Death Walks on High Heels (Italian title: La morte cammina con i tacchi alti) is a 1971 Giallo film directed and co-produced by Luciano Ercoli. It stars Frank Wolff and Susan Scott.
A French stripper is entrusted with her thieving father's last score, a million dollars worth of diamonds. After being threatened to hand over the score, she leaves France for England in the company of a doctor, but danger follows.
Tropes on High Heels:
- "Begone" Bribe: Vanessa Matthews offers her husband Matthew's mistress five thousand pounds to leave him.
- Bound and Gagged: When the killer confronts Nicole in her apartment, her cuts her dress and pulls it up around her head before using it to bind and gag her.
- Cat Scare: Walking home down a dark alley after receiving a death threat, someone grabs Nicole's arm and she jumps, but it turns out to be a prostitute asking her for a light.
- Conspicuous Gloves: Hallory, the Crusty Caretaker of Robert's cottage on the coast, is a strange, disheveled-looking man, who has prosthetic hand constantly covered with a single black glove.
- Corpse Temperature Tampering: Inspector Baxter visits the coroner’s office and after realizing that bodies kept on ice can alter the time of death becomes convinced that bricks of ice were used on Nicole’s body. This theory is confirmed by a visit to the other side of the cottage where a rope and anchor with room for a body and ice bricks are found in the water.
- Creepy Crossdresser: Crusty Caretaker Hallory is revealed to be a creepy crossdresser when Michel and the police discover him him dancing around the cottage where Nicole was murdered wearing a wig and gown belonging to her.
- Crusty Caretaker: Hallory, the caretaker of Robert's cottage on the coast, is a strange, disheveled-looking man, who has prosthetic hand constantly covered with a single black glove. He is mostly silent and spends much of his time onscreen staring lecherously at Nicole. He is later revealed to be a Creepy Crossdresser as well.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Inspector Baxter has one about how the crime could have been committed when The Coroner makes a comment about the freezer at the morgue.
- Eyepatch of Power: Nicole's Gentleman Thief father sports one.
- Eye Scream: A flashback reveals that Smith was blinded in an accident while breaking into a safe when a blowtorch flame lanced across his face.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: After fleeing Paris for London, Nicole and Robert have a montage of them doing romantic couple activities; interspersed with a Shopping Montage.
- Fashion-Shop Fashion Show: Combined with Shopping Montage when Robert takes Nicole shopping for clothes in London: Nicole has fled Paris without any luggage.
- Gentleman Thief: Nicole's father was one. He is murdered by someone searching for his last score: a million dollars worth of diamonds.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: Confronted with a drunk Michel, Inspector Baxter squeezes the juice of half a lemon into a cup of coffee and makes him drink it. After a few moments after drinking it, Michel throws up; which does sober him out.
- Naughty Bird Watching: Captain Lenny is a retired naval officer who keeps a telescope at his cottage window for looking out to sea. When Nicole moves into the cottage next door, he starts using it to watch her when he discovers she doesn't draw the curtains and likes walking around the house naked. This turns him into a "Rear Window" Witness when she is murdered while he is spying on her.
- Obfuscating Disability: Smith, the blind man Robert has been treating has actually regained far more of his sight than is letting on because it serves his purposes to have others believe he is totally blind. However, he still did not see who shot Roberts, as Robert had replaced the bandages over his eyes just before the shooting.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The plot is kicked off when Nicole's father is murdered on the train to Switzerland.
- "Rear Window" Witness: Captain Lenny is using his telescope to spy on Nicole when he witnesses her murder, although the rainy weather prevents him from getting a clear look at the killer.
- Shopping Montage: Combined with Fashion-Shop Fashion Show when Robert takes Nicole shopping for clothes in London: Nicole has fled Paris without any luggage.
- Slashed Throat: The killer kills Nicole's father and Vanessa by slitting their throats.
- Tae Kwon Door: During the final fight, Michel catches Robert as he is attempting to get into a police car and slams the door into him several times. Robert then turns the tables and smashes Michel in the face with the door.
- Teaser-Only Character: Nicole's father is a Gentleman Thief murdered in a Plot-Triggering Death before the opening credits.
- *Twang* Hello: When she arrives back at her flat, Nicole's boyfriend Michel thinks it is funny to greet her by throwing his switchblade so it sticks in the wall beside her head. Nicole does not react well.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After drinking Baxter's Hideous Hangover Cure, Michel is shown throwing up out of the cottage window: on top of the unfortunate constable standing underneath.
- Vorpal Pillow: The killer murders Nicole by smothering her with a cushion: the only one of his victims he does not kill by slitting their throat.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: Coming out of surgery, and still under the effect of the anesthetic, Robert murmurs the 'Nicole' over and over to his wife. Unfortunately, his wife's name is Vanessa and Nicole is the name of his mistress.
- You Can Leave Your Hat On: The central character Nicole is a striptease artiste and the early parts of the film in Paris feature several of her burlesque routines.
- Zip Me Up: The first time Robert visits Nicole is in her dressing room following her strip act. She gives him a polite brush-off while asking him to zip up her dress.
