La morte risale a ieri sera

Plot

Following the disappearance of his beautiful but mentally handicapped daughter, Avanzio Berzaghi (Raf Vallone) travels to Milan to track her down. Local detective Duca Lamberti (Frank Wolff) investigates the city's pimps and prostitutes for clues, eventually finding the girl's burnt body in a field. Apparently the pimps disposed of the young girl when they heard investigators were looking for her. Berzaghi vows to find the girl's murderer, eventually tracking down his quarry from a clue related to the girl's teddy bear. Berzaghi exacts his revenge, but finds no satisfaction from having done so.

Cast

Production

La morte risale a ieri sera was written by Biagio Proietti, the film is based on Giorgio Scerbanenco's novel I milanesi ammazzano al sabato (The Milanese Kill on Saturday). The film's soundtrack was composed by Gianni Ferrio, who had worked with director Duccio Tessari on several other films, including his 1971 giallo Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate and the 1969 spaghetti western Vivi o, preferibilmente, morti. Ferrio's score spans several musical styles, incorporating psychedelic rock, baroque pop and jazz.

Release and reception

La morte risale a ieri sera was released in Italy on September 5, 1970. The film has also been distributed internationally under the titles Death Occurred Last Night, Death Took Place Last Night and Horror Came out of the Fog.

Writing for AllRovi, Robert Firsching rated La morte risale a ieri sera two-and-a-half stars out of five. Firsching felt that the film's plot featured "a great deal more humanity than is typical for the genre" of giallo, finding that Tessari's focus on characterisation over plot was its key strength. However, he responded negatively to Ferrio's score, considering its "bouncy" tone to be inconsistent with the film.