The name Maurizio Pradeaux probably won't ever be written in the annals of cinematic history, but he will at least be remembered by the true lovers of Italian gialli for his two contributions "Death Steps in the Dark" and "Death Carries a Cane". The former was released in 1977, already after the heyday of the gialli, and tries to be successful through mixing the whodunit-mystery plot with slapstick elements. The latter is from the absolute peak-year 1973 and is an exemplary giallo from every possible viewpoint! The plot, the disguise and modus operandi of the killer, the red herrings, the gratuitous nudity
it's all prototypic and by-the-numbers giallo material. But personally I couldn't care less. Quite the contrary, in fact, I tremendously enjoyed "Death Carries a Cane" although – admittedly – the plot twists are slightly too transparent and I would have preferred an even higher body count. Whilst waiting for her lover, photographer Kitty looks through a tourist telescope and witnesses the brutal murder of a pretty girl by a maniac dressed in black. Nobody believes her, of course, and it takes quite a while before the police find the body. It even takes so long that the killer also has the time to eliminate two other witnesses, namely a chestnut vendor (no, it's not Tom Savini) and a greedy cleaning lady. Eventually another pretty ballerina gets killed and the police are on the lookout for a crippled killer, because they found the print of a cane in the blood. Kitty's lover Alberto is the prime suspect, because he's an artist who stabs mannequin dolls for pleasure and he just happened to hurt his ankle. It's actually rather easy to guess who the killer is, and I don't quite know if this is because I've seen far too many gialli, or because the plot is really predictable. I suppose option number two
Still, you have to watch this film for it's hilarious politically incorrect dialogs ("Take a look at my girlfriend's pictures, it's the only thing she does well aside from making love
"), the bloody razor blade massacres and the nudity provided by one-hit-wonder Anuska Borova!
