Morte Sospetta di una Minorenne aka Suspected Death of a Minor, Too Young to Die
Italy -1975
Directed by Sergio Martino
While maybe not as widely known in wider film circles as say Dario Argento or Mario Bava, for many Italian genre film fans the name of Sergio Martino is pretty much legendary. Known especially for his contributions to Gialli (I Corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale [Torso], Il Tuo Vizio è una Stanza Chiusa e Solo io ne ho la Chiave [Your Vice is a Closed Room and Only I Have the Key], Tutti i colori del buio [All the Colours of the Dark], Lo Strano vizio della Signora Wardh [The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh] and La Coda dello scorpione [Case of the Scorpion’s Tail] ) and his entries into the realms of Poliziescho / Crime films ( Milano trema – la polizia vuole giustiziaViolent Professionals] and La Città gioca d’azzardo [Gambling City] ), fans of Martino’s work will be happy to see this lesser known hybrid of the two genres finally see a fantastic quality release from Sazuma Productions. [
Opening in the style of standard Giallo fare, we see an attractive (if somewhat frizzy haired) young girl, Marissa, awaiting a date at a courtyard dancehall. Receiving a note that her expected rendezvous has cancelled and realising that she has been stalked by a mysterious man in sunglasses, Marissa accepts the invitation of a dance from (as we later discover) undercover Detective Paolo Germi (Claudio Cassinelli, an Italian genre film regular, including later appearances in Martino’s La Montagna del dio cannibale [Mountain of the Cannibal God], L’Isola degli uomini pesce [Island of the Fishmen], Assassinio al cimitero etrusco [Scorpion with Two Tails] and Fiume del grande caimano [Big Alligator River], as well as Lucio Fulci’s I Guerrieri dell’anno 2072 [New Gladiators] and Murder Rock). Edging her way towards the edge of the dance floor, the young girl flees in an attempt to lose her pursuer. Arriving back at a darkened, seedy hotel room, Marissa finds that the mystery man has arrived before her, stepping from the shadows to slash her throat and take her life.
When her corpse is discovered by the following morning and Milan police struggle to identify her body, let alone catch her killer, Detective Germi embarks upon his own investigation into her death. After forcing information and the name “Menga” from the hotel’s landlady, Germi enlists the help of small time thief, Giannio (Adolfo Caruso) in stealing the handbags of local prostitutes, leading to the uncovering of further details about “Menga”, the man he believes to be responsible for the running an underage vice ring that Marissa was forced into. It is at this stage that the film becomes more Poliziescho in nature.
Tracking down Menga via a young prostitute (Barbara Magnolfi, who viewers may recognise as Olga from Argento’s Suspiria), Detective Germi and Giannio become involved in scuffle with him, resulting in Menga’s death and that of the prostitute. Staying at Menga’s hideaway, Germi recovers two billion lira, ransom money paid for the safe return of a wealthy businessman’s son and part of the undercover case he is investigating involving a group known only as “Kidnappers Anonymous”. Germi believes that the two cases are intertwined and that he has uncovered a high profile vice ring of drugs, prostitution and kidnapping.
As regular fans of Sergio Martino’s films have come to expect, Morte Sospetta di una Minorenne is pretty fast paced with a tightly written script by Martino and regular contributor Ernesto Gastaldi, filled with fantastic cinematography, a typically catchy Goblin-esque score (provided by Martino another regular Luciano Michelini) and stylish set-pieces that you can’t help but be impressed by. These include two standout action scenes; one being an unusual shootout across a roller coaster ride and the subsequent subway chase of the would be hitman.
What fans may not expect is the sporadic injection of humour that arises throughout parts of the film. Given the nature of the subject matter, this works surprisingly well for the main part, such as during a car chase scene when a cyclist is knocked off his bike, resulting in a revolving head stand when almost hit by the first car, to stand up and give a repeat performance when almost flattened by the pursing vehicle!
While maybe not as much of an instant draw as Martino’s regular Giallo fodder or the best introduction to his films, Morte Sospetta di una Minorenne is a great film that is more than worthy of your time and something that I highly recommend checking out. This was my first viewing of the film and I wasn’t disappointed, without a doubt something I would recommend to fellow Italian film fans, Sergio Martino lovers and those into films such as Massimo Dallamano’s “schoolgirl vice” movies.
As with La Settima Donna (see earlier review), Sazuma have once again done a first rate job of this release. The picture quality is great with a sharp 2.35:1, 16:9 Anormorphic widescreen presentation. Sound quality is an adequate, but crystal clear Italian language track in Dolby 2.0 Mono with English, German of Dutch subtitle options.
Extra Features include:
- Audio Commentary track from film critics Christian Kebler & Robert Zion
- 30 Minute Featurette “Crime Scene Milan” with Sergio Martino
- Italian trailer
- Poster Gallery
Again this is packaged in a beautiful gatefold / digipack presentation. Sazuma are fast becoming one of my favourite DVD companies and I honestly can’t recommend all of their releases to date highly enough.
Check out their website here and make sure you go and add their MySpace profile here!
