dbdumonteil Both Carroll Baker and Jean Sorel began their career with great directors: the former was Lucky enough to be directed by George Stevens ,Elia Kazan (who gave her her lifetime role "baby doll" ),John Ford.The latter was best remembered for his movies with such luminaries as Duvivier,Bunuel and Visconti:but even in these works ,his good looks went against him and his male co-stars easily outclassed him.Besides,he resembled Alain Delon and there was no room for both of them.More than Clouzot's "LES Diaboliques" which anyway inspired hundreds of thrillers ,it's Clement's classic "Plein Soleil" (aka "purple noon" ) ,which put Delon on the map ,that provides the movie with two of its more important scenes:the murder on the boat ,and even more the final shot which is a complete ripoff.That said ," paranoia " is probably the most satisfying of all Baker's soft porn extravaganzas :unlike "Cosi Dolce Cosi Perversa","or "Il Diavolo A Sette Facce" ,this one has a relatively firm screenplay ,with several unexpected twists ,and a few good scenes of its own:Constance's lesbian side ,the flash forwards (Maurice killed by the harpoon) and chiefly the film which scares the criminals (a great moment of suspense).The cinematography is more painstaking than in your average B movie and there's a good use of the wide screen which takes advantage of the location.Maurice utters a few words in his first language ("Charmante N'Est-Ce-Pas?"),and there are soft erotic scenes .Miss Baker is not very credible as a racing driver(!) but she's really a babe.NB:in the eighties,CB made a Volte face and went back ,for a while ,to great cinema: in "ironweed" ,she was convincing as Jack Nicholson's wife.

moonspinner55 The third teaming of actress Carroll Baker with director Umberto Lenzi, yet another sex-and-murder soap opera made in Italy after Baker's Hollywood fortunes had dried up (temporarily, anyway). Here, Carroll is a racecar driver who cracks up on the track; she takes refuge with her handsome ex-husband, who has remarried a wealthy older woman with a daughter from a previous marriage. Double and triple crosses--as well as scenes featuring a nude, unblushing Baker--are in abundance, yet the 'shocking' plot taxes one's patience, particularly since the characters are so vapid. Excellent point-of-view cinematography from the driver's seat lends the narrative far more excitement than the guessing game of who is sleeping with who. ** from ****

lor_ The other IMDb reviewers have done a fine job evaluating this Umberto Lenzi thriller, and I'll chime in with just a few comments.With Joe D'Amato of all people as cameraman, this low-budget European B movie looks sumptuous, with excellent driving scenes (pegged to star Carroll Baker introduced as a race car driver) and consistently attractive Majorca locations befitting a jet set backdrop. The only crappy scene for me was the mandatory (and now dated/unwatchable) visit to a discotheque where Baker and many extras are shot in low angle montages attempting to do the frug and other dance steps.While Lenzi dangles DIABOLIQUE as a red herring plot gimmick, the real ripoff here is from an equally distinguished source, René Clément's PURPLE NOON. Long one of my all-time favorites, that classic Patricia Highsmith movie presented the thriller format in sundrenched, always bright & beautiful settings, probably the best such example of that approach since LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN in the '40s.SPOILER ALERT: Lenzi adopts the same against-the-grain (no Gothic or gloomy visuals) look and carefully imitates the key elements of PURPLE NOON's suspense. The murder takes place on a yacht, and the final twist of the film, the "return of the repressed" frisson moment, is identical, as the incriminating corpse is dredged up from Davy Jones Locker not as part of the official search but rather accidentally from another search instigated by the guilty parties.Side note: In the '80s I was motion picture editor in NYC at Variety newspaper and I once asked our Rome correspondent Deborah Young about Italian directors' personalities, since she dealt with them on a one-to-one basis daily. She responded with a surprise for me, stating that Umberto Lenzi was the classiest of the lot, a true gentleman. Having been exposed in America to drive-in and 42nd St. showings of his often lurid and exploitation-oriented films I was surprised, but it was another lesson in the dangers of equating one's work (and its artifacts) with the creator's personal attributes.

Coventry Welcome to Umberto Lenzi's early 70's giallo/crime thriller "Paranoia" starring the unearthly beautiful Carroll Baker… Hey, wait a minute, haven't I watched and reviewed this movie a couple of days ago already? Oh right, that was the OTHER Umberto Lenzi early 70's giallo/crime thriller "Paranoia" starring the unearthly beautiful Carroll Baker, more commonly known as "Orgasmo". Confusing? Well, maybe a little, but rest assured these are two entirely different movies of which the stories & characters aren't linked to each other at all. The other "Paranoia" is also far superior to this one. That particular movie had tons of suspense, likable characters and convoluted plot-twists whereas this one is painfully boring. This film features TWO worthwhile scenes, both involving wild car accidents, one at the beginning and one at the end and everything in between is one gigantically uninteresting, predictable and overlong love-triangle between three characters. It all starts with Mrs. Baker stars as a rather free-spirited race car pilot who crash-parks her car on the circuit and ends up slightly wounded in a hospital. During her period of recovery, she accepts to stay at her ex-husband and his new wife's mansion. Two attractive women and one incomprehensibly handsome guy (really, Jean Sorel is way too good-looking!) in one house can only result in extended sequences of sexual intrigue, double-crossing and conspiracies to murder. It's all a lot less exciting than it sounds and only the good acting performances keep it endurable. The filming locations and music are stylish, but that's not enough in this case. Easily the most disappointing Lenzi-film I've seen thus far.