Thriller in Italian with Spanish seasoning Eugenio Martin throughout his creative life tried to make movies so that no one recognized him as a Spaniard. Sometimes he did. And the most striking example here is the famous “Train of Horrors” with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, so deftly copying the films of the studio “Hummer”, that, as they say, without a half-liter you can not understand, and with a half-liter and even more. “The Last Mrs. Anderson” or “The Body Found in the Pool” (in the Italian version) can serve as another example of the successful mimicry of Señor Martin – this time the background for the cinechameleon was served by the Italian masters of the Jallo, whom he imitated perhaps not with the same meticulousness as Carlos Aured in “Blue Eyes of a Broken Doll”, but with excellent knowledge and a set of consultants. Half of the crew were Italians. And Carroll Baker, although she was still at the time of filming a relative newcomer to thrillers in Italian, won her name in the genre rapidly.
As for the plot, here “Mrs. Anderson” does not stand out, modestly occupying a place next to such films as “The Night When Evelyn Came Out of the Grave” by Emilio Miraglia, “The Strange Vice of Mrs. Ward” by Sergio Martino, “One on the Other” by Lucio Fulci and a dozen others, in which there is a certain crime on “family” soil with a single suspect (wife-husband, son-brother – further on the list). Everything else is variation. In Señor Martin, these variations consist in the fact that after the mysterious death of his wife, in whose blood barbiturates were found in large quantities, he immediately finds himself in the dock, but thanks to the testimony of his housekeeper, he is found innocent. Consequently, the main character will not have to run from justice, proving his rightness, which is often a plot-forming reception in the Jallo. But you will have to fight off those who want to deny his innocence.
For example, from Inspector Dunphy in the luxurious performance of Lopez Vazquez, involuntarily making you remember Lestrade Borislav Brondukov. Moreover, Lopez Vasquez is an actor so Spanish that if he were Russian, one could say about him - "soil". Because his detective from Scotland Yard looks somewhat caricatured, but it is this caricature that makes the image of Dunphy the most vivid and memorable in the film. Gives the picture the necessary “highlight”, which otherwise he would be deprived. After all, the main protagonists (Carroll Baker and Michael Cragg) are so typical of the genre that their opposition could dislocate cheekbones from yawning in anticipation of a denouement. After all, even for the first time in his life watching a gallo (are there any?), it will be clear that the girl who appeared on the proscenium in the middle of the night in the very pool where the unfortunate Mrs. Anderson N1 was found, was there for a reason. This is only a naive widower can be satisfied with the explanation that Julie Spencer came to swim next door, but we know that in thrillers in Italian, nothing just happens.
Then, of course, the ball begins to get confused, the course of events accelerates until the main attribute appears on the stage - a killer with a knife and gloves. Jokes with jokes, but without this, after all, Jallo is not a Jallo at all, but just a thriller. To be fair, the authors of “Mrs. Anderson” did not make a secret of the villain’s personality. There was a time when the finale was on the horizon. But before the appearance of the murderer to the people, who cut the Gordian knot of intricate mysteries, they managed to stuff them into the script to the devil. So that to deal with everyone seems to have been before. However, this is again one of the rules of the genre, which the authors of the film follow strictly.
In this purity of the Italian style from the Spanish director lie both advantages and disadvantages of the picture. It is almost devoid of originality, the work of the actors look almost sterile, the main intrigue is predictable, but there are a lot of side riddles over which you can puzzle, and once again immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of the thriller in Italian with a sharp Spanish seasoning from the genius Jose Luis Lopez Vasquez. Without which, frankly, the body in the pool could not be found.