Director: Duccio Tessari
Year: 1970
Country: Italy/West Germany
Alternate Titles: La morte risale a ieri sera
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
After his daughter disappears, a man goes to the police for help in looking for her due to her special conditions that would make her a target for exploitation by the underworld prostitution rings in the city, forcing the officer and his partner to investigate what happened to her.
Review:
This was a generally impressive and likable genre effort. Among the better elements found here is the intriguing and somewhat emotionally-charged setup that manages to provide this one with more depth than expected. The main crux of this rests mainly on the family relationship that gets interrupted here as we get so connected to the father’s search for his daughter that it all becomes quite disconcerting the longer the situation goes on, and they can’t find her due to the build-up that’s gone on in this one. The early scenes show how he cares for her and how the daughter’s mental condition makes for an easy enough target once the kidnapping has been revealed and the different aspects of her personality are used as a means of establishing the connection present that gets exploited later on, once she gets kidnapped.
That section of the film manages to bring together fun and takes a solid turn into a spirited mixture of giallo and politziotteschi as we get an incredibly well-handled and effective mystery involving the different investigative methods used to look into the mysterious abduction. The interplay between the detectives as they look into the case has a fine sense of humor to it all, while the different leads are followed up on as the resulting investigations carry on around the city. The conversations and interactions that take place as they look through the underworld of prostitution and other sordid individuals make for a wholly well-thought-out series of investigations that are utilized here, which makes the whole thing come together at the end when everything gets resolved in a fun fashion.
While all of this is enjoyable for what it is, this predominant favoring of police investigation over stalk-and-slash action is a slight hurdle to get over. The majority of the film is concerned with getting the detectives to rummage over clues, interrogate suspects, and get the father to cope with the sluggish news of their ordeal, so that not a whole lot of genuine action is present here that can be a turn-off for those seeking more visceral thrills. Given that it’s not until the end that anything is really resolved might make this a bit of a struggle to finish in that regard, even if the whole thing comes together in a great way that makes sense with the kind of emotionally hard-hitting conclusion. That this is the main flaw in the film, and it being a personal preference point to boot, speaks to the quality of the rest of the film.
Overview: ****/5
An unconventional if still immensely solid giallo effort, there’s a lot to like here that manages to make this a wholly enjoyable offering, even with some slight issues holding this one down. Those with an appreciation for the concept, who are curious about the presentation, or who are die-hard European genre cinema fanatics will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
This review is part of our ongoing series of reviews for Italian Horror Month, every November on the site:
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