Few people know it,but Ozon's "huit femmes" is itself a remake ; a first version of Robert Thomas's play (also often performed on stage in the fifties) was filmed in black and white as 'la nuit des suspectes" (1957 ):this first effort was more pessimistic than Ozon 's whodunit cum musical comedy .
The Italian version jettisoned the songs -they were French and they should have been replaced by Italian hits ,had it been treated like in Ozon's pleasant work ;a director whose only daring gesture -not really risqué anymore at the time- was Ardant's lesbian character .
The Italian version kept it ; it is also enjoyable to see Ornella Vanoni ( a singer and co-star of Virna Lisi in "Romolo e Remo peplum) reprising the part of Danielle Darrieux .All the actresses overplay (they also did in the French color version ) which is not a real problem ; Thomas was certainly influenced by Agatha Christie's whodunits ;the situation -people locked up in a house surrounded by the snow- reminds you of her play "the mousetrap ".