The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971) Part Giallo Part Murder Mystery and one for the collectors (Review)

The Giallo is the oddest of beasts – formulaic with a wildly eccentric code at the same time. Ostensibly murder mysteries with penchants for violence and sex, they also played host to some of the most visually inventive names ever to grace Italian cinema. The last thing in the world that would require a reactionary opposite, you would think. Enter the Bloodstained Butterfly newly issued by Arrow Video from A Fist Full of Dollars co-writer, and director of all the Italian staples: Poliziotteschi, Spaghetti Westerns and Giallo – Duccio Tessari.

The Bloodstained Butterfly (aka Secret of the Black Rose) features Helmut Berger, Giancarlo Sbragia, Ida Galli and Carol Andre in a film that eschews its genre fascinations with the macabre instead building upon a more realistic framework. Over the closing credits, Tessari thanks the crime scene investigation team that they collaborated with.  This is a world away from the likes of Bava, Argento, Martino and Fulci, The Bloodstained Butterfly shares tone with Francesco Rosi’s historical crime drama Salvatore Giuliano for its attention to detail and its adoption of the courts. Sex features without violence getting involved until absolutely necessary. The same is consistent with the murders; no mutilations, no severed limbs, no psychological torture, Tessari and co-writer Gianfranco Clerici are keeping well within the limits of plausibility.

All this revolves around a girl who is murdered in the local park – as depicted in the striking box art by Arrow regular Matthew Griffin. A former television football pundit (Sbragia), who was spotted rushing from the scene, is tried and convicted for the crime, but still, the killings continue. Murder mystery red herrings are cast by Sbragia’s mistress and the suspicious behaviour of his solicitor, Günther Stoll. The Bloodstained Butterfly could just as easily be a by-the-numbers sleazy Giallo by Fulci, Umberto Lenzi and friends.

Far from the violence of generic norm, the murders are repeated as a means to present information to a jury. Where genre stalwarts relish the explosive geysers of blood and gore, these murders are over before they begin. In many ways, Tessari’s film outright evades association with the Giallo as evidenced by one murder being completed ignored. Not what you’d expect from such a violent and visual cousin of the murder mystery. This may be true when acknowledging the violence but through other ticks and traits, the subscription to the Giallo club is paid off in full. Superficial as it may be, the overly descriptive title is present and correct, more important; however, is the commanding and invasive camera work.

As the film gallops towards its climax and the two hidden antagonists finally reveal themselves, cinematographer Carlo Carlini (Death Rides a Horse) puts all of his high profile cards on the table. These two aggressors face each other atop a tower, and as Carlini’s camera joins them it darts from spiral to sharp, twisting to and fro it reminds that the Giallo is the definitive cinematographer’s playground. Of less showy stock are the sex scenes that have been framed to sow the seeds of distrust, much subtler, for sure, but this shows that the film wanted to use the camera to displays a storytelling intelligence and something deeper than spectacle.

Contrariness makes the Bloodstained Butterfly what it is whilst simultaneously being its cross to bear. Police were presented with a language analogous to action cinema in the 1970s, most 70s Italian films didn’t exactly show the police any level of respect – in that, Tessari’s film was a true oddity on the premise of granting the police any degree of intelligence. Unfortunately, the years have been harsh to Tessari’s film with the rise and rise of the police procedural resulting in this unique shine losing its lustre. Editing is cut from the same cloth, with a prototypical roughness in jumping from dramatically intense moments to investigative recreations and back again. These cutaways would go on to become the bread and butter for investigative police dramas and murder mysteries. Within the lexicon of Italian cinema, the bloodstained butterfly now feels more like a Poliziotteschi with the Giallo opting more for obscurity and weirdness than storytelling clarity.

The commentary with the near household names [in the horror community] in critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman is every bit the treatment Duccio Tessari’s Bloodstained Butterfly merits. While Arrow and, to a lesser extent, 88 Films, have been making an admirable effort to cast light on this most marginal of sub-genres, this latest release may be commendably different but in commanding such a position it becomes hard to recommend to anyone outside the Hardcore. Those looking for the well-worn but well-loved plot beats of the Giallo will find this title wanting.

Thanks for reading our review of The Bloodstained Butterfly

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