Il rossetto

From the opening shots until the closing sequence, _Il Rossetto_ has the gritty feel of reality. This realism is generated by the use of grainy black and white stills as a background for the initial credits, is bolstered by the discussions of a group of worldly young girls, and is thereafter maintained for the duration in a seamy world of grifters, police, hookers and poverty.

The male lead, Pierre Brice, brings to the screen the same suave arrogance and sinister menace that a young Robert Wagner brought to a similar role in _A Kiss Before Dying_. The young female lead (Laura Vivaldi) is, similarly, very believable as an adolescent whose good character is cast into disrepute by the sexist assumptions of the police, her mother and others involved in the murder case.