Teenage Girl Vs. ... Killer-With-A-Gimmick!
1958-07-07
N/A
90 min
On the Italian coast, writer Paul Decker has grown unhappy in his marriage and executes what appears to be a perfect murder of his wife. While Paul is believed to be writing a book in France, his stepdaughter, Candy, suspects him of murdering her mother, as well as her father years before. With the police unwilling to investigate any further, Candy sets out to confirm her suspicions and take Paul down herself.
Right from the outset, we know what has happened to "Mrs. Dexter". We see the clever method by which she is gassed to death - but there is something a little bit ingenious about the fashion in which her husband "Paul" (Peter van Eyck) executes, quite literally, his wife. The police arrive, and finding the room locked and taped up assume quite naturally that she has taken her own life. Her daughter "Candy" (Mandy Miller) isn't buying it. For years she has been claiming that she saw him (her stepfather) kill her real father whilst boating, and now she is determined to get to the bottom of it all. What ensues isn't actually very good, nor is the rather underwhelming acting - but the last fifteen minutes presents us with a lovely sense of divine retribution that I thought salvaged the mediocrity of the rest of it rather well. It's a bit long, and way too wordy - but just stick around for the end and ask yourself what might you have done?
