The Fourth Victim (1972) Movie Review

Trailer here.

The Fourth Victim is a 1971 giallo movie directed by Eugenio Martin and starring Carroll Baker, Michael Craig and Miranda Campa.

The movie begins with a woman dead in her pool. The housekeeper and her husband pull her out. The doctor arrives and writes a death certificate. She is buried. Superintendent Dunphy(Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez) appears and says that the body will have to be dug up on orders of the magistrate. He talks to her husband Arthur (Craig). He says someone questioned the death. Arthur has been married three times. His previous wives also died. Dunphy is suspicious. Arthur is brought to court for the murder of his wife. He pleads not guilty. It can't be proved that it was murder for certain. The insurance company is suspicious also.The housekeeper (Campa)testifies. She backs up Arthur and he found not guilty.

Dunphy follows Arthur into a travel agent. He tells him that he knows he is guilty. Arthur finds a girl in his pool. It is his neighbour, Julie Spencer (Marina Malfatti). She is squatting in the house next door. She is really there to investigate Arthur. They end up sharing a kiss. A woman is watching Julie. She and Arthur get closer and they end up married. He finds her snooping and he hits her. She runs off and disappears. A strange woman has rented the house next door. Arthur finds Julie's car at the cliffs. He goes to the police who tell him that Julie went insane after killing her husband.  He goes to the clinic where she was kept afterwards to find her. He talks to the doctor who informs him that she was fine and she was released. A friend of Julie's from the clinic tells Arthur not to let Julie near the lake. He is confused.

Julie arrives back. She meets Dunphy. Julie admits what she did in the past to Arthur. She calls someone on the phone and tells them that she can't go through with it. Arthur catches her and she drives off. He follows her. She crashes and he takes her home and gives her a sedative. Dunphy arrives and tells Arthur that his wife is NOT Julie Spencer. The strange lady next door is wandering around. She kills a doctor who comes to see her. She is going to kill Julie for some reason. Dunphy tells Arthur that he is going to meet the real Julie Spencer. Arthur is going too.The real Julie is going to kill the imposter. She locks the doors in the house and says she will help the fake Julie to die. Fake Julie is actually called Lillian. She fights Julie.She ends up knocked out. Dunphy and Arthur are searching the place for Lillian and Julie. They know Lillian is in danger. It turns out Lillian is working for the insurance company. It was a set up. Arthur figures that Julie will take Lillian to the lake and kill her. Julie ends up slipping into the water and drowning.Police arrive and Arthur and Lillian leave together.

There's a lot of twists and turns in this. The story gets a bit confusing at times but it is still an entertaining movie. I like a mystery film and this does the job nicely. The cast are good and the story is fun. I will give it a 5/10.