Yesterday I watched a couple of giallos by Luciano Ercoli and starring Nieves Navarro (billed as Susan Scott) and Simon Andreu (of THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE [1972]) - DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1971) and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT (1972). I was pleasantly surprised by the former but hugely disappointed by the latter; anyway, here's my take on both films.
I haven't seen that many giallos outside of the works of Mario Bava and Dario Argento, whose emphasis is more on camera trickery and in finding new ways of presenting the gore, so DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS' erotically-charged narrative came as a bit of a surprise though I obviously wasn't at all sorry about this! For this reason, the film reminded me of Lucio Fulci's ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER (1969) though it never quite reaches the levels that film managed to attain.
Despite a rather slow pace, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS' convoluted narrative is reasonably gripping and offers a number of believable and surprising plot twists along the way (not least of all the death of the leading lady midway through the picture). Besides, we get quite a bevy of interesting characters here that is sure to keep tedium at bay: the three main roles are nicely filled by Frank Wolff, Navarro (in more ways than one!) and Andreu; the jealous wife who meets a sticky end; the bumbling yet dogged police inspector and his aide; Georges Rigaud as an ageing peeping-tom; the suspicious-looking manservant harboring an irrelevant (except as a reference to the title) guilty secret; and the blind man/accomplice who may know more than he is ready to admit.
The film is pretty violent too, if not in a sensationalistic way, but this is very sensibly counterpointed by a healthy dose of (mostly verbal) humor. Another interesting aspect of the film is its effective contrasting of the two main 'locations' the hectic Parisian nightlife of the first half against the quiet English country-side of the second (though this section was actually filmed in Spain!). And that's not forgetting Stelvio Cipriani's score who comes up with a typically impressive giallo soundtrack that is a major plus to this particular production!
In any case, I'm interested in catching up with more obscure giallos now and, as such, I especially regret having missed out on Sergio Pastore's SETTE SCIALLI DI SETA GIALLA aka CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT (1972) just a couple of days ago! I also look forward to Blue Underground's 'Giallo Collection Vol. 2' Box Set which, incidentally, should include Luciano Ercoli's FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY UNDER SUSPICION (1970).
I haven't seen that many giallos outside of the works of Mario Bava and Dario Argento, whose emphasis is more on camera trickery and in finding new ways of presenting the gore, so DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS' erotically-charged narrative came as a bit of a surprise though I obviously wasn't at all sorry about this! For this reason, the film reminded me of Lucio Fulci's ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER (1969) though it never quite reaches the levels that film managed to attain.
Despite a rather slow pace, DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS' convoluted narrative is reasonably gripping and offers a number of believable and surprising plot twists along the way (not least of all the death of the leading lady midway through the picture). Besides, we get quite a bevy of interesting characters here that is sure to keep tedium at bay: the three main roles are nicely filled by Frank Wolff, Navarro (in more ways than one!) and Andreu; the jealous wife who meets a sticky end; the bumbling yet dogged police inspector and his aide; Georges Rigaud as an ageing peeping-tom; the suspicious-looking manservant harboring an irrelevant (except as a reference to the title) guilty secret; and the blind man/accomplice who may know more than he is ready to admit.
The film is pretty violent too, if not in a sensationalistic way, but this is very sensibly counterpointed by a healthy dose of (mostly verbal) humor. Another interesting aspect of the film is its effective contrasting of the two main 'locations' the hectic Parisian nightlife of the first half against the quiet English country-side of the second (though this section was actually filmed in Spain!). And that's not forgetting Stelvio Cipriani's score who comes up with a typically impressive giallo soundtrack that is a major plus to this particular production!
In any case, I'm interested in catching up with more obscure giallos now and, as such, I especially regret having missed out on Sergio Pastore's SETTE SCIALLI DI SETA GIALLA aka CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT (1972) just a couple of days ago! I also look forward to Blue Underground's 'Giallo Collection Vol. 2' Box Set which, incidentally, should include Luciano Ercoli's FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY UNDER SUSPICION (1970).