70s Horror/Suspense Movie - Have Plot, Need Title

I was wondering if anyone knew this 70s movie. I can't remember the title but was hoping someone here could recognize the plot so I could buy it.

Setting: An insane asylum (or a castle-like prison) and the surrounding town.

Plot: An inmate (or prisoner) is escaping at night and committing crimes in the town but they can't catch him. The inmate escapes by tying bed sheets together and swinging from his cell window in a pretty elaborate method. He always comes back to the asylum at the end of the night. The authorites can't pin the crimes on him because he's locked up (they think). That's all I remember.

I don't know the title or year. Maybe it's the late 60s or early 70s?

 

Don't know but "It Takes a Thief" used the exact same plot for one of their episodes. That doesn't help but since I just watched it, I thought it was kind of funny.

 

That sounds like a Max von Sydow movie I remember seeing, I think it was called Night Visitor.

 

And if I remember correctly, a parrot gives him away at the end?

 

That's it! Thank you very much.

Cast
Max von Sydow ... Salem
Trevor Howard ... The Inspector
Liv Ullmann ... Ester Jenks
Per Oscarsson ... Dr. Anton Jenks
Rupert Davies ... Mr. Clemens
Andrew Keir ... Dr. Kemp

Additional Details
Also Known As:Lunatic (USA) (reissue title)
Papegojan (Sweden)

 

That was a really good movie, too bad I never see it run anymore!

 

Plot summary for
The Night Visitor (1971)

"A man named Salem escapes from an insane asylum where he was confined for an axe-murder. Falsely convicted under a plea of "guilty due to insanity", he does not plan to let his sister and her husband forget that they were responsible for the murder of a farmhand and for his cruel imprisonment in the asylum."

Another summary...

"This is an excellent European thriller, with a cast culled from both Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark) and England.
Max von Sydow as Salem, the inmate in an asylum for the criminally insane, does a fine job as the lead, (supposedly) unjustly accused and sentenced for a crime he--maybe--didn't commit. Liv Ullmann (who's Norwegian, not Swedish as some people may think) is just as good as his sister, married to a doctor played by Per Oscarsson. The two of them, with the help of a greedy lawyer and a conniving sister, managed to have Salem convicted of the murder of an innocent farmhand. And Trevor Howard plays the investigating inspector who is equally strong--and certain there's more to the case than meets the eye.

Now someone is killing off the people who had Salem committed. Who could it be? Salem himself is locked away in the asylum, surely one of the dingiest and most desolate institutions ever shown on film. But the doctor shows some loopy behavioral tics, so there's a real chance it could be him.

The answer to the mystery is fascinating. This is not a horror film, as an earlier, extremely well-known and highly regarded reviewer for this venue has said (see below), but a thriller whose details are developed quite well."