The Weekend Murders [Import]

Prolific Italian director Michele Lupo goes to England to spoof the old mystery genre- the reading of the will- in this entertaining hoot mixing Italian and British actors with excellent craftsmen behind the cameras. Euro cult fans will relish the performances by Evelyn Stewart aka Ida Galli, Anna Moffo, Giacomo Rossi Stuart who touched every genre,and Peter Baldwin as the murders mount up with spoofish relish. You've seen it all before but not quite like this send up of Agatha Christie's 'TEN LITTLE INDIANS' . The excellent photography is by Guglielmo Mancori and the script is co-written by Sergio Donati who wrote many Spaghetti Westerns including Sergio Leone's 'DUCK,YOU SUCKER' and Sergio Corbucci's 'THE BIG GUNDOWN' and 'NAVAJO JOE'. The music score is by the indefatigable Francesco De Masi and combines Rachmaninoff among his own themes which resembles a concerto. Baldwin is shown in an introduction before the film saying the Italian title of the film was 'UN CONCERTO PER UNA PISTOLA' and it fits. Code Red supplies a nice widescreen transfer with audio commentary and interview with actor Peter Baldwin. The release is a must for every Euro Horror fan and mystery completists and will keep you guessing until the finale.

Concerto per pistola solista (1970)The Weekend Murders

Instantly watchable and delightfully cheap Italian Giallo film. OK, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it's so inept. If you want to watch great Italian Giallo spoofing maybe you should watch this for a base to judge Agatha Christie British films on. I have the R rated version and I've seen more members of the house in this than in a regular Agatha Christie house movie. This is a wonderful movie to have with a ton of friends over. If there were only more spaghetti Giallo movies like this.

This is a take off of the Agatha Christie type films done in the Italian style and set in a stately home in Britian. It is great fun and should be seen. Great use of classical music, zoom shots, red herrings and a little bit of the naughty...I mean a little bit, it was early 70's. Great appearance by Ballard Barclay, the major in "Faulty Towers". It will not set the world on fire but you could do worse. Out of ten, say five.

It was made in 20 days with whatever change the crew had in their back pockets. It's very entertaining.