Maximilian Schell directed, co-produced, and co-adapted this screenplay, based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt's book "The Judge and His Hangman", about a cunning murderer who began his crimes in 1940s Istanbul with the thrill-killing of his friend's girl; thirty years later in Switzerland, the friend is now a Commissioner who links his former acquaintance to the murder of a patrolman. Jon Voight plays an investigator who has an affair with the lover of the deceased, not knowing she's also involved with the criminal suspect. Martin Ritt and Robert Shaw are the adversaries, and both are exceptional, with Shaw (in a bald cap) glimmering with decadent evil. However, Voight (his accent on and off) and Jacqueline Bisset fail to come up with anything interesting, and neither is photographed well (both look white and pasty). The film's monotonous rhythm is helped occasionally by the punchy editing, but Schell seems to lose his grip on the narrative after the intriguing opening sequences. Some of the director's small, throwaway moments are best, but his grand gestures do not work at all. *1/2 from ****