Eine Leiche für die Dame

The premise of the movie is really quite good. Pretty women, blackmail, and murder. But the interesting premise is quickly squandered and the whole movie turns into a second rate Weekend At Bernie's. It recovers somewhat at the end, but it's a shame when I think of what it could have been.

Let me just say that this is Sylva Koscina at her prettiest and I would be happy to stare at her in front of a brick wall for an hour and a half.

One of the four friends is a nun and this character was kept out of the movie until the end. I understand why, seeing how her character was used in the story, but she should have been brought in earlier, maybe on a tangent story. Instead they had her mother fill on for her as the 4th friend. This change worked well, but there was no reason why this level of trust should have been given to someone who didn't have the same history as the other friends.

I believe that a movie requires 3 main things to be good, good direction, good acting, and good writing. The acting was the only thing this movie got right pretty much throughout. I would have thrown 2/3 of the writing in the trash and had them try again. Mario Mattoli is hit and miss as a director. I love some of his films, but others leave something to be desired. Another director, such as Dino Risi, would have really been able to run with this good premise.

Now having said all of that, I'm sure I'll watch this movie again.