Rather than featuring an 'everyman' protagonist caught up in a bizarre mystery, as is often the case with a standard giallo, the central characters of Massimo Dallamano's 'What Have They Done To Your Daughters?' are Police Inspector Silvestri and Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori, who are called to the apparent suicide of a teenage girl which, upon investigation, becomes a murder case. As they delve further into the victim's life, Silvestri and Stori uncover her secret life as a teenage prostitute, a shocking discovery that leads to the discovery of more bodies and which makes them the next targets of the vicious killer.This merging of two extremely popular genres of '70s Italian cinema—the 'giallo' and the 'poliziotteschi'—is very entertaining whenever it's adhering to the giallo formula or delivering the sleaze, with a decent killer (clad in motor cycle gear and brandishing a huge meat cleaver), teenage nudity, bloody violence, an uncomfortable moment featuring a tape recording of an underage hooker with her 'john', and a very gruesome scene where a victim's dismembered body is reassembled like a jigsaw; sadly, the film is nowhere near as much fun during the police procedural content, which, barring a cool car/motorcycle chase scene, is extremely hum-drum stuff. The finale is also disappointingly weak.Overall, this flick offers enough good stuff to make it worth a go, but don't expect it to be anywhere near as good as Dallamano's similarly titled 'What Have You Done to Solange?'.

Massimo Dallamano's "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" aka. "What Have They Done To Your Daughters" is a very suspenseful, atmospheric and intelligentGiallo with elements of the Poliziotteschi/Crime genre, that no lover of Italian genre cinema of the 70s should allow himself to miss. When a teenage girl is found hanged in an attic, the police first think of suicide. Further investigations, however, point out that it was murder. As the investigations go on, it becomes clear that the murder is somehow related to a teen-prostitution ring... This very suspenseful and tough-minded Thriller keeps the suspense going from the beginning to the end. The plot is very elaborate and stunning and score by Stelvio Cipriani is brilliant and contributes a lot to atmosphere and suspense. Most of the murders are actually not seen, and there is no excessive splatter and gore, but what remains of the murders is often quite brutal, not least due to the delicate context. I must say that, concerning the cast, "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" was not quite what I had expected. As the DVD cover had 'Mario Adorf' in fat capital letters written on top, I expected Adorf to be the star of this movie but just plays a supporting role (in which he is, once again, excellent). This is not a flaw however, since Claudio Casselini and Giovanna Ralli are very good in the leading roles. Cassellini is excellent as the investigating homicide detective Silvestri, and beautiful Giovanna Ralli fits very well in her role of a young female assistant district attorney. Ralli may also be known to Italian movie buffs for films like Sergio Corbucci's revolutionary Western "Il Mercenario" or Enzo Castellari's Giallo "Gli Occhi Freddi De La Paura". My favorite film from Massimo Dallamano will always be his Giallo-masterpiece "Cosa Avete Fatto A Solange" ("What Have You Done To Solange", 1972), but "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" is also a highly memorable film. All things considered, this is a tantalizing thriller that my fellow fans of Italian Genre-Cinema can not afford to miss. An elaborate plot, great performances and a brilliant score go in hand with constant suspense from the beginning to the end. In Short: "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto" comes with my highest recommendations!

While the original Italian title – THE POLICE ASKS FOR HELP – clearly pigeonholes this one in the then-popular (and incredibly prolific) poliziottesco genre, the English title under which it is better known around the world – WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? – implies a giallo in the same vein as Dallamano’s best-known film, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE? (1972). In any case, while both elements are effectively present – a hatchet-wielding murderer is the subject of the climactic manhunt – the police procedural themes are more prevalent.The film deals with a teenage suicide which eventually uncovers a child prostitution ring which, as usual, includes not just the petty sleazy oddballs (here personified by Franco Fabrizi) but also high-profile professionals (a celebrated doctor) and high-ranking government officials (a Minister). The cast is surprisingly good for this type of genre effort: Claudio Cassinelli (as the investigating Police Chief), Giovanna Ralli (unusually cast as a female D.A.), Mario Adorf as the policeman who finds the first body and also discovers that his own teenage daughter was once a “victim” of these perverts, the afore-mentioned Fabrizi and Hollywood veteran Farley Granger in a smallish role as the first victim’s father.As usual for Italian genre movies, the music score is an asset and here it is provided by Stelvio Cipriani whose motif, while simple and repetitive, is extremely effective given that it involves children singing gibberish (and thus commenting on the main theme of the movie itself even through its performers). Alarmingly, the end titles claim that every year in Italy, 8000 teenagers run away from home but only a small percentage returns to the fold – the majority are never found!

From the director of the excellent what have you done to Solange, Massimo Dallamano, here is a strange Italian giallo, more a police procedural (an a really lurid tale, a ring of teens used as prostitutes by people in very high places - that was the time, in Italy, when several directors and scripwriters tried their hands on very hot subjects, like this one) than an Argentian thriller (but it is scary enough in a few places and also very gory). It starts with the false suicide of a very young girl, hanged nude under a roof and then proceeds with a lot of cars and bikes chases (the killer is always covered by a motorcycle helmet until the very end - it is possible that the director of Night School took from here the idea of the killer masked with an helmet), almost always running without pauses. Tense and scary enough, good almost till the end (a lot too Dillenger for my tastes).