Ordine firmato in bianco

This begins as an elaborate heist movie, takes turns at being a giallo and haunted house one and ends up a political thriller with large doses of surreal/seventies crazy cinema to complete the mix. Gianni Manera stars as well as directing and clearly was somewhat out of his depth behind the camera. rarely dull, though, this just about maintains the interest despite a good deal of confusing comings and goings in the middle. Runs for 93 minutes according to IMDb but is recorded in Italian sources as 115mins and that is certainly what mine runs at, so goodness knows what sense the chopped version would make. As it is we have the varied group who had been got together to carry out the robbery, the aftermath as they are holed up awaiting mafia instructions and finally the political denouement. Quite audacious at times, for instance, one of the gang tells of how he'd like to spend the take on making a movie and as he speaks we see one superimposed as he speaks. Probably not essential viewing for giallo fans but those as fascinated as I by Italian politics and its social implications in the seventies, well worth seeing, even if it is, as here, a taped from Italian TV and wrung through a VHS player before being presented as DVD-r version!