Der Todesengel

This ¨Designated Victim¨(1971) results to be a good Hitch style film about an advert executive who becomes involved with a psychopath in exchange for killing . It deals with Stefano (Tomas Milian) in Venice where meets a stranger Count , Matteo Tiepolo (Pierre Clémenti) , who offers a diabolic scheme to exchange murders . The latter's a wealthy Count who leads to an ominous plan and a nail-biting race against time where both will do each other a murderous favor to free them from the people who ail them . Along the way , a cunning Police Inspector (Luigi Casellato) starts investigating the bizarre deeds . Just how perfect is your plan? . It was the perfect crime... but who was the victim? .How two complete strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement . Strangers who kill for each other! . A perfect plan - a horrific result!

This rarely watched Giallo turns out to be a passable thriller in which a chance meeting leading to the edge of sanity , resulting in unpredictable consequences with thrilling events , deliciously twisted happenings and brief touches of erotism . Thriller with baroque giallo overtones and surprising intrigue being well proceeded here and there , along with an unbearably tension in charge of the two adequate protagonists . It is a real high point in 70s Italian Giallo/Poliziesco cinema that is wrongly underrated , obscure , extremely unknown and a hidden psychological gem . Main and support cast are pretty well . Tomas Milian is nice as an advertising executive trapped in an unhappy marriage , as he needs to sort out his troublesome wife who is seriously spoiling his future schemes , and the strange Pierre Clementi is fine as a resourceful sociopathic who proposes him an amazing plan , while the gorgeous Katia Christine provides the essential erotic touches and beauty enough . A decent mystery/thriller with a lot of twists , turns and combining the elements of intrigue with drama and action . Suspenseful and interesting screenplay inspired by Patricia Highsmith novel , ¨Strangers on a train¨ , and co-scripted by Fulvio Gicca Palli , Augusto Caminito , Aldo Lado and Mauricio Luzidi himself , all of them regular writers/directors of Eurotrash movies. There's also a motley group of Italian actors usual in the typical genres of the Sixties and Seventies such as : Luigi Casellato as Commissario Finzi , Carla Mancini and cameo by Maurizio Lucidi himself as a Deputy Commissioner.

La vittima designata (1971) contains atmospheric and moving musical score by Luis Enrique Bacalov in Ennio Morricone style , he subsequently won Academy Award for ¨The Postman and Pablo Neruda¨ . Adding a song : My Shadow in the Dark sung by Tomas Milian and Concerto Grosso No. 1 (allegro - adagio - cadenza) , Grand Concert for New Trolls written by Luis Bacalov with the participation of New Trolls . Evocative and adequate cinematography by Aldo Tonti shot in several locations , especially at a mist-wreathed Venice , such as : Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Veneto, Lainate, Milan, Lombardia, Moltrasio, Como, Lombardia, Venice, Veneto, Italy . The motion picture was professionally directed by Maurizio Lucidi , though it has some flaws , and gaps , but being an acceptable thriller flick . This inspired remake of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train well made by director Maurizio Lucidi is able to carry out the concept of the original movie into something far more including nudism , violence and grisly killings . Maurizio Lucidi was born in 1932 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy and died in 2005 , Rome . He was a director , writer and editor , known for ¨The Man from the Organization or The sicilian cross or Los ejecutores¨ (1976) and he made more thrillers as ¨The last chance¨ with Elli Wallach , Fabio Testi and Ursula Andress . And he directed three Spaghetti Westerns as ¨Halleluja for Django¨(1967) with Hunt Powers , ¨Saddle tramps¨ with Bud Spencer and ¨Pecos¨ with Robert Woods . And furthermore , a wartime movie titled Probabilità zero (1969) and this La víttima designata (1971) at his best , among others . Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable.

This Italian re-working of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train has Tomas Milian star as an immoral advertising executive who is frustrated with his wife's refusal to sell their business. Angry that he won't be cashing in any time soon, he goes on a trip to Venice where he has a chance meeting with a foppish aristocrat who looks like a cross between Russell Brand and Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen. The two of them make a pact where Brand-Llewellyn-Bowen will kill Milian's wife in return for the latter murdering the former's brother.

In its early stages The Designated Victim looks quite promising. The scenes in off-season Venice where Milian meets the Count and his mysterious lady friend are quite unusual and atmospheric. Unfortunately, the odd lady friend vanishes from the scene leaving Milian and the fop to lead the picture. You will sort of know roughly where the story is going if you are even vaguely familiar with the Hitchcock original. But it's not predictability that's the problem here; it's more the fact that there is a serious lack of suspense and thrills. The film drags for the most part and the dynamic between the two central characters isn't as interesting as it should be. I couldn't really wholeheartedly recommend this one. When you consider the other Italian thrillers on offer in the 70's, this one pales quite a bit by comparison.

Wonderfully morbid exceptional giallo in which Tomas MILIAN as a Milanese businessman meets a strangely fascinating Pierre CLEMENTI as Count Matteo in Venice. He proposes a very strange pact that will soon have fatal consequences...

It's wonderful how modern Milan (Pirelli skyscraper) is confronted with the morbid charm of Venice (Santa Maria della Salute). The Italian writer Luigi MALERBA (1927-2008), who wrote novels such as "LE MASCHERE / The Naked Masks" and "FANTASMI ROMANI / Roman Ghosts", was involved in the award-winning script. By the way, the song "My Shadows in the Dark" is sung by Tomas MILIAN himself.

Highly recommended!

Not a tennis player this time but a business man who has a matrimonial conflict with his wife and also a mistress. Noble friend Mateo Tiepolo offers him the "perfect crime" - i.e. he will murder Milian's wife and Milian is supposed to kill his evil brother. After doing his job Mateo expects the compensation. This more stylish version with a good score can be recommended to Milian fans. Considering that I didn't even like the original very much I'll give this one

5 / 10.

Strangers on a Train is given the giallo treatment in The Designated Victim, which is sadly nowhere near as good as Hitchcock's classic, nor is it one of the better Italian murder mysteries to hail from the '70s.

Tomas Milian plays successful advertising executive Stefano Augenti, who tries unsuccessfully to get his wife Luisa (Marisa Bartoli) to sell her half of the company, which would free up funds for Stefano to leg it to Venezuela with his sexy mistress, French model Fabienne (Katia Christine). While on a dirty weekend with Fabienne in Venice, Stefano encounters the foppish Count Matteo Tiepolo (Pierre Clémenti, who looks like Russell Brand crossed with Freddie Mercury) who comes up with a scheme that would benefit them both: Matteo would kill Luisa, and, in return, Stefano would murder Matteo's bully of a brother. Stefano brushes the idea off as morbid chit-chat, but Matteo goes through with his part of the plan regardless, strangling Luisa with a stocking. When the police investigate, they discover all about Stefano's affair and his intention to leave the country, which makes him the prime suspect.

What follows is a rather mundane thriller as Stefano tries to prove his innocence, with Matteo always one step ahead. Director Maurizio Lucidi fails to wring any tension from the set-up, and, barring some brief T&A from Christine during the opening credits, the film is totally devoid of the genre staples - gratuitous nudity and creative killings, making it a pretty pedestrian affair all round. A daft ending that requires Stefano to be an Olympic standard rifleman really takes the biscuit.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.