''Shadow of Illusion'' ( it, Ombre roventi) is a 1970 Italian film directed by

Mario Caiano Mario Caiano (February 13, 1933 – September 20, 2015) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, art director and second unit director. Career Born in Rome, he directed nearly 50 films between 1961 and 2001 and wrote some 27 fi ...

. The film stars William Berger,

Daniela Giordano Daniela Giordano (7 November 1947– 16 December 2022) was an Italian actress, who is foremost known for her appearances in the Italian exploitation cinema in the late 1960s and in the 1970s. She is not to be confused with the stage actress and ...

and

Krista Nell Krista Nell (1946–1975) was an Austrian film actress. Born Doris Kristanel, Krista Nell debuted in French cinema, then moved to Rome where became a minor starlet in Italian genre films, especially Spaghetti Westerns and commedie sexy all'itali ...

. It is about a fashion model named Gail Bland who travels to Cairo where she meets a mysterious man named Caleb. Bland then runs into a cult of hippies who worship

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He ...

and make human sacrifices. The film was shot at

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios w ...

and on location in Egypt. The film had a troubled production history being shot during the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

in Egypt and with cast members signing on shortly before production (William Berger) and the female lead being replaced with

during the first day of production. The release date in Italy of ''Shadow of Illusion'' is unclear, with Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimedia (ANICA) dating the first public screening of the film to be April 16, 1972 while ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'' wrote about a screening as early as 1971.

Production

Director

began work on ''Shadow of Illusion'' right after his film ''Love Birds – Una strana voglia d'amare''. The film began production under the original title ''Le ombre''. Caiano recalled that the film had a strange production with producers who were not seen before or after production. Caiano was promised by the producers an actor that was internationally known for the film, but did not get him. William Berger was shooting '' La colomba non deva volare'' in Egypt at the time and got in contact to star in the film. Other members of Berger's family joined the cast including his daughter and his wife Carol Lobravico. ''Shadow of Illusion'' was shot at

studios in Rome and on location in Egypt.

became the lead actress after the initial lead left production after the first day of shooting. Caiano said the original lead for the film was

Luciana Paluzzi Luciana Paluzzi (born 10 June 1937) is an Italian actress. She is perhaps best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film, '' Thunderball'', but she had important roles in notable films of the 1960s and 1970s in ...

while Giordano insists the actress was

Gianna Serra Gianna is a female Italian given name, a diminutive form of Giovanna. In English, it is translated as Joann, Joanne or Joanna. These names mean "God is gracious". See also " John" for the origin. Variations *Feminine: Giana, Gia, Giovanna *M ...

. Shooting was during the

where Egypt was at war with Israel making production difficult. While filming in the desert, the crew had to be escorted by soldiers who would turn of the lights in case of air raids. Caiano claimed he never watched a completed version of the film and only finished a rough cut of it.

Release

Film historian Roberto Curti described the film as having a "troubled commercial life." The film was submitted to the Italian Board of Censors in April 1970 with the title ''Le Ombre Roventi''. The Italian release date of the film is unclear. The Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche Audiovisive e Multimedia (ANICA) date the first public screening of the film to be April 16, 1972 while the newspaper ''

'' records the film being released in

Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Mussolini created the ...

on July 13, 1971. Publicity material for the film is dated October 1970. The film was distributed by Icar and grossed 25,525,000

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

in Italy. The film has been released as ''Shadow of Illusion'' on what Curti described as a "badly panned-and-scanned English-language copy of a Japanese laserdisc".

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0123204 Italian erotic horror films Films shot in Egypt Films set in Egypt 1970 horror films Films directed by Mario Caiano 1970s erotic films Films shot at Cinecittà Studios 1970s Italian films 1970 films