La polizia chiede aiuto

'What Have They Done To Our Daughters?' is an above average giallo directed by Massimo Dallamano, who was the cinematographer for Leone's spaghetti western classic 'For A Few Dollars More'. It's a kinda sorta sequel to 'What Have They Done To Solange?', which I haven't seen. But I have seen Dallamano's swinging De Sade 'Venus In Furs' and both movies have made me very interested in his work. The story concerns a police investigation into the shocking murder of a teenage girl which uncovers a prostitution ring. It stars Giovanna Ralli who was in another pretty good giallo 'Cold Eyes Of Fear' and Claudio Cassinelli who co-starred in the nunsploitation classic 'Flavia The Heretic'. It's also quite a surprise to see Farley Granger (of Hitchcock's classics 'Rope' and 'Strangers On A Train') in the supporting cast, though his performance is forgettable. Giallo fans will enjoy this one, but if you are new to genre try some Dario Argento (especially 'Tenebre') or Fulci's 'Don't Torture A Duckling' to see some of the best examples of this style of thriller. Still, this is a pretty good movie with some gruesome and sensationalistic touches.

A school-girl is found hung naked in a loft. Initially thought suicide, it soon becomes clear it was a murder. The discovery leads to a sordid case involving an underage prostitute ring and bloody mutilation.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is pretty much a companion piece to director Massimo Dallamano's other similarly themed film What Have You Done to Solange? Both movies share stories about murder and abuse of school-girls. As a result they both are a little more downbeat than is usual in this category of film, they aren't as graphically violent as other similar movies either, as the bleak story lines are unpleasant enough as they are. Where Solange was a giallo, this film is a hybrid of the giallo and poliziotteschi; for while there is a murder-mystery plot, the emphasis is squarely on the police procedural side of things. To be fair though this is an excellent show-case for both Italian sub-genres. From the poliziotteschi side of things we have a brilliantly shot and pulse-pounding motorcycle chase scene where a leather clad killer is pursued through the streets by police in a high speed chase; alternatively from the giallo side of the coin there is an intensely suspenseful scene set in an underground car-park where the killer stalks the heroine. In other words what makes Dallamano's film so good is that he is so adept at delivering the goods in both sub-genres.

The two leads are very good. Giovanni Ralli (Cold Eyes of Fear) and Claudio Cassinelli (Flavia the Heretic) as both believable and strong in their respective roles as the police in pursuit of the killer. To accompany things nicely is a very good score from Stelvio Cipriani; it accentuates the suspense moments to a significant degree and surely must be one of his best soundtracks. As you may also expect, it's photographed very well too. So stylistically this is a strong feature but what elevates it more is the unexpectedly serious-minded tone and story which also comments on political corruption. Its cynicism and downbeat nature are mediated, however, with more typical gruesome touches such as a man having his hand hacked off and an autopsy scene involving a torso cut into many pieces.

I've got to recommend this one to my fellow Italian genre enthusiasts. It's the best combination of the giallo and poliziotteschi I am aware of. Its mystery is consistently compelling and it's directed with considerable skill. Well worth tracking down.

The police ask for help: Giallo classic with Giovanna Ralli and Mario Adorf

That's not nice! The very young Silvia Polesi (SherryBuchanan) hanged herself in an attic where she always met her boyfriend for rendezvous. Since it is apparently a suicide, Inspector Valentini (really good: EUROPEAN FILM AWARD nominee Mario Adorf, who received a nomination for ROSSINI by Helmut DIETL in 1997) and the second public prosecutor Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli) are responsible for the case. By chance, however, it turns out that a shady neighbor (Franco Fabrizi) has repeatedly taken photos of the girl with various male acquaintances. Suddenly everything points to murder. Commissario Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) is now in charge. At some point, Silvia's overly carefree parents (Marina Berti and Hitchcock star Farley Granger) return to Rome. The inspector finds out that Silvia was probably part of a prostitution ring for very young girls. What does her psychotherapist Professor Beltrame (Steffen Zacharias) have to do with it? And suddenly the murder really starts: a motorcyclist equipped with a cleaver is on the way. The whole thing comes to a head even more when it becomes clear that Valentini's underage daughter is also involved in the prostitution ring...

Things are quite tough here, with hands sometimes being abused with a cleaver. On the other hand, the issue of youth prostitution is dealt with surprisingly sensitively. As a result, this film by Massimo Dallamano (1917-1976) was able to set a style for future Gialli and Poliziotteschi, who then worked on the subject in a more sensational way. And then there is a really good female role for Giovanna Ralli (Era notte a Roma), which wasn't necessarily the norm in Italian genre films of the 1970s.

This skilful mix of Giallo and Poliziottesco is a must-see for any fan of Italian genre cinema!

From the director of the excellent what have you done to Solange, Massimo Dallamano, here is a strange Italian giallo, more a police procedural (an a really lurid tale, a ring of teens used as prostitutes by people in very high places - that was the time, in Italy, when several directors and scripwriters tried their hands on very hot subjects, like this one) than an Argentian thriller (but it is scary enough in a few places and also very gory). It starts with the false suicide of a very young girl, hanged nude under a roof and then proceeds with a lot of cars and bikes chases (the killer is always covered by a motorcycle helmet until the very end - it is possible that the director of Night School took from here the idea of the killer masked with an helmet), almost always running without pauses. Tense and scary enough, good almost till the end (a lot too Dillenger for my tastes).

Second in Dallamano's schoolgirls-getting-killed trilogy, it's not as good as Who's Next? (Solange) but not bad in its own right. The killer is someone who rides a motorino (hey, it is Italy!) and never takes off his/her riding helmet, ala Magnum Force, the 2nd Dirty Harry film. This one's more exciting than scary, as the police hunt down this maniac. He's one of the cooler villains in film history though, because unlike the traditional drag-ass killer, this guy never speaks and just RUNS at you with a machete. He really SPRINTS at top speed, which is actually very scary, especially to a jaded horror buff used to the Michael Myers/Jason/zombie method of ambling on over to their victims, who usually have to trip in order to be caught. And there's one scene involving a light switch that will make you jump out of your undies. Stelvio Cipriani's score is again top-notch (he later reused part of it for Tentacles), the dubbing tolerable.