Perfect Crime

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Perfect Crime

Italy 1978

D: Aaron Leviathan (Giuseppe Rosati)

P: Ciat C.L.C.//St & Sc: Giuseppe Rosati//DP: Jerri Delaware//E: Frank Robertson//Music: Carlo Savina//Art D: Robert Frogs//Makeup: Gloria Gramati

Cast: Leonard Mann, Alida Valli, Anthony Steel, Janet Agren, Gloria Guida, Joseph Cotten, Paul Muller, Adolfo Celi, Franco Ressel, Antony Freeman, Elio Stefanizzi, Claudio Gora.

Industrialist Lord Selmer is killed in a mysterious plane crash and his successor is to be picked from among the board members. Practically overnight, they begin to die mysterious deaths. First, Paul is killed when the brakes on his car fail and he ends up going over the side of a mountain. Next, Arthur's pacemaker goes haywire, causing him to perform some impromptu surgery on his chest in a vain attempt to restart it. Too late as he dies from a heart attack. Just as we discover that Paul wasn't killed in the car wreck, Harold is shot at point blank range. The film ends as the murderer gets off scot free.

If you're a fan of this genre, look over the cast list and you'll think you've died and gone to heaven. Too bad the film is nothing more than an average time waster, centered around corporate politics. It's not that the film is terrible, after all, Gloria Guida does get undressed quite often, just a waste of the talent involved. The corporate assassin dresses up in typical Giallo fashion, wearing black gloves and mask. The score by Carlo Savina is certainly prime stuff, very close to the style forged by Bruno Nicolai in the early seventies. Unfortunately the murders are not flamboyant enough to distinguish the film from any other typical murder mystery. Plot has overtaken style which is NOT the reason I watch these films.