‘She’s been injected with a Kaiserling solution, with formalin and hyposulphite.’
A little girl playing on the beach finds a woman’s corpse in the burnt-out wreck of a car. The police struggle to identify her and bring her killer to justice, aided by a retired Inspector who inserts himself into the case…
Serious-minded, Italian-Spanish true crime Giallo from co-writer and director Flavio Mogherini. Ageing American star Ray Milland heads up a cast that includes Dalila Di Lazzaro, Howard Ross and Mel Ferrer.
The discovery of the dead body of an unknown woman on an Australian beach prompts a major criminal investigation. There are no clues to her identity beyond her yellow pyjamas as the corpse was tied up in a sack and set on fire. Detectives Morris (Rod Mullinar) and Ramsey (Ramiro Oliveros) are given the assignment, but recognising its difficulty, Mullinar surreptitiously calls in his ex-partner, Inspector Timpson (Milland), to help. Although not keen on the elderly retired policeman’s help, chief of detectives Nottingham (Antonio Ferrandis) agrees as he’s already under pressure to get a quick conviction. Oliveros brings in local loser Quint (Giacomo Assandri), who originally dumped the cars on the beach. Some unfriendly persuasion from Oliveros gets a confession, but Milland focuses on the evidence, including some grains of rice found in the sack used to wrap the body.
The police interview pretty blonde Glenda Blythe (Di Lazzaro) about Evelyn, a friend who has apparently gone missing. However, the Dutch waitress is more concerned with making ends meet and juggling her three lovers. Young stud Roy Conner (Ross) is just in it for the sex, but handsome Italian Antonio Attolini (Michele Placido) is serious about their relationship and wants to get married. Wealthy surgeon Professor Henry Douglas (Ferrer) also seems keen to make their affair official, but will he risk the fallout to his international reputation and family life? Di Lazzaro has strong feelings for Placido, but Ferrer means security and the good life. Eventually, she does tie the knot with the young Italian but carries on seeing her other lovers without his knowledge.
If the notion of an Australian-set Giallo with an Italian cast headed by an old Hollywood star seems a touch bizarre, then an explanation is forthcoming. The script by director Mogherini and co-writer Rafael Sanchez Campoy is based on a real-life 1934 murder in New South Wales. Although the body was eventually identified (over a decade later!) and the apparent culprit jailed for manslaughter, doubts remain as to the official solution. Nearly a century later, alternative theories are still circulating, with even the identification of the body questioned. However, no such ambiguity is present in Mogherini’s film, as most of these questions have only arisen in the years since its production. The action is also transported from small town to big city, as Mogherini uses the original events as the basis for his drama, allowing himself a significant amount of artistic licence.
Mogherini’s undoubted skill as a filmmaker and storyteller places this above similar ‘based on a true story’ projects. This example is far more than just an adaptation of actual events presented in a pseudo-documentary fashion. Instead, it’s a fully realised cinematic experience in its own right, with layered characters and a compelling story that prompts emotional engagement on the part of the audience rather than just clinical detachment. The introduction of Milland’s mischievous copper is just one of the highlights, the old copper’s intuitive feel for which evidence is crucial, allowing him to run rings around his younger colleagues. For once, the determination of a lead character to work alone seems believable because it arises from a level of self-confidence earned by years of experience. The fact that his investigations lead him to the fringes of society also ties in neatly with one of the film’s themes, as the older man views the succession of foreigners, gay men and a dwarf that he meets with both exasperation and a vague sense of disgust.
But, despite Milland’s excellence in his role, without question, this is Di Lazzaro’s film. She gives a spellbinding performance as Glenda. From the tarnished optimism and hope of her early scenes to the angry, defeated woman initiating a gangbang in a cheap motel toward the end of the film, she strikes every note perfectly. This woman is complex, conflicted and restless, driven to bad choices by a world seemingly intent on crushing her independence and spirit. Sex with Ross has no future, marriage to the weak Placido means a menial cleaning job, and Ferrer proves to be just as worthless an example of manhood as the other two. She’s no saint, that’s for sure, but it would be a cold heart who didn’t feel for her by the time the credits roll.
The other subtext here is that of the immigrant experience. Milland represents the establishment, uncomfortable with any societal and cultural change, and even the supposedly respectable Ferrer makes a tasteless joke at Di Lazzaro’s expense about Dutch prostitutes. Placido is from Italy, Ross is from Germany, and all three are at the bottom of the economic food chain. Ross works in a smelly factory, and the other two serve in restaurants. To some extent, the tragedy that unfolds can be laid at the door of this low-level existence, one of them expiring on the tarmac as a bus full of pretty teenage majorettes look on, an inspired symbol of convention, respectability and affluence.
Fortunately, Mogherini is far too savvy a filmmaker to let any of these incidentals overwhelm the main thread of the tale, which he delivers via a smart trick of narrative construction. Unfortunately, Milland reveals this sleight-of-hand around the halfway mark via a recorded message to Mullinar. It would have been better to let the audience work this out for themselves, but it’s still a highly effective conceit that packs an emotional punch when it becomes clear.
One of the film’s most memorable sequences has the authorities place the partially-embalmed dead girl in a glass box and put her public on display. It’s an attempt to aid in her identification, and a long line of men and women shuffle by the tragic spectacle as if viewing a famous person lying in state. One tries to use his camera, another eats a sandwich. Minor characters on the fringes of the case also pop by for a look. Milland regards the farce with weary humour, and the only thing it generates is a succession of fraudsters and attention seekers making false claims. If this all seems to be pushing our suspension of disbelief a little too far, then truth is stranger than fiction because, amazingly, this happened for real in the original murder case.
Although, on this evidence, both Mogherini and Di Lazzaro should have gone on to enjoy notable movie careers, sadly, this was not the case. Mogherini was born in Tuscany in 1922 and began working in the Italian film industry just after World War Two as an Art Director and Production Designer, fulfilling these roles for the entirety of his career. In that capacity, he worked with some legendary European directors, including Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roberto Rossellini, and Jean-Luc Godard. By the time he debuted as a co-writer and director with the comedy ‘Anche se volessi lavorare, che faccio?’ (1972), he had already been working in movies for around 25 years. Almost without exception, the rest of his 14-movie output as a director are obscure, poorly-regarded comedies, although his final film was a mystery thriller called ‘Delitto passionale’ (1994).
Di Lazzaro was born in 1953 in northeast Italy. She began her professional career as a fashion model. She entered film in small, uncredited roles that played on her looks, including a brief appearance in the superior Giallo ‘Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key/Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave’ (1972). A featured role in inferior horror ‘Frankenstein ’80 (1972) followed quickly and paved the way for a memorable role in Paul Morrissey’s notorious exploitation horror ‘Flesh for Frankenstein’ (1973). Although she had graduated to leading roles by the late 1970s opposite the likes of Alain Delon and Franco Nero, she was back in supporting roles when she appeared in ‘Phenomena’ (1985) for director Dario Argento. Perhaps turning down the role eventually played by Kim Basinger in the James Bond adventure ‘Never Say Never Again’ (1983) was not the best career decision. She turned increasingly to television, although a serious motorbike accident in 1997 somewhat curtailed her career. Her last appearance was in the little-seen comedy ’80 voglia di te’ (2015).
It’s not your usual Giallo by any means, but it is a compelling slice of true-crime drama.