The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Yet another rarity from Arrow here – the first Giallo if you so will, written and directed by Italian’s master of the macabre – Mario Bava. Oh, he was also responsible for the cinematography on this one. This intriguing tale about an ‘Alphabet Murder’ was financed by American International.

When Nora Davis (Leticia Román) arrives in the ‘eternal city’ of Rome to visit her aged and ailing aunt – who soon succumbs to a heart attack – she naturally phones for help only to realize that the phone doesn’t work (do they ever?). Panic-stricken, she runs into the night and finds herself in the very location (Piazza di Spagna) which is used throughout the film to great effect. Before she can summon help, she is mugged, knocked senseless and her handbag is stolen. When she awakes in a half comatose state, she witnesses a murder but then lapses back into unconsciousness. Later still she finds herself in a hospital ward surrounded by nuns and is wrongly diagnosed as being an alcoholic.

Dr. Bassi (played by American lead actor John Saxon), who she already met at her aunt’s place, also works at the hospital and is able to put things to right. By the way, Dr. Bassi can be seen with a bandaged finger beginning to end! It would appear that Nora has witnessed a murder that occurred then years ago, committed by the Alphabet serial killer – therefore the police are unable to find a corpse. After leaving the hospital, Nora is befriended by a kindly neighbour, Laura Torrani (Valentina Cortese), who had been a close friend of her aunt. Laura agrees to let Nora stay in her house. The camera zooms in to a photograph of Laura’s husband, which is placed on a piano. Shock horror, this is the man that Nora saw chasing the murdered woman. In the next scene, the photo is missing from the frame! Meanwhile, Nora’s friendship with Dr. Bassi blossoms and the pair begin to look into the killings. The killer in question had so far claimed three victims, whose names began with A, B, and C respectively. Well, and Nora’s surname begins with D…

Mario Bava always had a reputation as a top cinematographer, and even if you don’t like the film you can hardly fail to be impressed by his engaging camera work. Look out for some nice little touches, for example, when Nora undresses in her boudoir and the eyes in the portrait of her dead uncle follow her about the room. The Girl Who Knew Too Much being an Italian production, it was released for the American market under the title The Evil Eye and with a totally different score by AIP favourite Lex Baxter (and a slightly longer running time).
The performance by American lead John Saxon is not one that sticks in the mind, however, with Bava it was invariably about the film than the characters. European contingents here are represented by Leticia Roman and Valentina Cortese. The former’s career spanned a mere eight years, whilst the latter enjoyed a considerable longer and more international career.

Special Features on this Dual Edition are:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film: The Girl Who Knew Too Much – the original Italian version; and Evil Eye – the re-edited and re-scored US version prepared by American International Pictures
Original uncompressed 2.0 mono PCM audio for both versions
Optional English subtitles for The Girl Who Knew Too Much
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for Evil Eye
Audio commentary by Mario Bava’s biographer Tim Lucas
Introduction by writer and critic Alan Jones
All About the Girl – Filmmakers Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again) and Richard Stanley (Dust Devil), alongside authors Alan Jones (Profondo Argento) and Mikel Koven (La Dolce Morte) reflect on Mario Bava’s classic giallo
International trailer
US trailer
Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kier-La Janisse