncredited) *

Janet Street-Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was later appointed fashion e ...

as Salon Receptionist (uncredited)

Production

''Col cuore in gola'' was adapted from the paperback novel ''Il sepolcro di carta'' (1955) by

. Brass noted he was not very fond of the novel, and his producers wanted

as the lead. On meeting Trintignant, he told him a different story than that of the novel, which led him to accept the role. Brass then sent over the actual script, stating that he had changed his mind. The film's working title at this point was ''Enigma''. Brass did later change the plot, moving the story's location from Rome to London, noting that "London represented what Paris had represented before it: the place of transgression and freedom. Lots of things were happening.

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

were only one of them. It was Europe's liveliest urban center." Brass expressed that he "wanted to make a film in ideograms - like in Chinese writing, where a symbol indicates a whole concept. So I did not film a horse, but an eye, or a spur. The characters seem two-dimensional, as in a comic." In 1966, director

contacted

to draw the

storyboards A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in the ...

for the ''Cuol cuore in gola''. Crepax created color storyboards, even though he was used to working in black-and-white. For the cinematographer, Brass noted that his previous director of photography, Bruno Barcarol, had died, and he needed a new one. Brass later chose

Silvano Ippoliti, Silvano may refer to: * Silvano (name) * Silvano (surname) * ''Silvano'' (opera), an 1895 opera by Pietro Mascagni * Da Silvano, a former Italian restaurant in Manhattan, New York City * Silvano, a 1983 fatal insomnia patient in Bologna, Italy * ...

as he reminded him a bit of Barcarol. The film was Brass' only ''giallo'' film, and was influenced by the pop art movement. This is seen in Trintignant's character's home, which is decorated with older popular Hollywood actors, and the use of

split screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing) Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into adjacent (and possibly overlapping) parts, typically as two or four rectangular ...

matting to have a look similar to that of a comic strip. The film also switches between black-and-white and color, which Brass later explained was done out of necessity rather than any artistic statement, noting that some scenes required more light than the crew was able to provide, which led to scenes being filmed in black and white.

Release

''Col cuore in gola'' was released in Italy in 1967 where it was not a commercial success. It was released in France on 19 April 1969. It has been released under the titles ''Le cœur aux lèvres'' and ''En cinquième vitesse'' (). The film was shown in the United States in Portland, Oregon on 7 September 1969. The film was released in the United States as ''I Am What I Am'' on the Cult Epics label.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * *

External links

* * {{Tinto Brass 1967 films French thriller films Films set in London Films directed by Tinto Brass Films scored by Armando Trovajoli Films based on Italian novels Giallo films Films with screenplays by Sergio Donati Films about actors Films partially in color 1960s Italian films 1960s French films