Death Walks on High Heels (1971)

A famed jewel thief named Rochard is slashed to death on a train. His daughter Nicole, a famous nightclub performer in Paris, is questioned by the police about some missing diamonds but she... See full summary »

Director:

Luciano Ercoli

Writers:

Ernesto Gastaldi (screenplay), Ernesto Gastaldi (story)

Stars:

Frank Wolff, Nieves Navarro, Simón Andreu

Cast

Cast overview:
Frank Wolff	...	Dr. Robert Matthews
Nieves Navarro	...	Nicole Rochard (as Susan Scott)
Simón Andreu	...	Michel Aumont (as Simon Andreu)
Carlo Gentili	...	Inspector Baxter
George Rigaud	...	Captain Lenny
José Manuel Martín	...	Smith (as J. Manuel Martin)
Fabrizio Moresco	...	Bergson
Luciano Rossi	...	Hallory
Claudie Lange	...	Vanessa Matthews

Storyline

A famed jewel thief named Rochard is slashed to death on a train. His daughter Nicole, a famous nightclub performer in Paris, is questioned by the police about some missing diamonds but she claims to know nothing about this. Nicole is then terrorized by a masked man with piercing blue eyes who demands to know where her father has hidden the stolen diamonds. Suspecting that her jealous boyfriend Michel may be the man who is harassing her, Nicole and her new-found friend Dr. Robert Matthews escape to England and apparant safety. But the killer will strike again...

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Plot Keywords:

stolen diamond | train | police | masked man | killer | 

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Italy Spain

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

19 November 1971 (Italy)

Also Known As:

De dood sluipt op hoge hakken

Filming Locations:

ICET Studios, Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 24,592,669 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlántida Films, Cinecompany

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

70mm blow-up version released in Spain.

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Connections

Referenced in Im Dienste eines Monsters (1977)

User Reviews

Lightning Strikes Twice

Director Luciano Ercoli, screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, and actors Susan Scott and Simon Andreu had greatly impressed me with their 1970 giallo offering, "Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion." Curious to see whether lightning could possibly strike twice for this same team, I took a look at 1971's "Death Walks on High Heels," and it turns out that this latter film is, remarkably, even better than the first. In this one, sexy redheaded stripper Nicole (appealingly played by Scott) gets into major-league trouble when a masked killer with a mechanical voice box starts to target her, whilst looking for some stolen diamonds. You may think that you know where this stylish thriller is headed (and Ercoli DOES direct with style to spare), but trust me, you're dead wrong. A shocking twist of plot around halfway through really does pull the rug out from the viewer's expectations here, sending us into very strange and uncharted waters indeed. Gastaldi has here provided us with yet another ingeniously plotted story that hangs together marvelously (unlike--for me, anyway--Ercoli and Scott's follow-up film, 1972's "Death Walks at Midnight"); composer Stelvio Cipriani has contributed a chic and catchy score; and some great-looking lensing of Paris, London and the English countryside provides some elegant backdrops for the film's very sinister doings. Add some touches of welcome humor (in the film's latter half), one genuinely nasty slice-and-dice sequence for the gorehounds, and some fairly brutal fisticuffs at the film's conclusion and you have one extremely satisfying giallo indeed. Good luck trying to figure out the killer's identity in this one! As icing on the cake, the DVD that I just watched comes to us courtesy of the fine folks at No Shame, who continue to impress with pristine prints of lost Italian wonders, and with excellent subtitling, to boot. Grazie, No Shame!