Susan Scott of "Death walks at midnight" and "Orgasmo Nero" fame stars in this fairly unremarkable entry into the giallo genre directed by Maurizio Pradeaux. She witnesses a murder of a girl through a telescope, but fails to see the killer's face (who's dressed in typical giallo fashion). With the help of her boyfriend (Robert Hoffman from Umberto Lenzi's "Spasmo") she starts her investigation, while the killer proceeds to cut the witnesses' throats with a straight razor. There's nothing special about 'Death Walks With a Cane', it's a routine giallo with little originality about it. You've got all the usual stuff here: violent murders, weird characters,crazy plot twists, but there's still something missing. Firstly - suspense, the movie is pretty damn low on thrills. Secondly - sense of style. What kind of giallo is this without stylish locations? The story is supposed to be taking place in Rome, but the action mainly revolves in some un-photogeic back streets. No gorgeous architecture,just old shacks. The most upsetting thing about the film is the camera-work: flat and uninspired, with lots of pointless zooms and occasionally out of focus. Only during the murder scenes do the proceedings look a little more lively with some nice camera angles. The murders are gory and quite well executed. The score for the film composed by Roberto Pregadio isn't progressive or groovy or pounding or anything at all. Merely generic. There's a good deal of nudity in 'Death Walks With a Cane'. Robert Hoffman (who was just excellent in "Spasmo") and Scott do what they can with the material they're given, battling through some hysterically funny dialogue. The supporting cast includes Simon Andreu and Luciano Rossi who's always played demented creeps in westerns and police films. Sadly, this time Luciano Rossi is wasted as just one more red herring. The film isn't great, still worth a look for giallo fans but had a potential to be a lot better. If you want to see the same cast in a decent film, watch "Death walks at midnight".

This is a remarkably silly giallo that begins with Susan Scott messing with a coin operated telescope in Rome and randomly witnessing a woman being stabbed to death in a house. At first she tries to get help from a policeman passing by with his family, but he refuses, pointing out he's actually a fireman, and that he can't help anyway as his wife will get him into trouble. This daftness will continue!

Susan remembers that the murderer had a limp and was dressed in black, and it looked like several people witnesses him leave. Susan's boyfriend also has a limp, plus he's an artist who uses fabric dummies to stab to death as some sort of crappy art project. These dummies are made by Susan, and according to him "It's the only thing she does well...apart from making love." This he tells to policeman George Martin, who doesn't believe she witnessed anything...until they actually find the corpse, to which Susan exclaims happily "Hey! They found my corpse!"

Susan is also friends with journalist Kitty, who is going out with a composer who can't get it up. Indeed, it's the first thing Kitty tells Susan when she calls! Now it took me a while to figure it out but Kitty also has a sister played by the same actress who is going out with Luciano Rossi, and the sister also has a limp and needs a cane to get around. Seeing Luciano, who always plays weirdos or perverts, actually having a normal relationship was the biggest shock of the film. You'd think he'd be shagging a crocodile while dressed as Ghandi. With a chair stuck up his arse.

Of course the killer has a few witness to stab and the cops start finding cane marks everywhere, which makes them suspect Susan's boyfriend. This leads the remaining characters on a journey to the truth, broken only by Susan having to stop the action to go for a pee - twice! For no reason! Plus, they have Luciano Rossi stare into a shop window full of razors, just to confirm that he's definitely the film's red herring, and Sal Borghese as the designer of a bag held by a witness who wants to link his fashion house to the murders for publicity.

Not only is the film daft as hell, but director Pradeuax packs it with wall to wall nudity as well, including a lesbian flashback bit that someone else flashes back to later in the film. There was so much nudity that my mind started drifting to be honest, but still, I love films that are as mad as this.

"Passi Di Danza Su Una Lama Di Rasoio" (aka. "Death Carries a Cane") of 1973 certainly isn't one of the many essential Italian Gialli from the time. However, Maurizio Pradeaux' film is still a creepy and stylish little film that my fellow Giallo/Italian Horror fans should enjoy. The Italian Giallo has brought forth many masterpieces; and while this film isn't one of them, it is nonetheless very enjoyable. This is not least due to the ravishing and wonderfully charismatic genre-beauty Nieves Navarro, who blessed quite a bunch of notable Gialli with her presence.

Overall, "Passi Di Danza...", which shares some features with Luciano Ercoli's "La Morte Accarezza a Mezzanotte" ("Death Walks at Midnight", 1972) is rather routine stuff. The when beautiful Kitty (Nieves Navarro) is looking through coin operated binoculars at a tourist observation point, she becomes witness to the brutal knifing murder of a girl. At first, the cops laugh her report off; when they actually discover the murder victim, they suspect Kitty's boyfriend Alberto (Robert Hoffmann). Bodies pile up as whoever could give hints for solving the crime ends up murdered...

As mentioned above, "Passi Di Danza..." is rather routine stuff, which, in case of a Giallo, isn't a bad thing. The murders are stylish and brutal (though not too spectacular by brutal Giallo-standards), the music is eerie and hypnotic (though nothing special by the high Giallo-standards), and the camera work and settings are stylish and elegant (though, again, nothing spectacular by Giallo-standards). Nieves Navarro (who is credited as Susan Scott) is, once again, great. The ravishing Miss Navarro is once again given several opportunities to take her clothes off, and makes a protagonist that is both very sexy and likable. The blonde Anuska Borova, who seems never to have appeared in any other films, is almost equally sexy in her double role. Robert Hoffmann is good enough in the male lead. The rest of the cast includes regular leading man Simòn Andreu, who appeared alongside Nieves Navarro on several other occasions including Luciano Ercoli's three Gialli ("Forbidden Fotos of a Lady Above Suspicion", "Death Walks With High Heels" and "Death Walks at Midnight") and regular creepy-man Luciano Rossi, who appeared as a super-creep in all sub-genres of Italian Cult-cinema.

Overall, "Passi Di Danza..." may not be offering anything new or particularly overwhelming, but it's a formula Giallo that offers style, suspense, sleaze and brutality, and that my fellow fans of the genre should enjoy.I recommend tracking down the Italian version, since the English dubbing is abysmal. My rating: 6.5/10