Walter, a journalist who recently lost his job, is feeling a bit down, and gets even more depressed when his fiancée, Lisa, vanishes. She had recently taken up with a friend of theirs, a rich older doctor. As Walter (Brett Halsey) peels away each layer of the disappearance, he digs deeper and deeper into a world of crime and corruption and he gets into more and more trouble. Halsey, American star of Return of the Fly, Girl in Lovers Lane, and Return to Peyton Place, went to Europe in 1963 where he made quite a success and worked steadily, appearing in some classic westerns, spy films, costume dramas, and giallos. Films such as MAGNIFICENT ADVENTURER (where he plays Benvenuto Cellini), ESPIONAGE IN LISBON, TODAY IT'S ME TOMORROW YOU, and PERVERSION STORY are classics to me. Director Nick Nostro (familiar to me for his "gladiator" films starring Dan Vadis) keeps the action moving fast, yet manages to focus on Walter's state of mind also. Although the film is not wall-to-wall fights, some of them are quite over the top and show Nostro's roots in the peplum genre. In one scene where Halsey is in a car chase a suspicious character, another car cuts in front of him to stop him. Halsey gets out of the car to get into a fight with the crooks following him, and one of them belts him so hard he flies across the hood of the car! Margaret Lee is also present as a friend, Christina, who has always had feelings for Halsey but never put the move on him because of his engagement to Lisa. What is her motivation? Watch the film and see. As Italian crime-mysteries circa 1966 go, this one is quite good. With a strong leading man such as Halsey, a mystery angle that keeps the viewer guessing, and lots of action, WEB OF VIOLENCE is definitely worth watching.
Review of Web of Violence
