Own the rights?
A number of passengers are riding in a train compartment in Greece. As the train goes into a tunnel the lights go out, and when they come back on, a mysterious female passenger is dead, stabbed with a letter opener. The owner of the letter opener, an Italian fashion photographer traveling with dim-witted Swedish girlfriend (Vera Krushka) is the prime suspect. The police take his passport stranding him in Greece, so in typical giallo fashion he decides to investigate the murder himself. Meanwhile a couple other shady passengers know the real killer's identity, but choose to blackmail him or her rather than going to the police--which naturally results in many more bloody murders.A lot of giallo fans don't like this movie because of its intentional comic elements. But it really all depends on your expectations. Having seen the director's previous effort "Death Carries a Cane", which was completely serious but totally inept, I have to say that this works a lot better as a giallo, the "comic relief" notwithstanding. Also, if you take it as an Italian comedy (which I've seen WAY too many of), it's actually pretty funny. I supposed, being part Swedish, I could take offense at the incredibly dumb Swedish model/girlfriend, but then I could also take offense at "the Swedish chef" on the "The Muppet Show"--the point is she's often pretty funny. My favorite part though is when the protagonist is trying to break into a safe, and the experienced female safe-cracker he's hired to do it sends her inexperienced daughter instead. Fortunately, the daughter's armed with a safe-cracking manual, but she still has to call her mother in the middle of the job! The murders are suitably bloody and, as in director Pradeaux's previous effort there's abundant female nudity, although mostly by the black (as in African) female blackmailer and not by the female lead Krushka. The comedy doesn't really hurt things that much. By the mid 1970's even masters of the genre like Sergio Martino (in "Suspicious Death of a Minor") were adding comic elements to their films as the tastes of the audience had begun to turn away from straight gialli. Still these comedy/giallo hybrids were still better generally than the slasher/giallo hybrids of the 80's and definitely better than the "erotic thriller"/giallo hybrids of the 90's. This doesn't change the fact, of course, that this a second-rate (or third-rate) giallo entry, but having seen nearly 150 of these films I'm not expecting to find too many more undiscovered classics. This is not that bad really.
You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
