The Student Connection

Acceptable Giallo full of thrills , killings , intrigue , pursuits and eerie events . The film begins in an airport in France, where we see a mysterious blue-eyed, moustached man (Charly Bravo) with a neck brace arriving . Later on , there takes place a plane explosion . After that , a child witnesses how the director (the veteran Ray Milland as Roger) of his school kills a man . The murderer has not seen his face . Just a pair of shoes 32 the child left to flee the scene. From there, the murderer of his own paranoia dam will not hesitate to liquidate any child deemed suspicious . Roger has been having an affair with Sonia DuRanier (Sylva Koscina), a beautiful married woman whose son Jean (Fernando E. Romero) is one of the pupils . As a kid witnesses a murder and no one will believe him . Meanwhile , two Police Inspectors (Ramiro Oliveros and Franco Giacobini) are investigating the grisly killings . Rafael Romero Marchent's Giallo is compellingly directed with well staged intrigue , thrilling events , and plenty of startling visual style . This is a decent Giallo where the intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking at interior and exterior from a boarding school . The feel of ¨The Student Connection¨ or "Witness to Murder" or ¨Un par de Zapatos del 32¨ is somewhat Hitchcockian . Generating sympathy for the villain was of course something Hitchcock would frequently do, and here are several sequences where the excitement relies on whether or not Milland's character is going to be exposed or not . Good acting by Ray Milland as the school principal who is seen by a student when he commits a murder, so will have no choice but to also eliminate the only eyewitness who seems to be a little boy . The best scenes of the film result to be when the child falls on a track and almost gets caught by speed cars . The flick bears a certain resemblance to ¨The window¨ (1949) by Ted Tetzlaff in which also a child (Bobby Driscoll) sees a killing and no one believes him now that he's telling the truth , and while the murderer chasing him . The movie belongs to Italian Giallo genre that was invented by Mario Bava along with Riccardo Freda , they are the fundamental creators ; subsequently other notorious filmmakers would make Giallos such as Lucio Fulci , Sergio Martino , Alberto De Martino , Dario Argento and Luciano Ercoli who in this film is a screenwriter . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms, utilization of images-shock and twists and turns . This one is predominantly a Spanish film rather than an Italian one , though the Italian participation is important , as here appears a lot of Spanish secondaries , ordinary players in Paella Western and Spanish thrillers such as : Ramiro Oliveros , Charly Bravo , María Silva , May Heatherly , Eduardo Calvo , Marisa Porcel and Maria Vico . Atmospheric and jazzy musical score by Stelvio Cipriani . Colorful cinematography by Godofredo Pacheco , though being necessary a right remastering .The motion picture produced by Luis Mendez was professionally directed and in his own personal style by Rafael Romero Marchent . Rafael Romero Marchent was born on May 3, 1926 in Madrid, Spain. He is a director and actor, known for Garringo, Un Dolar de Recompensa , or Manos Torpes . Rafael Romero Marchent was brother of Joaquin Luis Romero , who was the first to shoot Westerns in Spain . At first, Rafael Romero began in films as an actor, but when his career began to wane, he preferred to spend time behind the camera . Rafael is an expert writer and director of Spaghetti Western as proved in ¨Two crosses on Danger Pass¨, Cry for revenge¨, ¨Two guns for two twins¨ and ¨Sartana Kills Them All¨ or ¨Un par Asesinos¨. While his brother Joaquin Marchent is deemed the Paella Western's best director , his first film was ¨El Coyote¨ and the sequel titled ¨Revenge of Coyote¨ shot in Mexico ; after that , he filmed ¨The shadow of Zorro¨ and ¨Revenge of Zorro¨, he went go directing Western as ¨ Riding to death ¨ , ¨Adventures in the West¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Sabor Venganza ¨ and the most popular and violent ¨Condenados a Vivir¨ . Plus , he wrote for his brother Rafael Romero Marchent the followings Western : ¨Manos Torpes¨, ¨Ocaso Un Pistolero¨ , ¨Garringo¨ , ¨Dos Cruces en Danger Pass¨ and ¨Sartana Kills Them All¨. Rating : Passable and acceptable , though contains some flaws and gaps ; however , it results to be entertaining . Rating 5,5/10 . Worthwhile watching for Giallo aficionados