Who Saw Her Die?

Aldo Lado’s Who Saw Her Die? occupies a rather strange place in film history. It’s a giallo, and a rather bloodless one, which is a good thing because the predatory, stabby nature of the garden-variety giallo hasn’t weathered well. Bond stars George Lazenby and Adolfo Celi star in a Venetian murder mystery that’s something of a puzzle even when you know the solution. We open on a death of a young girl; the main story is about a moustachioed, slightly shaggy-looking sculptor who puts aside his art project to chase down the serial killer who is responsible for the death of his daughter; he downs tools on his work to track down the veiled killer, falling foul of local authorities on the way. It’s a stylish film, with the credits coming up over a series of old photographs, and there an innovatively edited scene ofan estranged couple love-making, and some great photography of funeral boats motoring down foggy old Venetian canal….