Translated as Crime of Author, this giallo has pretensions to high class, as it’s all about a wealthy countess named Valeria Volpi Gerosi has been warned that if she gives away a valuable painting that she will be killed. Instead, the painting is stolen, she is still murdered, her niece Milena (Sylva Koscina, Hercules, Lisa and the Devil, Deadlier Than the Male) is kidnapped and the police, as always, blundering in the dark.
Look — it’s only 70 minutes long, Luigi Pistilli (A Bay of Blood, Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) shows up, as does Pier Paolo Capponi (who played cops in Seven Blood-Stained Orchids and The Cat o’ Nine Tails). I mean, if you watch this and have a complaint, remember that the hippie body painting scene and Koscina being chased through the Roman baths are pretty great moments.
Director Mario Sabatini also made A Gunman Called Dakota, Squillo, Sheriff of Rock Springs and Peccato Originale, as well as shooting second unit on 1989’s Blue Island.
You can watch this on YouTube.