The Krimi Connection ... or not!

This magnificent giallo film could well be Umberto Lenzi's Best, and it has a German
Krimi as well as an American Pulp Fiction connection and whatabout the Edgar Wallace
blurb on the cover ? This film was an Italian and German co-production, and in Germany
they had produced crime mystery films for over a decade at this time, in a Teutonic genre
called Krimi. These films were pretty cool and could be seen as a sort of Proto Gialli films
and most often they were based on crime stories written by Edgar Wallace, and some on
his son Bryan Edgar Wallace stories.

Note: Please read more about the Krimi genre on Gialli and Eurocrime Page 2 at top

So, as the German's co-produced it and wanted to cash in on (the by 1972 fading) Krimi
interest they faked this Krimo connection by giving it the title Das rätsel des silbernen
halbmonds, in english "The Riddle of the Silver Crescent" something sounding like one
of the many Edgar Wallace based Krimis, as i.a. "The Riddle of the Red Orchid" from 1962.
This film however has nothing to do with Edgar Wallace. Instead it is based on one of
US Pulp Fiction Master Cornell Woolrich best novels, his ...

Rendezvous in Black (Hämndens ögonblick, 1948) is a part of The Master's Black Series
and really a different take on The Bride Wore Black (1940).
A Great, great novel about Obsession and Revenge it is and Umberto Lenzi in the extras
acknowledges that his story and script was a free adaption of the Woolrich novel and a
homage to the author and has nothing to do with Edgar Wallace.

The pic at top right (from the booklet included with the sleeve) shows an Argento
influence, and at the beginning of this film a black clad killer wearing black gloves attacks
and kills an old woman with a stiletto knife and beats her prostitute daughter to death at
the river brink of the Tiber. The actress playing Inez La Toscana, the prostitute and who
provides the nudity was Gabriella Giorgelli, once a Ms. Italy and who made another film
with Umberto Lenzi in 1977. In the extras she says that Lenzi was a nice person, when he
in his interview nastily calls her a "Porn" actress.

This film is a VERY stylish giallo with some amazing murder scenes and not the least the
Rosella Falk one, when she is murdered in her bathtub in a homage to Mario Bava. This
murder scene is suspenseful and horrifying due to the excellent cinematography and to
her fine acting as victim no. 4, the poor signora Marschi. Seven Blood Stained Orchids
may not be that violent compared to Lenzi's other gialli but it is made in an impressive
stringent way, straight to the point, and with a fine soundtrack from Riz Ortolani.
A whole bunch of beautiful women are in it too : Uschi Glas (a German actress known
from a bunch of Krimi films), Gabriella Giorgelli, Marina Malfatti, Rosella Falk, Marisa
Mell and German former Ms. World, Petra Schürmann.

Above: The Old US Shriek Show DVD edition

Why are 7 women who stayed at the same hotel 2 years earlier killed off, one
after the other ? Mario (Antonio Sabato) is a fashion designer and his wife Giulia
(Uschi Glas) runs a boutique. It takes some time for the police and Mario to figure
out the connection between the female victims in a series of murders, a Calabrian
prostitute working as a maid in a Tuscany hotel, her mother, an english girl (Marina
Malfatti), Rosella Falk's Signora Marschi, the teacher De Rosa (Petra Schürmann)
and Marisa Mell. And Yes, i almost forgot, but when mentioning Marisa Mell i
remembered, we have a great and/or nasty Driller Killer scene too. In the extras
Umberto Lenzi (1931-2017) was elderly but very vital (besides the Inez confusion?).

One disc with the DVD version and another with the Blu-ray, and the film is presented
in 2.35:1 widescreen with a DTS HD MA 2.0 in english or italian audio with english
subtitles. The blu-ray plays 92 minutes and the DVD 89 minutes. Region B.
Extras: On the blu-ray 3 trailers (a German, an Italian and an English) and a picture
gallery. And on the 3rd extras DVD (NO English Subs) :

1. Documentary - Umberto: Interview with Lenzi (42 minutes, Grindhouse Releasing
2018) in Italian with German subtitles, about his career,his films and his favourite directors,

2. Uschi Glas: (10 min, featurette in German) about her international film career,

3. Rendezvous in Giallo: Umberto Lenzi about Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso,
pornstar actress (Inez, Giorgelli ?) the script and the novel (23 minutes, Code Red 2017,
in Italian with German subtitles),

4. Nackt für den Killer: Interview with Inez - Gabriella Giorgelli (18 minutes, Koch Film
2019 in Italian with German subtitles)

5. Mino Loy: Memorie di un produttore (8 minutes, 2007, in Italian with German only
subtitles

6. A Booklet

The Old US Shriek Show DVD was presented also in anamorphic widescreen
2.35:1 and had some interviews (can't remember) and a trailer