DEATH OCCURRED LAST NIGHT

Writer for Mario Bava and Riccardo Freda, Duccio Tessari, starts from a novel by Scerbanenco ("I milanesi ammazzano al sabato") for his first giallo as a director, the second is from 1972 ("Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate") with a plot more like a legal thriller than this one. Dr. Duca Lamberti (Frank Wolff) is called to investigate the disappearance and then the murder of a mentally ill girl with nymphomaniac tendencies in the Milanese high society of the sixties. The screenplay is well crafted and the actors perform well (Ralf Vallone is really good), but the film, scene by scene, doesn't take off due to Tessari's clumsiness behind the camera, who two years later will show technical virtuosity that is absent here or at least not apparent. Notable is the presence of Eva Renzi in the cast, seen the same year in Dario Argento's debut film ("The Bird with the Crystal Plumage").