Who Saw Her Die? (1972) ***1/2
It blows my mind that director Aldo Lado's Who Saw Her Die? (1972) was released a year before Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (my review here), due to the similarities between the two films—the tragic death of a child, the Venice setting, a strained marriage, the mysterious atmosphere, enshrouded by fog. While WSHD? is a much more conventional film than DLN (and doesn't have the same sense of grief), it seems almost impossible that the screenwriters didn't read Daphne du Maurier’s 1971 short story, on which the latter film is based, and pull inspiration from it.
Following up his excellent debut from the previous year, Short Night Of Glass Dolls (my review here), with another giallo, Lado wasn't able to match the quality of that film, but WSHD? is nevertheless a very good follow-up (despite a weirdly comedic and tonally out of place ending). It has strong cinematography by Franco Di Giacomo, a haunting (though repetitive) Ennio Morricone theme featuring eerily chanting children, Swedish beauty and giallo mainstay Anita Strindberg, and not one but two Bond alumni (George Lazenby and Adolfo Celi).
You can find my Giallo Feature Films Ranked list here.
Following up his excellent debut from the previous year, Short Night Of Glass Dolls (my review here), with another giallo, Lado wasn't able to match the quality of that film, but WSHD? is nevertheless a very good follow-up (despite a weirdly comedic and tonally out of place ending). It has strong cinematography by Franco Di Giacomo, a haunting (though repetitive) Ennio Morricone theme featuring eerily chanting children, Swedish beauty and giallo mainstay Anita Strindberg, and not one but two Bond alumni (George Lazenby and Adolfo Celi).
You can find my Giallo Feature Films Ranked list here.
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