Cross Current/Un omicidio perfetto a termine di legge - 1971 Italy/Spain d: Tonino Ricci
Having developed a love for Tonino Ricci as a reliable provider of transcendently bad films, imagine my shock tonight to watch this early giallo from him and to discover a wonderful film.
This was Ricci's second film as director and it is really good. I would comfortably put it up at the top of the second rank of gialli (if you follow me!). It has problems - at times the pacing is off (mostly early in the film, though, so easy to overlook), the English dub is not brilliant, some of the supporting cast are poor - but no more so and the same kind of problems one finds in gialli by Fulci, Martino, Freda etc.
The photography and camerawork are very good (superb work from cinematographer Cecilio Paniagua), the lead performers good (for the most part), the music score is excellent (a Morricone-like job by Giorgio Gaslini) and the convoluted script and plotting are just what we expect from the genre. The production design is striking and used well - there is a magnificent villa set rivalling the one in Five Dolls For An August Moon - it is a stylish spectacle indeed. The editing is creative and resonant, using many of the tricks honed in the Spaghetti Western era.
A number of times through the film I would think, "Ah, that reminds me of that scene in *insert better known giallo*" only to remember that this being released in 1971 it actually pre-dates the films of which I was thinking.
So, colour me gobsmacked! A huge surprise and something of a lost treasure. For the love of all that is black-gloved, over-plotted, murderous and stylish, get this film released someone!
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