acidburn-10 Despite being a fan of Mario Bava and have loved some of his other movies such as 'Black Sabbath', 'Blood and Black Lace' & "A Bay Of Blood', I can't say that I liked this one however as I found this quite tame and very disappointing and just tends to limp from scene to scene without much thought or logic, even Bava himself said that this was his least favourite movie and considering he had no creative control over this project, it was a surprise that this wasn't a total disaster.The plot centres around wealthy businessman George Stark who gathers a group of friends to his island retreat and hopes to gain a secret formula from one of the guests who happens to be a scientist for his own gain, but soon things take a turn for the worse when people begin to turn up dead in true whodunit style.Obviously this takes inspiration from the Agatha Christies 'And Then There Were None', only adding more sex and craziness to the proceedings, as well as blending the novels mystery and suspense elements to the mix. But none of that seems to mesh well in this and the whole thing doesn't seem to flow very well either. One moment the story concentrates on the identity of the mystery killer, then that gets left behind when it focuses on the various bed hopping and relationships between the guests, or the bidding war over the secret formula that suddenly everybody wants. Then the decision to not show any of death scenes wasn't an entirely successful idea, because some outlandish deaths might have salvaged something from this mess, but sadly it wasn't meant to be and the whole thing just seems way too unfocused, with poorly written characters and no impact.Although there a few small positives about this, such as Bava's visual style which from a technical standpoint is always great, moving the camera with such grace and fluidity, allowing for long and languid takes that suddenly erupt in a frenzy of camera movements. The mystery element really does work to some extent, as the twist at the end was fun and didn't see coming. Plus it was nice to see Italian goddess Edwige Fenech in her debut, but she isn't given anything to do and even she couldn't save this mess.So in all I wouldn't really recommend this unless you're fan of Italian thrillers or Mario Bava, but otherwise it's fairly routine murder mystery fodder and the perfect example of style or substance.

BA_Harrison George Stark (Teodoro Corrà), a wealthy industrialist, invites several business friends and their partners to his island retreat for the weekend, with the intention of convincing scientist Gerry Farrell (William Berger) to sell his secret formula for a new industrial resin. Philanthropist Gerry isn't interested in making a deal, intending instead to make his invention public, a fact that forces one or more of the guests to turn to murder.The general consensus seems to be that this is one of director Mario Bava's weakest efforts (even Bava himself was reportedly not fond of the film, being contractually obliged to direct); I can't really comment much on that since I've seen too few of his films to compare, but what I can say is that, even though I found the twists and turns of this Italian variation of Agatha Christie's Ten little Indians virtually impossible to fathom (especially the twist ending), there were still enough positives to make it worth a go.As with many a giallo, the female cast are very easy on the eye, with genre regular Edwige Fenech stripping off whenever possible as always. There are numerous murders, and although they all occur off-screen (we get to see just the aftermath), the hanging up of the steadily growing number bodies in a meat locker is wonderfully macabre and darkly amusing. The jazzy score is super cool, perfectly complementing the wonderful '60s/'70s architecture and decor of the island's house. And despite Bava's purported disinterest, there is still an unmistakable sense of style, with effective uses of whip-pans and rapid zooms, and at least one stunning scene worthy of a genius, wherein a display of glass balls roll down a spiral staircase, along the floor, and into a bathtub where a woman has committed suicide.All said and done, if this is his worst, I really must check out his best.

Dalbert Pringle Here's a "5 Dolls" movie-quote that I think sums up my opinion of director Mario Bava in a nutshell - "I can't figure out if you're dangerous, or just stupid!".... Yep. That about says it all! From where I was sitting, "5 Dolls" (from 1970) was one of those moronic movies that contains more "WTF!?" moments in it than you can count on your (and your friends') fingers & toes.This film tried its damnedest to be so cool, so hip, and so sexy. And yet through all of its wasted effort it inevitably defeated itself on these all-important points and, as a result, nearly choked on its own spittle.Even though the 10 actors featured in this lame, Italian, Murder/Mystery were, on the whole, a pretty good-looking bunch, their overall performances were astoundingly flat and painfully self-conscious. And the gauntlet of emotions that they attempted to emote were hollow beyond any reasonable tolerance.Besides all of that, these actors (for the most part) always looked so ridiculously posed. There was nothing natural about their behaviour. For most of the time it seemed so annoyingly forced.And it was because of this "pain-in-the-neck" business that I couldn't have cared less about what happened to any of the characters in this picture. In fact - When, one-by-one, they were being murdered by a mysterious psycho, I got nothing but joy to see each and every one of them get offed.With all of that said - Let's face it, this film's failures were all director Mario Bava's own damn fault. I mean, Bava was such a clueless, "doofus-of-a-film-maker" that he had absolutely no talent for creating genuine horror or sustaining (in the truest sense of the word) even the slightest bit of suspense.On top of all of this, I think "5 Dolls" musical score sucked to the 10th power. From start to finish it was an irksome, grate-on-your-nerves mess of whiny organ music that didn't fit the situation or set the mood for a tale whose focus was supposed to be on the horror of multiple murders.

Claudio Carvalho The wealthy investor George Stark (Teodoro Corrá), his partner Jack Davidson (Howard Ross) and their business friend Nick Chaney (Maurice Poli) invite Professor Fritz Farrell (William Berger) and his wife Trudy Farrell (Ira Furstenberg) to spend a weekend with their wives Jill Stark (Edith Meloni), Peggy Davison (Helena Ronee) and Marie Chaney (Edwige Fenech) in a remote island that belongs to George. Fritz has invented a formula of an industrial resin and the three businessmen wants to convince the scientist to sell it to them for millions of dollar. The host George releases his yacht and crew to stay alone in the island with his wife, guests and the young woman Isabel (Justine Gall). When the houseboy and lover of Marie Jacques (Mauro Bosco) is found dead on the beach, they realize that the phone is out of order, so they can not call the police; they bring the corpse to the refrigerating chamber where meet and food are stocked. Fritz refuses to sell his formula and while on the beach, Isabel surprisingly shoots him on the head; however his body is not found. Then, each guest is murdered and the survivors bring the bodies to the freeze and try to discover who might be the killer."5 Doll for an August Moon" is a weird, flawed and silly black humor comedy of Mario Bava. The development of the key character Isabel is awful and the viewer never knows who she is, what the relationship of her parents and George is and why she is in the island during a business meeting. The plot is inconsistent, like for example, when Peggy is murdered – the situation does not make sense in the end. The final twist is confused and I did not understand the situation: Fritz is accused of killing his associate Dr. Kruger. If that is true, why? Wasn't he an altruist man that did not want to sell the formula but donate is for magnanimous purposes? If he confessed the crime under the influence of Pentothal, why would Isabel bother to bring him to justice? Wouldn't be smarter using the Pentothal to get the number of his bank account? My vote is four.Title (Brazil): Not Available