Reflections in Black/Il vizio ha le calze nere (1975)

‘You go for a haircut, you two; you look like ape-men.’

Two women are murdered separately by a killer with a razor. The investigating police inspector discovers that the two victims knew each other and moved in the same social circles…

Undistinguished, forgettable Giallo whodunnit from Italian actor-director Tano Cimarosa. John Richardson’s quest for a killer involves Dagmar Lassander, Ninetto Davoli and Magda Konopka.

Answering the door turns out to be a terrible idea for ex-hairdresser and escort Ligari ‘Nelly’ Concetta (Daniela Giordano). Chased out into the night, she’s brutally slain in a public phone box with a straight razor. The same fate befalls Emma Giorgi (Giovanna D’Albore) a couple of nights later, and although her boyfriend survives the attack, he cannot identify the mysterious killer. Investigating the crimes are Chief Lavina (Richardson), Sgt Pantò (director Cimarosa) and young detective Jerry Manzoni (Gianni Williams). Richardson soon discovers the two victims are connected through the high-class hairdressing salon run by Mario (Giovanni Brusadori).

Tracking down their mutual friends and acquaintances, the detectives find a solid connection to Leonora (Lassander), the wife of high-flying lawyer and aspiring politician Anselmi (Giacomo Rossi Stuart). Richardson must tread carefully, though, as they are relatives of the aristocratic and highly influential Orselmo family. Another lead is provided by small-time pimp and drug dealer Sandro Lucetti (Davoli), whose clientele includes Marco (Livio Galassi), the unbalanced son of Countess Orselmo (Konopka). As the body count rises, the police find themselves under pressure to unravel the mystery and unmask the killer.

Giallo enthusiasts will find themselves on very familiar ground here, with a typical ‘who is the killer?’ plot, a fair amount of casual nudity and a gallery of likely suspects slowly diminishing as the body count escalates. By this point, it’s all a little tired, but with enough creativity and the correct handling, it’s still the solid basis for a good thriller. Sadly, there’s little evidence of such qualities here. The script throws plenty of content and incidents at the screen, but it all feels second-hand and needs more invention. It could be argued that there is some effort to provide social commentary and even a political dimension as the private lives of supposedly respectable pillars of society are exposed. However, these aspects never feel tightly woven into the story in the same way as they are in superior examples such as ‘What Have You Done To Solange?/Cosa avete fatto a Solange? (1972) or ‘What Have They Done To Your Daughters?/La polizia chiede aiuto (1974).

Richardson also has a rather thankless lead role, mainly barking out orders and reacting to circumstances. The script provides him with no character moments, and he’s also sidelined through some of the investigation. Perhaps inevitably, as he was also serving as director, Cimarosa gets the showier role as Richardson’s Sergeant. Despite expressing some unenlightened attitudes, he’s the only one of our heroes who demonstrates any significant personality. Although he’s certainly not a ‘comedy sidekick’ in any sense, he does get a few humorous lines, and there’s a fun moment when he loses a suspect that he’s following by chatting up a blonde passerby and her cute dog.

The mystery itself is also on the unremarkable side, and the five-minute wrap-up at the end to explain everything feels completely unnecessary. It’s not difficult to guess who the killer is, especially given that there are fewer and fewer suspects left standing as the story develops. The murders are a little gory but are shot without any real imagination. However, it must be noted that I could only source a poor-quality print for this review, and the picture had been cropped, likely for television or transfer to video cassette in the early days of home rental. Obviously, it’s not the best way to appreciate a film, so any comment here on the visual aspects has to be qualified.

Rossi-Stuart was a staple of Italian cinema throughout the latter half of the 20th Century and appeared in just shy of 100 films. Debuting in the early 1950s in minor roles, he even appeared briefly in David O Selznick’s ill-fated remake of Hemingway’s ‘A Farewell to Arms’ (1957). He began working for director Mario Bava with ‘The Day the Sky Exploded/La morte viene dallo spazio’ (1958) and had similar supporting roles in the director’s ‘Caltiki, the Immortal Monster/Caltiki il mostro immortale’ (1959), ‘Knives of the Avenger/I coltelli del vendicatore’ (1966) and ‘Kill, Baby… Kill!/Operazione paura’ (1966).

By that time, he was even getting the occasional lead, such as in halfway decent Spaghetti Western ‘Degueyo’ (1966) and as Cmdr Rod Jackson in two of Antonio Margheriti’s four films about Space Station Gamma One, ‘War Between the Planets/Il Planeta Errante’ (1966) and ‘Snow Devils/La morte viene dal pianeta Aytin (1967). However, by the end of the decade, he was back to supporting roles, with the occasional exception. He even turns up, very briefly, in ‘The Godfather’ (1972) but is likely to be best remembered for his key role opposite Vincent Price in ‘The Last Man on Earth’ (1964). He passed away in 1994 at the age of 69.

It’s a film so routine that it barely registers.