Director: Francesco Mazzei
Year: 1972
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: L'arma l'ora il movente
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Trying to keep his affair a secret, a priest romantically involved with two women against the Church is brutally murdered, which brings an inspector onto the case, but when he develops a relationship with one of the potential suspects is forced to put his feelings aside to stop the killer.
Review:
This was a fairly fun and generally enjoyable giallo. One of the better features with this one comes from the solid and highly likable setup that manages to bring together the fun mystery with a series of solid storylines. The main setup involving the life of the priest and his relationship with the two women, which means he’s breaking the cardinal sin of priests by engaging in forbidden romances of the flesh, gives this a solidly sleazy air long before the murder occurs, which signals the start of the turn into genre proper. This manages to bring about a solid series of suspects and different players into the mix when we see the different figures in and around the convent who come forward to expose the affair after his death, from the nuns who teach at the orphanage, the numerous red herrings that emerge from the investigation once the body has been discovered, and the implications that arise when one of the eyewitnesses is brought forth. All of this comes together with a solid touch to the Catholic Church’s conventions and orders that are in play due to the nature of the initial murder, and this all comes into a solid overall setup.
That makes for a fun enough setup for the film to indulge in a nice bit of exploitation goodness that fits into the storyline provided here. With the whole affair taking place due to a priest’s scandalous relationship with multiple women against the approval of the Church, this makes for a generally solid approach to the sleazy air he dwelled in due to the use of showing his various romantic trysts with multiple women, so that it can focus on the romantic couplings. This continues on into the other fun sequences involving the different groups of nuns at the local orphanage, as there’s not just the expected shower sequence where we watch them bathe and soap themselves up, but also deliver an extended topless flogging session that mixes the sadism with the erotic quite nicely. The more traditional stalk and slash elements aren’t that well-developed due to a smaller-than-expected body count, but it does have some decent stabbing ambushes and a viciously cruel murder with a straight razor that at least provides a bit more bloodshed in the proceedings, all of which come together to give this a solid series of positives.
There are some big issues within this one. The main drawback to be had with the film is the overlong running time that comes together at the expense of the main storyline, as this is held up by some sluggish setpieces that don’t quite come together. The most egregious of these is the wholly unlikable romantic relationship that arises between the inspector and one of the women the murder victim was involved with, creating an immensely unlikely scenario that doesn’t really impress all that much. The fact that such a by-the-book inspector that we’ve seen from the rest of the investigation would be so willing as to start a relationship with that particular figure at that point in the story is so unlikely that it comes off as quite contrived and overly dramatic by trying to force this kind of setup along. It also has the unfortunate benefit of being far more of a priority in the storyline, so the body count and stalking scenes are quite low and don’t have much in the way of bloodshed for this kind of film. Overall, these factors all come together to hold this one down.
Overview: ***/5
A likable if somewhat flawed giallo effort, this one comes together as a solid middle-tier genre effort due to its solid series of positives that do get brought down somewhat by those drawbacks. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of this particular style, are a hardcore Giallo completionist, or are curious about it, 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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