THE POLICE ARE BLUNDERING IN THE DARK

Francisco Cortez eyes the spy camera

THE POLICE ARE BLUNDERING IN THE DARK/La polizia brancola nel buio/1975). Director: Helia Columbo. 

When his girlfriend, Enrichetta (Margaret Rose Keil), asks him to come pick her up when her car breaks down, journalist Giorgio (Joseph Arkim) is in bed with another woman. When he goes to find Enrichetta at an inn where she spent the night, he discovers she has disappeared. Is she the latest in a line of women who have vanished? Giorgio's investigation -- if that's even what it can be called -- takes him to the villa of crippled photographer Edmondo Parrisi (Francisco Cortez), who has a bust in his dining room that takes photos of his guests. Parrisi has invented a camera that supposedly takes pictures of human thoughts (an interesting idea that really goes nowhere). When the attacks on women continue, suspicion falls upon both Parrisi and his doctor, Stefanelli (Richard Fielding). Other characters include the weird porter Alberto, the horny maid Lucia, who tries to get it on with Giorgio, and a mentally deficient man who is the son of the inn owner.  

The title of The Police are Blundering in the Dark comes from a headline in a newspaper, as the authorities have little to do with the plot of this movie. The matter-of-fact murder scenes are not that gruesome or exciting, and have only minimal suspense. A bizarre aspect of the movie is that Parrisi is impotent so his wife, Eleonora (Halina Zalewska) forces (?) their niece, Sarah (Elena Veronese), to give her sexual pleasure, something that is never shown but only referred to by Sarah -- and then Eleonora, to her husband -- who seems desperate to get away from the villa with Giorgio. Aside from being yelled and lunged at by Parissi, Eleonora gets no particular comeuppance, and the whole business just seems dragged in to make the woman a possible suspect (it can hardly be considered a serious examination of homosexuality). In any case, Police are Blundering may hold your attention, but as giallo films go it doesn't amount to much. 

Verdict: Lots of breasts flashing and not that much else. **.