LA RAGAZZA CHE SAPEVA TROPPO (THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) (1963)

Early directing effort for horror specialist Mario Bava, often considered the first step on the road to 'giallo,' the Italian shockers with lurid color, crimes, violence, gore, sex & female nudity (the guys would screw with their pants on).  Perhaps.  Bava, D.P,-ing since the ‘40s and still working in b&w is less assured here than in BLACK SUNDAY/’60 before and the TechniColored BLACK SABBATH/’63 after.*  But here, without color, gratuitous sex & nudity (only a gratuitous beach scene), plus nearly tasteful blood & guts, it’s giallo-lite at best, its content (as the title suggests) more Hitchcock homage than anything else, if more in thought than deed.  Stylistically barely more Hitch-like than Mel Brooks’ dud attempt, HIGH ANXIETY/’77.  One sequence involving an apartment elevator, a spiral staircase and a blonde does have the feel of a Hitchcock storyboard exercise, and jokey touches, like a phallic broken index finger show intent, but little more.  (There’s even a little self-cameo.)  A shame as the film opens quite well as Letícia Román (she’s the blonde mentioned above) takes over nighttime care of a rich elderly Roman invalid from Doctor John Saxon only to watch helplessly as the old gal suffers a fatal seizure on her very first watch.  With little reason to stay in Roma, she’s accosted on a nighttime walk and witness to a murder no one believes happened.  In fact, she’s tagged as a drunk, possibly insane.  Yikes!  Fortunately, that nice Dr. Saxon knows better and gets her released before taking her on a tour of the Eternal City.  (Gratuitous beach scene coming up, but we largely stick to the remarkably tourist-free Spanish Steps.)  Somehow, they get involved in an ‘Alphabet Murder’ scenario that makes little sense and provides minimal suspense.  All in all, I’d go for later Bava, once TechniColor and more complex compositions were added to his visual M.O.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  A.I.P. was releasing Bava in the States at the time, but reedited, retitled & rescored.  This one became THE EVIL EYE/’63, a few minutes longer & slightly rearranged (or so a peak suggests), more importantly, the restored picture, has a seriously compressed grey scale which robs almost every shot of the rich contrast Bava (who shot his own stuff) was going for.  Stick to the Italian original.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK:  *Bava’s next film, his rangy portmanteau BLACK SABBATH, was his move into TechniColor if not yet giallo.  An excellent pivot point in his career.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/05/i-tres-volti-della-paura-black-sabbath.html