''Sette scialli di seta gialla''/ ''Seven Shawls of Yellow Silk''Luther-Smith,Adrian (1999). ''Blood and Black Lace: The Definitive Guide to Italian Sex and Horror Movies''. Stray Cat Publishing Ltd. p. 25 (International title: ''Crimes of the Black Cat'') is a 1972 Italian giallo film. It was directed by Sergio Pastore and written by Pastore, Alessandro Continenza and

Giovanni Simonelli Giovanni Simonelli (born 23 October 1952) is an Italian professional football manager, who is currently out of work after a spell as manager of Benevento Calcio. Managerial career After spending his much of his early year managing many of the min ...

. ''Sette scialli di seta gialla'' stars Anthony Steffen,

Sylva Koscina Sylva Koscina (; born Silvija Košćina, ; 22 August 1933 – 26 December 1994) was a Yugoslav-born Italian actress, maybe best remembered for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules ( Steve Reeves) in ''Hercules'' (1958) and ''Hercules Unchai ...

, Jeannette Len,

Renato De Carmine Renato De Carmine (25 January 1923 – 18 July 2010) was an Italian stage, film and television actor. After graduating at the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico, De Carmine worked mainly on stage, notably at the Piccolo Teatro ...

, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Umberto Raho. The film has been cited as being inspired by

Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and film critic, critic. His influential work in the horror film, horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as ...

's '' The Bird with the Crystal Plumage'', and has been called "entertainingly flamboyant" by one reviewer.

Cast

* Anthony Steffen (English dubbing :

Edmund Purdom Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom (19 December 19241 January 2009) was an English actor, voice artist, and director. He worked first on stage in Britain, performing various works by Shakespeare, then in America on Broadway and in Hollywood, and event ...

) as Peter Oliver *

as Francoise Bally * Giacomo Rossi Stuart as Victor Morgan * Jeanette Len as Giovanna Lenzi * Umberto Raho *

* Romano Malaspina *

Annabella Incontrera Annabella Incontrera (11 June 1943 – 19 September 2004), sometimes credited as Pam Stevenson, was an Italian film and television actress. Career Born in Milan, Incontrera attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia without finishing t ...

* Imelde Marani * Liliana Pavlo * Irio Fantini

Plot

Several fashion models are killed by a murderer who poisons a cat's claws with curare. Each victim is given a shawl as a gift, which is laced with a chemical attracting the cat. The first such victim, Paola, had been in a relationship with a blind composer, Peter Oliver ( Anthony Steffen) who overhears a conversation he believes may help him track down the killer. Oliver, aided by his butler Burton ( Umberto Raho) tracks the cat to its owner Susan ( Jeannette Len), who is murdered before she can reveal who has been using the cat. However, the identity of the killer is eventually discovered to be Françoise (

), the owner of the studio employing the murdered models. Francoise had killed Paola after discovering that her husband Victor ( Giacomo Rossi Stuart) had been having an affair with the young model, and had committed the other murders to help cover up the motive for the first killing.

Production

Production of ''Sette scialli di seta gialla'' began on 31 March 1972. The film has been described as part of a "boom" of "imitative whodunits" released after the success of

's '' L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo'', along with such films as '' Una lucertola con la pelle di donna'' and '' Los ojos azules de la muñeca rota''. Alessandro Continenza and

, who wrote the script alongside director Sergio Pastore, had previously collaborated on the screenplay for the 1966

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

'' Django spara per primo''. The film's title has been noted as one of many giallo titles using either numbers or animal references, having been directly compared to '' Sette note in nero''.

Release

''Sette scialli di seta gialla'' was released on 12 August 1972 in Italy. The title translates as ''Seven Shawls of Yellow Silk''. It has also been distributed under the title ''Crimes of the Black Cat''.

Critical reception

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

gave the film a positive review, calling it "an underrated gem" and one of the most "entertainingly flamboyant" giallo films.

Footnotes

References

* * *

External links

* * {{AllRovi movie, 143291 Giallo films 1972 films Films set in Copenhagen Films scored by Manuel De Sica 1970s Italian films