Saturday, August 01, 2020

Movie review - "Goddess of Love" (1957) **

Belinda Lee's first film in Italy, I believe  - she would work there increasingly often. This one has a novel idea, being about a real life sculptor, Praxiteles (who I'd never heard about before watching this but who existed) whose work included Aphrodite - the model for which is played by Lee. She spends a bit of the film posing in a towel flashing her bare back. This film might've done better if made a few years later when it could show more skin.

Lee seems animated, walking around in short togas. The plot involves an enemy soldier, Jacques Sernas, being found near the scupltor's estate - the sculptor, Massimo Girotti (who was in Ossessione) seems to think the soldier is a babe and keeps him secret to be a model. But show everyone's straight, Lee falls for the soldier which makes the sculptor jealous and starting to want Lee.

That's actually a good solid set up for a drama - a love triangle between a sculptor and his two models, one of whom is an enemy soldier. The film doesn't really exploit it though. At heart this should be a sexy character drama but the censor presumably wouldn't have allowed that. In that case they should have gone action then but don't.

The film goes for melodrama at the end with Lee working as a hooker, basically and worried the guy won't love her naymore.

Lee is very good - she's relaxed, animated, more involved with the material than she was with too many of her British films. Italy agreed with her.


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