This an interesting giallo from the director of "Perfume of the Lady in Black". It has a period World War II setting and greatly resembles the Salvatore Samperi film "Scandalo". The story centers on a mother (Lidia Bondi) and daughter (Leanora Fani), who are trying to run a pensione (hotel) after their husband/father has disappeared while fighting in the war. The mother is hiding her army-deserter lover (Francisco Rabal) in the attic while Fascist soldiers are encamped nearby. Meanwhile, a perverted couple staying at the hotel, older woman (Jolene Fierro) and her studly younger lover (Luc Merenda), are conspiring to get their slimy hands on the teenage daughter. This latter subplot is especially reminiscent of "Scandalo", but where the mother was the main protagonist there, the daughter is here, and this eventually takes a decidedly gialloesque turn with a series of mysterious murders. The ending is also quite different (and actually kind of ridiculous).
The historical setting makes this somewhat unique as a giallo, but it's quite possible this movie was merely aping "Scandalo" there. It's principal strengths though are definitely Luc Merenda and Leanora Fani, who also appeared together in "The Last Round". They have similar roles here as, respectively, a handsome but vicious brute and his young, seemingly vulnerable victim. Merenda usually rates below other handome, more famous Italian leading men like Franco Nero (who was in "Scandalo") and Fabio Testi, but he was actually better than either when it came to playing an out-and-out villain. Leanora Fani was similarly underrated as an actress. She was one of the many Italian "lolitas" of the era, but unlike a lot of the others (Gloria Guida, Eleanora Giorgi, etc.) she actually looked like a teenage girl (even though she wasn't), and she generally specialized in playing vulnerable victims as opposed to predatory vixens.
Francisco Barilli does a good job of creating a dark, moody atmosphere. The off-the-wall ending topedoes any real pretensions this movie might have had to be a serious historical drama like "Scandalo", but it certainly succeeds as a giallo (where bizarre endings are common). I actually thought this was better than Barilli's somewhat overrated "Perfume of the Lady in Black". It's definitely worth a look.
