The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Italian: Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh) is a 1971 giallo mystery film directed by Sergio Martino, and starring Edwige Fenech, George Hilton, Ivan Rassimov, and Alberto de Mendoza. Its plot follows the wife of a diplomat who finds herself being stalked by her former abusive lover in Vienna.

The letter “h” was added to the name “Ward” when an Italian woman named Mrs. Ward threatened legal action over the original title’s potentially damaging her good name, just before the film was released. The film was originally released under the title Blade of the Ripper in the United States. It was also released under the alternate titles Next! and The Next Victim.

Plot

In Vienna, a maniac is killing women with a straight razor. Julie Wardh and her diplomat husband Neil return to the city after time spent in New York City. Julie married Neil to escape her former lover Jean, with whom she had a sadomasochistic relationship that became abusive. On her first night back in Vienna, Julie is delivered a flower bouquet with a sinister note from Jean.

At a high society party, Julie’s friend Carol introduces her Australian cousin George. George’s and Carol’s wealthy uncle has just died, and they are his only heirs. George flirts with Julie, who is unhappy in her marriage to the neglectful Neil. Julie leaves the party after noticing Jean, but Jean confronts her outside, alluding to their past and offering to drive her home. Neil arrives and slaps Jean, who merely laughs and leaves.

After a lunch date arranged by Carol, George and Julie begin an affair, despite Julie’s initial reluctance. Julie receives a call from a blackmailer threatening to tell Neil about the affair. Julie suspects Jean is the blackmailer, and Carol insists on meeting the blackmailer in Julie’s stead. Carol goes to meet the unknown individual at the Schönbrunn Palace Park, where she is murdered by someone wielding a straight razor.

Julie learns about Carol’s murder and urges the police to investigate Jean, but Jean has an airtight alibi. Julie is later attacked in the parking garage of her apartment building by a figure with a straight razor, but she escapes. After she tells Neil about the encounter, he arms himself with a handgun and orders her to take him to Jean’s residence. There, the pair discover Jean’s body in a bloody bathtub.

Julie is terrified of remaining in Vienna and secretly leaves her husband to travel to Spain with George. Back in Vienna, one of the razor killer’s intended victims kills him in self-defense. Julie is ecstatic upon reading that the dead killer was a stranger to her, but someone continues to stalk her in Spain and sends her a note signed “Jean,” causing her to have a nervous breakdown. When George goes to get a doctor, Julie is ambushed and knocked out by Jean, who faked his death. He stages the kitchen to look like Julie has committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. George and the doctor arrive and discover that Julie is locked in the kitchen, from which they quickly remove her, and the doctor tries to save her as George calls for an ambulance.

At the police station, the police inform George and Neil, who has been summoned from Vienna, that Julie has died and that her death has been ruled a suicide. Neil angrily accuses George of murder, despite his being with the doctor. George drives to a remote location to meet Jean, whom he hired to kill Julie. Jean demands his promised payment and fake passport so that he can flee to Rio, but George shoots him dead and stages the scene like a suicide to ensure that Jean can never testify against him.

George meets with Neil, and their car ride conversation reveals that they conspired to murder Carol and Julie. Carol’s death makes George the sole inheritor of his uncle’s fortune, and Julie’s death yields a huge insurance payment for Neil to avoid bankruptcy. To provide each other alibis and shift suspicion onto the razor killer, Neil killed Carol in the park, and George tried to kill Julie in the parking garage, then hired Jean to kill her after the death of the razor killer.

Neil sees Julie standing on the side of the road, and he and George are suddenly pursued by police vehicles. While trying to evade the police, George and Neil drive off a cliff to their deaths. It is revealed that the doctor saved Julie, but the police faked her death to trick George and Neil into meeting, having grown suspicious when Carol’s death did not fit the razor killer’s modus operandi. Julie is consoled by the doctor as they drive away.

Cast

Critical reception

AllMovie wrote, “Sergio Martino’s first entry into Italy’s giallo genre delivers everything this style of thriller requires and then some”, calling it “a skillful example of how the giallo can be a head-spinning experience in style over substance.”

See also

List of Italian films of 1971

References

External links

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh at IMDb