Delitti privati presents an intriguing if ultimately uneven attempt to transport the giallo sensibility to the intimate confines of provincial Italian television. The veteran director, known for his stylish thrillers of the 1970s, crafts a murder mystery that flickers between atmospheric promise and pedestrian execution, resulting in a work that satisfies neither as prestige television nor as a worthy successor to his earlier cinematic achievements.
The visual palette adopts a deliberately muted approach, with cinematographer Dante Spinotti painting the Tuscan landscape in somber earth tones that reflect the moral ambiguity lurking beneath the surface of small-town respectability. The camera work oscillates between moments of genuine artistry (particularly in the nocturnal sequences along the Serchio River) and pedestrian television framing that betrays the production's budgetary constraints. Martino demonstrates flashes of his old flair for creating unease through careful composition, yet the overall visual language feels constrained by the medium's limitations.
Edwige Fenech anchors the production with a performance that reveals both her strengths and the challenges of transitioning from exploitation cinema to more serious dramatic territory. As journalist Nicole Venturi, she brings a weathered gravitas that serves the character well, though her delivery occasionally betrays the melodramatic tendencies that marked her earlier work. Ray Lovelock provides solid support, his presence lending credibility to the investigative elements, while the veteran Alida Valli delivers the series' most compelling performance despite limited screen time. Her portrayal of a woman harboring decades-old secrets crackles with genuine menace and psychological complexity.
The supporting cast varies wildly in quality, with some performers struggling to elevate dialogue that veers between stilted exposition and overwrought emotional declarations. The younger cast members, particularly those playing the victim's contemporaries, lack the gravitas necessary to sell the weight of their circumstances. This uneven ensemble work undermines several pivotal scenes, creating a sense of artificiality that distances viewers from the central mystery.
The pacing suffers from the episodic format, with revelations doled out in a manner that feels more mechanical than organic. Martino's direction shows sparks of his former inventiveness, particularly in sequences involving anonymous letters and their psychological impact on the community, but these moments are diluted by extended passages of routine police procedural work. The series benefits from its authentic location shooting, with the historic streets of Lucca providing atmospheric backdrop that occasionally compensates for the more mundane elements of the narrative.
