The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975) Giallo Essentials: White Edition (Review)

The term ‘Giallo’ tends to evoke images of black gloves, much darkness, and a de-emphasis on the plot in favour of lurid colours. A viewer could be forgiven, therefore, for their surprise when coming across a film labeled Giallo that features jaunty music, comedy pratfalls and gymnastics, and an engagement with corruption. Thus, it is nice to know that a collection called Giallo Essentials White Edition can include the variety offered by 1975’s The Suspicious Death of a Minor, directed by Sergio Martino and co-written by Martino along with Ernesto Gastaldi.

Whether the titular suspicious death is the focus of the film is up for debate, as the victim does not look especially minor and the death, while gruesome, is a starting point that is largely left behind in favour of other details, but nonetheless proves narratively essential come the finale. We open in a dance hall, where a young woman receives different types of unwanted attention. When one of these leads to murder, we then discover our protagonist to be someone unexpected. Paolo Germi (Claudio Cassinelli) has some elements of the dogged detective to him. He plays by his own rules, displays street smarts combined with eloquence, and is not afraid of using brutal violence, and all of these traits are governed by a strong commitment to
justice.

The world in which Paolo operates, however, is presented with a light and jovial touch. The score by Luciano Michelini is often jaunty and gives a sense of fun, especially when the film moves at high speed through the streets of 70s Milan. The jocund tone is enhanced by various comedic characters that make the film almost farcical at times. These include Detective Teti (Gianfranco Barra) who initially looks like the protagonist but quickly becomes more like a toned-down version of The Pink Panther’s Inspector Clouseau. Another is street thief Giannino (Adolfo Caruso), who provides much witty banter and horny young man energy, as well as a comedy faint at one point that is oddly juxtaposed with a tense set piece. Martino also includes a genuinely hilarious car chase that includes literal spinning on one’s head and an unexpected bit of unicycle riding (I’m not making this up, but the filmmakers did). Plus, there is a recurring gag about breaking and replacing spectacles that never outstays its welcome.

Amusing though these moments are, some of the humour sits uncomfortably with the darker subject matter of murder and sex trafficking, and the viewer can be left wondering what we are meant to take from this film. Is it a comedy? Drama? Thriller? Horror? The various shifts in tone and subject are often jarring and can be irritating rather than engaging, as it feels like the filmmakers cannot make up their minds.

Furthermore, the film is not always confident in its visual storytelling. Paolo sometimes talks out loud to himself about his findings, which feels clunky and heavy-handed. He also makes quite casual use of violence in the course of his work, including a frankly distasteful instance of torture that is presented as entirely justified. On a similar note, there is some leery presentation of women, including the strange (male) idea that women like to walk around their apartments wearing underwear and high heels. These aspects can be treated as the film being a product
of its time, but therefore makes the film feel dated and rather tired.

However, despite these problems, The Suspicious Death of a Minor offers much to enjoy. The comedy scenes mentioned above are genuinely funny, especially the car chase. The detective story aspect is handled convincingly, and the steady reveal of different players within the fabric of Milan knits together into a compelling tapestry of the interweaving of the police, businesses, and politics, including international banking, drug smuggling, and more. In its final act, the grimmer aspects of the narrative become more prominent, and while the finale is rather abrupt, it makes another fine use of location that highlights the importance of transience and borders,
taking place as it does in a liminal space. Overall, this is an odd film that jars as it shifts between jaunty and grim, but it is interesting to see the subject matter of something like Serpico or Gomorrah handled with a lighter and more inventive approach. Certainly, it’s one for more than Giallo completists and something to show to those who think the genre is one note.

Vincent’s Archive: The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)