What Have They Done to Your Daughters?

Introduction

Like My Dear Killer, What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (La Polizia Chiede Aiuto) is a fine Giallo from distributors Shameless Screen Entertainment.

When a naked 15 year old girl is found hanging from the rafters, the police, led by Assistant D. A. Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli) wonder what drove her to kill herself and begin investigating. The post-mortem reveals that Silvia (Sherry Buchanan) was pregnant, had recently had sex and was murdered then strung up to make it look like suicide. The detectives uncover that she was part of a child prostitution ring, along with several of her schoolmates.

Those involved want to stop the investigation and a maniac in motorbike leathers and helmet starts killing with a meat cleaver. Who is he, who's behind it - and will the truth be uncovered?

According to Shameless, unlike previous UK releases, this version is uncut with a running time of 86:59 mins.

Video

A decent anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer slightly showing its age, but with decent colour and contrast. The well filmed and exciting chase scenes look very good and there's no blurring or smearing to spoil them.

Audio

Some of the film has subtitling burnt in, translating the Italian signage on screen and some dialogue which has not been dubbed into English. Amusingly, on one occasion the F-word is muted out, yet appears in the subtitles! The dubbing is ok, but there is the odd comical non-sequitur, such as when the chief prosecutor tells a detective that he doesn't need to mind his language, even though no bad language had passed his lips. The soundtrack is pure 1970s - effective yet funky.

Extra Features

Theatrical trailer

Forthcoming attractions
- My Dear Killer
- Night Train Murders
- Torso: Carnal Violence
- Baba Yaga: The Devil Witch
- Phantom of Death
- The Black Cat

Conclusion

The quality of films from Shameless seems to be improving. I recently reviewed and enjoyed My Dear Killer and The Frightened Woman, films that were much better than The Black Cat and Manhattan Baby and What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is possibly the best yet. With the Proseccutto Capo (translated as District Attorney) as a woman, this is like a prototype Prime Suspect as she wins over the male detectives and supervises the investigation into a sordid and scandalous murder case.

The subject matter leads to some difficult scenes to sit through, involving a tape recording of sexual abuse, for example, but this only makes you more anxious that the police succeed. The only nudity is in a questionable flashback scene where Silvia undresses while arguing with her mother and threatens to kill herself. I have no idea how old Sherry Buchanan was at the time, but given that her character is supposed to be 15, this is perhaps a rather odd inclusion, but it does show the loss of Silvia's innocence now she has become a child prostitute. Aside from the police work, you also have the killer with a meat cleaver and screwdriver to provide the gore. Containing a fair amount of tension and an involving storyline, Massimo Dallamano made a fine mystery thriller with What Have They Done to Your Daughters?. You can even forgive the slightly wooden acting and dubious dubbing - there's even a cameo from Farley Granger as Silvia's father!

I really enjoyed this, watching it twice in one evening, and it's highly recommended if Giallo is your thing, the only downside is the quality of the stock that the DVD transfer came from.