The brief partnership of German writer-director Hans Albin and writer Peter Berneis produced NO SURVIVORS, PLEASE (1963), an interesting but somewhat messy alien invasion political satire. Their follow-up, GAMES OF DESIRE (1964), is mostly uninteresting and plain messy. Nadine is the wife of Elliot, a homosexual Swedish diplomat stationed in Greece. She lives a sleazy double life, haunting the rugged sailor bars dockside. Her nymphomania is portrayed as a mental aberration. It's very dull and grim as she copes with her submerged emotional issues. Meanwhile, as her hubby is losing his hold on a new aide, the aide falls for an ambitious local girl played by Claudine Auger, who would star in THUNDERBALL the following year and has a nude scene here.
GAMES OF DESIRE is a lurid soap opera that aspires to be racy but mostly falls flat. The film reached the U.S. in 1967 and even played on American TV (uncut!) in the early 70s. As Nadine, Ingrid Thulin, who at the time was an international star of Ingmar Bergman movies, is totally wasted. German matinée idol Hubschmid is likewise unbelievable as the fey diplomat. Auger is the only one on hand who tries to act sexy and succeeds by default. The other positive is the brassy soundtrack by Hermann Thieme.
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