Wealthy surgeon Andreas Valenti (Gianni Garko) accidentally kills one of his lovers, Daniella (Paola Senatore), with an unusual objet d'arte and covers it up by dismembering and disposing of the body never realizing he's being watched by a stalker the entire time. Daniella's half-sister, Evelyne (Carroll Baker), knows he is somehow responsible for the girl's disappearance and enlists the aid of Inspector Garrano (Ivano Staccioli) to help prove it. They discover the good doctor had a rich young wife who went insane on her wedding night and was committed to a lunatic asylum; later pronounced cured, she had vanished upon release. Andreas, now being blackmailed with photos of his cover-up crime, also finds himself framed when the flower with petals of steel that did Daniella in is used to murder Evelyne. Having fallen for the dead woman, the Insector won't stop until he gets to the bottom of the disappearances and deaths...
Nothing is what it seems in this twisty giallo and when the revelations start coming toward the end, everything that has gone before is turned on its ear. The movie manipulates the audience in much the same way Dario Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE did; what the audience sees and how it is interpreted hold the key to a murder mystery but the numerous red herrings are all tied together in the end and the title does double duty as both murder weapon and metaphor. All of the women were/are sexually involved with Andreas -and each other- which provides the movie with numerous nude scenes including a brief one by Baker. Evelyne was sleeping with her half-sister and had an affair with Andreas, who's nurse, Elena (the beautiful Pilar Velázquez), bedded them all -but to give away any more would spoil a few surprises concerning the fairer sex. In addition to sharp objects, black gloves, incessant smoking, and J&B whiskey-drinking, there's a decided feminist slant a la the same year's THE EXQUISITE CADAVER; even so, audience sympathy goes to a philandering protagonist who uses the skills of his profession to remove the spinal cord of his dead lover to prevent rigor mortis. Carroll Baker's quick murder with a razor-sharp petal seems a familiar set-piece as it predates Angie Dickinson's demise in DRESSED TO KILL by nearly a decade and, like Dickinson, Baker has a brief shower scene as well. Although the actual body count is low, this giallo is jaded, ironic, and ultimately rewarding. There's carnal-logical reasons behind the killings and even though THE FLOWER WITH PETALS OF STEEL has a decided lack of gory set pieces, the cerebral/sexual roller coaster ride provided by the convoluted plot makes up for that. Former Hollywood sex symbol Carroll Baker's career became a virtual cottage industry of low-budget Eurotrash in the late 1960s/early 70s and this one was co-written/directed by Gianfranco Piccioli without much visual flair. The VHS I have is letterboxed and in Spanish with English subtitles.
Nothing is what it seems in this twisty giallo and when the revelations start coming toward the end, everything that has gone before is turned on its ear. The movie manipulates the audience in much the same way Dario Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE did; what the audience sees and how it is interpreted hold the key to a murder mystery but the numerous red herrings are all tied together in the end and the title does double duty as both murder weapon and metaphor. All of the women were/are sexually involved with Andreas -and each other- which provides the movie with numerous nude scenes including a brief one by Baker. Evelyne was sleeping with her half-sister and had an affair with Andreas, who's nurse, Elena (the beautiful Pilar Velázquez), bedded them all -but to give away any more would spoil a few surprises concerning the fairer sex. In addition to sharp objects, black gloves, incessant smoking, and J&B whiskey-drinking, there's a decided feminist slant a la the same year's THE EXQUISITE CADAVER; even so, audience sympathy goes to a philandering protagonist who uses the skills of his profession to remove the spinal cord of his dead lover to prevent rigor mortis. Carroll Baker's quick murder with a razor-sharp petal seems a familiar set-piece as it predates Angie Dickinson's demise in DRESSED TO KILL by nearly a decade and, like Dickinson, Baker has a brief shower scene as well. Although the actual body count is low, this giallo is jaded, ironic, and ultimately rewarding. There's carnal-logical reasons behind the killings and even though THE FLOWER WITH PETALS OF STEEL has a decided lack of gory set pieces, the cerebral/sexual roller coaster ride provided by the convoluted plot makes up for that. Former Hollywood sex symbol Carroll Baker's career became a virtual cottage industry of low-budget Eurotrash in the late 1960s/early 70s and this one was co-written/directed by Gianfranco Piccioli without much visual flair. The VHS I have is letterboxed and in Spanish with English subtitles.