Friday, October 14, 2022

John Phillip Law in L'occhio dietro la parete


'Ivano is a wheelchair-bound man with some strange perversions. He gets his sexual kicks by spying on Arturo, their tenant in the apartment next-door and forcing his sexy accomplice Olga to watch as well.'



In 1977's  L'occhio dietro la parete,  (The Eyes Behind the Wall) actor John Phillip Law plays Arturo, the tenant that Ivano (Fernando Rey) is watching so closely.  Of course an perverse thrill seeker needs to up the anti, and soon Ivano convinces his younger wife Olga (Olga Bisera) to seduce Arturo and have sex with him as he watches from behind the walls.


Ivano has set up an elaborate array of cameras and microphones to pick up everything Arturo does. Early on, they watch every thing Arturo does, including as he exercises naked. Spoiler alert... Arturo is not an innocent victim, in the films first scene, we learn he has a violent side of his own as in the films first scene, he rapes a woman in a train car.


Soon, Ivano begins to suspect that Arturo is hiding some odd habits, and has Olga break in and search his room.  When dealing with psychopath however, things, including the sex games, are bound to turn deadly.  The Italian film was directed by Giuliano Petrelli, an actor whose one and only directing credit is this film.




One of the strangest scenes in the film, and one of the most disturbing, involves a sexual encounter between Arturo and a guy he met at a dance club.  Given the time, I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the actor playing the man, (Jho Jhenkins) was credited only as 'black dancer' in the film and on IMDB.


When I describe the scene as 'disturbing',  I'm referencing the editing.  Given Arturo's risk taking behavior, it wasn't a surprise he would enjoy sex with both women and men, and watching the scene, Arturo seems to be open to what the man he brought back to his apartment has to offer.  As soon as the man makes his move, the film cuts to Ivano and Olg watching and we here blood piercing screams.


Initially, I thought Arturo murdered his hunky houseguest, but no, there's a quick edit back with a few seconds of Arturo looking like he's being sexually assaulted.  It's an odd few seconds of film given what led up to it.  I added the scene on SendSapce (HERE:) but cut out the last few seconds.  You can find the entire film to watch however, on RareLust HERE:

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