The Fourth Victim (1971)

I think my interest in continental films dates back to childhood.  No, I wasn't a precocious eight year old watching Fellini movies, but rather a viewer of dubbed Euro-thrillers and the like.  Back in the seventies far more of these films were shown on TV here in the UK, often in late night slots, but also sometimes in prime time, especially on BBC2.  The thing was that at the time I didn't really know that these were foreign films, they were just films to me, except that they were clearly different in subtle ways to British or American movies.  Whereas, for instance, films from the UK and US tended toward more traditional orchestral musical scores, which followed established classical music tropes, these 'other' films had wildly different music - sometimes orchestral, yes, but with unfamiliar styles of arrangements, the addition of human voices and unusual instruments.  Many, though, eschewed traditional orchestration, opting for jazz-based, electronic or zingy pop orientated scores, with catchy refrains that stayed in your head for days afterwards.  They also looked different, far more brightly lit, often employing fluid camera work and unusual perspectives.  Then there were the casts - while you could always recognise various British and American actors who were long past their prime, they were packed out with unfamiliar faces speaking English with voices that often didn't quite fit them.  These discrepancies were particularly noticeable in those films which were set in the UK - even when they were actually shot in Britain, rather than pretending that somewhere in Italy or Spain looked like the UK, they seemed to present heir locations in the same way that UK and US filmmakers depicted continental locations - from an outsider's perspective.  

All of which brings us to The Fourth Victim (1971), an Italian psycho-thriller shot in the UK.  I have no idea whether this was one of the dubbed foreign films I saw as a child - I was pretty hazy as to the titles - but it has all the hallmarks of such a film.  Directed by Spanish director Eugenio Martin, probably best known for the feverishly demented Cushing and Lee vehicle  Horror Express (1972), it's  good looking film, featuring lots of interestingly shot (and surprisingly sunny) UK locations, ranging from London to the white cliffs of Dover, which moves along at a good pace.  The cast is headed by Michael Craig, whose UK film career was beginning to wind down in favour of TV work, and Carrol Baker, who seemed to be a permanent fixture in Italian thrillers and giallos during the early seventies.  Early seventies Britain, deftly captured by Martin, who manages to avoid most of the usual visual cliches, forms a fascinating background to the plot - a country still trying to maintain tradition and established values in the face of inevitable social, political and economic change.  There might not be much in the way of hippies, drugs and free love on view, (save for a brief flashback sequence toward the film's climax), but the sense of change is ever present: the menials aren't as subservient as they used to be, the woman stronger willed and less compliant, hovercraft rather than ferries are the preferred way to drive to the continent).  Perhaps the most 'continental' aspect of the film is its plot, which is structured to continually frustrate audience expectations, leading us first in one direction, before changing track completely and finally introducing a completely new plot that cuts across the ongoing story, derailing what has come before.

While this is effective in delivering a surprise ending that is pretty much impossible to predict at the film's outset, it also means that The Fourth Victim doesn't easily fall into any single genre.  It starts out like a giallo with Craig's latest wife dead in the swimming pool and Craig and his housekeeper apparently engaging in a cover up as to the nature of her death.  It then looks as if it is going to settle into a court room drama, as Craig goes on trial for murder - not only did was his recently deceased wife heavily insured, but so were the previous two, who had also died under suspicious circumstances.  But this abruptly ends as he is acquitted, with the investigating Scotland Yard man vowing to prevent him from claiming a 'fourth victim'.  The film then veers back into giallo country with the appearance of a mysterious woman at his house who, inevitably, Craig starts to fall for, but it quickly becomes clear that she isn't all that she appears to be and is pursuing her own agenda.  From there we start wandering into Hitchcock territory, with all sorts of psychological games being played and doubts constantly being cast on the motivations and even identities of the main characters.  The ending comes out of left field - while it is obvious that the mysterious woman is really the third victim's sister, it turns out that the identity she has adopted for her schemes actually belongs to a real-life local psychopath, recently released from a mental institution and now back on her home turf.  The twists and turns often feel  bewildering, but they succeed in keeping the audience interested and on their toes.  Moreover, it is a credit to the script that, even in translation, the complexities of the plot remain reasonably clear to the viewer.

Overall, The Fourth Victim is an enjoyable enough thriller - stylishly shot and edited, with restrained performances from the main cast and a typically Italian movie score from Piero Umiliani, a prolific composer whose best known score remains that for the Mondo Sweden: Heaven and Hell (1969), (which includes the 'Manna, manna' song popularised by The Muppets).  For once, the portrayal of Britain isn't too caricatured or eccentric although, for the UK viewer, the filmmakers' idea of British geography amuses: while the cliffs at Dover seem to be a short drive from Craig's house, the signposts in his local village clearly place it on the Berkshire-Surrey border, (judging by the proximity of Reading and Windsor), several hours drive away.  Lacking the violence, gore and sex associated with a true giallo film, while still trying to implement a twisty, giallo-type plot, The Fourth Victim seems to be aimed more at an Agatha Christie or Hitchcock style audience, which demands an intriguing mystery and complex plot combined with only moderate threat levels, something it largely succeeds in..