''Strange Shadows in an Empty Room'' ( it, Una magnum special per Tony Saitta) is a 1976 film starring

Stuart Whitman Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...

as a tough ''

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department (SFP ...

'' type who sets out to discover his sister's killer.

Plot

A tough cop learns that his sister was poisoned, and puts the alleged murderer in jail. Later he begins to doubt the suspect was the guilty party, and sets out to discover the real killer.

Cast

as Tony Saitta *

John Saxon John Saxon (born Carmine Orrico; August 5, 1936 – July 25, 2020) was an American actor who worked on more than 200 film and television projects during a span of 60 years. He was known for his work in Westerns and horror films, often playing ...

as Ned Matthews *

Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...

as George Tracer *

Gayle Hunnicutt Gayle Jenkins, Lady Jenkins (''née'' Hunnicutt; born February 6, 1943) is an American retired film, television and stage actress. She has made more than 30 film appearances. Early life and education The daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicut ...

as Margie Cohn *

Tisa Farrow Theresa Magdalena "Tisa" Farrow is a retired American actress and model. Early life Farrow was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Irish-born actress Maureen O'Sullivan and Australian-born film director John Farrow. She is the ...

as Julie Foster *

Carole Laure Carole Laure O.C. (born August 5, 1948) is an actress and singer from Quebec, Canada. Career Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she ...

as Louise Saitta * Jean LeClerc as Fred *

Anthony Forrest Sir Anthony Forrest ( 1590s–1620s) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1624 to 1626. Forrest was the son of Miles Forrest of Morborne, Huntingdonshire, and his wife Elizabeth Colly (dau. of Anthony Colly). He w ...

as Robert Tracer * Jean Marchand as Terence * Jerome Tiberghien as Ted Sullivan

Production

''Strange Shadows in an Empty Room'' was shot in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

in Canada. Director

Alberto de Martino Alberto De Martino (12 June 1929 – 2 June 2015) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where worked as a screenwriter, director and dubbing supervis ...

stated that

agreed to do the film to have work outside of Hollywood. For the car chase in the film, de Martino did not use storyboards, stating he can't draw and was more influenced by his love of jazz music, starting in the background and improvising as he went along.

Style

Roberto Curti describes the film as "essentially a

whodunnit A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with th ...

of sorts, with the inclusion of the odd arioArgento-like detail". He also notes that film has "very little to do with Italian

poliziotteschi Poliziotteschi (; singular ''poliziottesco'') constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as ''polizieschi all'italiana'', ' ...

of the period".

Release

''Strange Shadows in an Empty Room'' was released in Italy on March 9, 1976, where it was distributed by Fida. The film has been released with different titles in other English-speaking countries such as ''Blazing Magnum'' in the United Kingdom. Director De Martino stated that the film was based on an old story he had, titled ''D come Delitto'' (''M for Murder'') which he re-arranged slightly. After finishing it, a producer for the film sent a telegram to De Martino, which he claims it stated that "It's got nothing to envy in any American film."

Reception

In a retrospective review, AllMovie stated that the film has "plenty of slick visuals and action but makes little sense: The script is a chaotic jumble of half-baked mystery" and that it is "never convincing or believable for a second and is further hurt by a lack of sympathetic characters". The review concluded that ''Strange Shadows in an Empty Room'' can only be recommended to hardcore Eurotrash buffs."

References

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

* 1976 films Panamanian drama films Films shot in Ottawa Films shot in Montreal Films set in Montreal 1970s Italian-language films English-language Italian films English-language Panamanian films Films directed by Alberto De Martino Films scored by Armando Trovajoli 1976 crime films Italian auto racing films 1970s Italian films {{1970s-crime-film-stub