Flowers with Steel Petals

Il Fiore Dai Petali D'Acciaio

Italy 1973

D: Gianfranco Piccioli

P: Riccardo Cerro for PAB Distribuzione & PARLA Cinematografica//St & Sc: Gianni Martucci & Gianfranco Piccioli//DP: Antonio Borghesi//E: Attilo Vincio (Asst: Maria Ciro)//M: Marcello Giombini//Costumes: Silvio Laurenti

Cast: Carroll Baker, Gianni Garko, Ivan Staccioli, Pilar Velazquez, Paola Senatore, Umberto Raho, Eleonora Morana, Angelo Bassi, Giuseppe Mattei, Alessandro Perrella, Alba Maiolini.

Doctor Adrian Valenti is a talented surgeon who returns home late one night after surgery to find an unwanted lover waiting in his bed for him. They fight and in a fit of temper, Valenti knocks her to the floor. When she doesn't respond to his taunts, he discovers she has landed on a sculptured flower made out of metal. One of the petals has stuck in her neck and killed her. Panicking, Valenti takes out his surgical tools and proceeds to dismember her. Placing the body parts into plastic bags, he drives to a deserted factory and throws the bags into a huge stone-wheeled mill. Soon after, Evelyne Giraldi accusses the doctor of killing her sister Danielia, who was one of the good doctor's lovers. Inspector Garrano soon begins to investigate the good doctor's background and discovers that he had his first wife committed to an insane asylum for being a nymphomaniac. She  was the daughter of a very influential surgeon and soon after she was out of the way, Doctor Valenti's career began to take off. Evelyne decides to look through Valenti's apartment for clues to her sister's whereabouts and is surprised by a killer wearing black gloves and coat. The Inspector arrives too late to save her but kills Valenti as he aimlessly walks along the rooftops. Unfortunately for the Inspector, he has shot the wrong person as Valenti's last words are, "I never killed anybody."

Director Piccioli's only foray into the genre (in fact he has only made 3 films in his entire career) is an impressive one and makes one wish he had been more prolific as a director (his main claim to fame is as a producer for Francesco Nuti). The plot is very convoluted and you really have to be paying attention at the end to catch what all happened, but it's worth the wait. The performances by both the principals and the supporting cast are excellent. Gianni Garko plays a slimy womanizer yet he isn't a killer. His past just catches up with him and he definitely ends up paying for all the times he abused the women in his life. Carroll Baker creates an uneasy character who appears to have more than the normal concern for her sister's well being. There's more than the hint of lesbianism in the opening sequence that comes to the forefront by the film's conclusion. Paola Senatore as Daniela performs her usual nude scene, but is also allowed to create a presence in this film (even though she all but disappears for most of the film's running time) that proves important to the overall plot. As Inspector Garrano, it's nice to see Ivano Staccioli play a good guy for a change. He even gets to project some tragedy into his character's part when he develops a relationship with Evelyne, only to discover her bloody body late in the film. The sense of loss he feels for her comes right out of his eyes and onto the screen. Marcello Giombini's score mixes electronics, jazz and a pounding drum beat to good effect. This film's obscurity is hardly justified.