TASTE OF EXCITEMENT
DVD region 0. Odeon.

This is one of those British movies that seems to have slipped between the cracks - not quite a genre film and so ignored by exploitation movie fans, not quite glossy enough to have a mainstream reputation and certainly not an arthouse movie. Additionally bogged down with a typically British understated title (a 'taste' of excitement? I want a bit more than that from a thriller!) and the film seemed doomed to languish in obscurity. Hopefully this overdue DVD release will help it build a reputation, because Taste of Excitement isn't bad at all.

It opens with Jane Kerrell (Eva Renzi) being forced of a mountain road in the South of France by sleazy Peter Bowles (here sporting an outraaaageous accent), and while the police are sceptical, it soon becomes clear that someone is out to get her. She hooks up with painter Paul (David Buck) and before long the pair of them are caught up in a plot involving NATO, industrial espionage and double-crosses as both the police and the bad guys try to figure out her connection to a man murdered on the Dover-Bologne ferry.

Taste of Excitement (also known as Why Would Anyone Want to kill a Nice Girl Like You?) is a fast-paced romp that has the gloss and strangely unreal atmosphere that many British films of the 1960's possessed, especially when set in Europe, where British actors spoke with foreign accents and Euro starlets like Renzi were seemingly supposed to be English (despite her accent, Jane is supposed to like in London and has a pretty English name). Slickly handled by horror veteran Don Sharp, the cast is dotted with familiar faces (Francis Matthews, Peter Vaughan) and the action is backed up with a typically frenetic score by Keith Mansfield. Odeon's remastering makes the film look great too.

While not a classic by any means, Taste of Excitement is thoroughly entertaining, and well worth seeking out for fans of Brit cult movies.

DAVID FLINT

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