DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS

Nicole is the daughter of a famous thief, the author of the theft of a large fortune in diamonds, mysteriously killed on a train. The girl, after moving to Paris with her boyfriend and starting her career as a dancer in nightclubs, begins to receive threats from a mysterious man with his face covered by a balaclava and blue eyes, until one night, after being attacked in her room and rushing to her boyfriend's house, Nicole discovers in the man's bathroom a pair of blue contact lenses. Terrified and sure that her pursuer is none other than her boyfriend, Nicole decides to accept the proposal of an admirer and move in with him in England. The days pass quietly, Nicole makes a new life for herself, and just when she is about to marry the man who saved her, danger returns to haunt her. In his film career, the appreciated producer Luciano Ercoli also dedicated himself to the thriller; with precision the so-called "spaghetti-thriller" that took hold in Italy in the early 1970s thanks to the innovative films of Mario Bava and Dario Argento. "Death Walks on High Heels" is Ercoli's first foray into the thriller, but it is an unconventional thriller, because, instead of drawing on the now typical Argento atmospheres, it is more inspired by the Anglo-Saxon tradition giallo, staging an intricate story of intrigues, thefts, jealousies, and misdirections, leaving the sensationalistic and violent aspect, so dear to the Italian tradition, very much in the background. Some links with the national tradition are essentially provided by the erotic aspect of the story, rather accentuated and reconducible to market demands that imposed the insertion of sexy connotations after the great success of previous films that launched some actresses into the Olympus of stars who then got lost in the sea of genres. "Death Walks on High Heels" has an anomalous structure for a thriller: it begins by immediately delving into the spy giallo, with theft, murder, and the search for the loot. A partial solution to the case is then provided, which leads to an apparent return to the narrative and emotional balance of the characters; until the total disorientation of the spectator through an unexpected device that leads to a change in perspective on the entire story. The film's opening, therefore, may seem little engaging and known, but thanks to some good screenplay ideas, a rather interesting and original turn is given to the story, even if then everything ends in a conventional and quite predictable way. The cast is composed of a series of good actors among whom Susan Scott ("The Kids from the Massacre"; "Death Caresses at Midnight") stands out, playing Nicole, Simon Andrei ("Death Caresses at Midnight"; "Crystal Eyes") as Michel, and Frank Wolff ("C'era una volta il west"; "Death Dates Back to Last Night") as Dr. Robert Matthews. "Death Walks on High Heels" is therefore a giallo that is worth watching but does not provide reasons to be remembered: on the one hand, it involves the development of the story and is ennobled by a solid direction and a good cast, but on the other hand, it disappoints for some narrative banalities, for an alternating rhythm, and for the total lack of strong scenes.