Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate

A young woman is stabbed to death in a park, and the killer gets away. Soon, a suspect is apprehended and, after a lengthy trial, imprisoned for the crime.

However, the case is hardly open-and-shut, as we are introduced to characters with mixed motives, and made privy to certain facts that toss everything into confusion! Then, another murder is committed in a similar fashion, and someone begins taunting the police. This isn't the last homicide, either!

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY is an excellent giallo, packed with suspense, mystery, red herrings, some unexpected twists, and a unique denouement!

Co-stars Helmut Berger as Giorgio, the rather strange son of a millionaire...

Behind a typically abstruse giallo title (the plot's link to a butterfly of any kind is extremely tenuous) lies a film that rarely feels like a typical giallo, with more police procedure and courtroom drama than usual. Director Duccio Tessari's film opens in familiar territory with the murder of a young woman in a park, the killer, in raincoat and hat, making his escape, but witnessed by several people. The police investigate the crime scene, forensics gathering numerous pieces of evidence, all of which points to TV reporter Alessandro Marchi (Giancarlo Sbragia) as the guilty party. The rest of the first half of the film is dedicated to the trial of Allesandro, with dreary flashbacks and cross-examination making the film something of a chore to sit through.

Found guilty of murder, Allesandro is sentenced to life, but while he is in prison, the killings continue, the modus operandi the same as before, the culprit contacting the police with a whispered phone call. When Allesandro's mistress comes forward with vital information that seems to prove his innocence, Allesandro is freed (much to the annoyance of his wife, who also has a lover). After much intrigue, Tessari eventually pulls together all the plot threads for an unexpected twist ending that goes some way to make the duller moments seem a bit more worthwhile. As far as the death scenes go, they are extremely tame and likely to disappoint fans of Argento or Fulci, and despite a fair few attractive women, the level of nudity is also fairly low.

Perhaps the most notable things about the film are its police inspector's strange obsession with coffee, and the cop who falls over running down some stairs during a chase on foot through the streets of Milan (it looks unintentional and is never spoken of).

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

I only heard about this giallo recently, but it's undoubtedly one of the best examples of the subgenre that I've watched. Besides, from the little I've checked out of Tessari's work so far (incidentally, I've just recorded his Spaghetti Western A PISTOL FOR RINGO [1965] - which I'll catch up with soon enough), it's easily his most significant effort; I should also be getting to PUZZLE (1974), another giallo of his, in the near future.

THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY (as ever, the title is only peripheral to the main narrative) - which opens with an identification of all the major characters - is especially notable for its complex editing structure, with details of plot related throughout in abrupt flashes (as either part of a lengthy trial sequence, which occupies the majority of its first half, or during troubled lead Helmut Berger's regular fits, which remain unexplained till the finale). While characterization is somewhat aloof (with no real female counterpart to Berger, despite a fair number of women in the cast), the principal actors are well chosen and also include such familiar Euro-Cult faces as Carole Andre' (playing a murdered victim), Evelyn Stewart (the wife of the suspected killer), Silvano Tranquilli (the police detective assigned to the case) and Wolfgang Preiss (the prosecuting attorney).

The narrative is a bit on the seamy side - encompassing (if ever so discreetly) rape, infidelity, paedophelia, pornography, prostitution, etc. - but welcome comedy relief is provided by the interaction between the flustered Tranquilli and his long-suffering junior partner. Unlike many films of its ilk, the audience is kept guessing as to the identity of the villain up to the violent climax (resulting in a curt but satisfyingly bleak ending) and, just as thankfully, the script dispenses with the idea (popularized by Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO [1960]) of presenting a forced last-minute explanation - wherein a psychiatrist is appointed to dig into the killer's past, in order to extract some lame motive for his misdeeds. Typically, however, the eclectic score (courtesy of Gianni Ferrio) is masterful - especially in the way a Tchaikovsky symphony is seamlessly woven into the soundtrack!

The film is available on a bare-bones DVD from both Italy and Spain - but it more than merits a decent release in R1 through, say, Blue Underground (given their predilection for such "Euro-Cult" offerings)...

A middle aged male TV presenter is arrested and convicted of the murder of a 17 year old French girl in a park, however the killings continue.. Whereas many Italian giallo movies have plots that are over complicated or lack logic this one is easy to follow, it's quite straight forward, perhaps even a tad predictable, but that's good. That's not to say that it doesn't have the odd twist. I came into this film worried that the courtroom scenes may drag this film down but it doesn't. It's integral to the plot and, like everything else about this film, is well done. Beautifully filmed and superb musical score. There's a dash of humour regarding the investigating police office and his taste in coffee. Rated 15 in the UK, it may lack the bloodshed & nudity of other giallo that are rated 18 but this is a fantastic example of these movies, highly recommended. And watch it in Italian, not dubbed!

Duccio Tessari is probably best known as the director of several Spaghetti Westerns, most prominently the "Ringo" films with Giuliano Gemma, as well as the well-known Italian Crime flick "Tony Arzenta". The man also served as an (uncredited) co-writer of Sergio Leone's Italian Western milestone "Fistful of Dollars", and as a writer of several sword and sandal films in the early 60s. As a director, Tessari's doubtlessly best films are his two intelligent and plot-driven Gialli, "L'Uomo Senza Memoria" (aka. "The Man Without Memory", 1974) and this gem. "Una Farfalla Con Le Ali Insanguiante" aka. "Bloodstained Butterfly" of 1971 is a terrific, beauty- and suspenseful example for a purely plot-based Giallo that profits from an excellent cast, a great score, wonderful settings and a sublime cinematography. As it is the case with Tessari's other Giallo, "The Man Without Memory", "Bloodstained Butterfly" is a Giallo that focuses on the Mystery more than the Horror-elements of the genre. And the film is indeed a perfectly constructed puzzle of a mystery that is (though convoluted) always easy to follow.

When a French exchange student (Carole André) is murdered by multiple stabbing in a park in Bergamo, the police arrest TV anchor Marchi (Giancarlo Sbragia). Marchi's daughter Sarah (Wendy D'Olive), who was friends with the murdered girl, does not believe in her father's guilt... As said above, this is a purely story-driven Giallo. For genre-standards, there are only very few murders and very little gore. The film is very suspenseful, however, and delivers mystery and innovative twists from the beginning to the end, as a good Giallo should. The beautiful Bergamo locations are a wonderful setting for the film, which is furthermore (in good Giallo-tradition) brilliantly photographed. The beautiful score intensifies the atmosphere, and the film profits from a very good ensemble cast. The characters are all complex and elaborate. The always-sinister Helmut Berger and Italian Grenre-cinema regulars such as Ida Galli ("The Case Of The Scorpion's Tail"), Günter Stoll ("What Have They Done To Solange"), Silvano Tranquilli ("The Black Belly of The Tarantula"), and Giancarlo Sbragia ("Tony Arzenta") all deliver very good performances. As said, for a Giallo this features little violence and gore and also little sleaze, but the magnificently elaborate plot should be more than pleasant to Genre-fans. "Bloodstained Butterfly" is beautifully filmed with a lot of style, and highly recommended to my fellow Giallo-fans.