Even Mario Bava fans were largely ignorant about his last black-and-white feature, especially after American International Pictures truncated it into a romantic comedy-mystery and it seemed to get lost.  Indeed, not until the recent DVD edition of this film, it was a case of...

By TESS HENSON

When one thinks of the films of Mario Bava, some of the things that come to mind may be his extensive use of colors, his fluid close-ups and his penchant for back lighting in many scenes. In other words, the visual aspects of his films often come to mind more readily than story and plot.

In 1963’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much (AKA La Ragazza che Sapeva Troppo and The Evil Eye (US)), be prepared to become engulfed in a tightly woven, blackly comedic, brilliant murder mystery in which visual style takes a rare back seat to a compelling story.

Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) is a young American tourist coming to Rome to visit an elderly friend of the family. Nora is a great fan of murder mysteries, and her active imagination has gotten her into trouble with her mother, who has asked her to give up the lurid novels.

With the help of Edith Widnall, the family friend Nora has come to visit, she promises her mother that she will stop reading the mysteries. Little does she know that her beloved mysteries will actually help save her life in the near future. Nora meets some rather interesting people as this story unfolds, the first being a gentleman who sits next to her on the plane from America to Rome.

Just as the flight begins landing preparations, the man offers Nora a cigarette. Hesitant at first, Nora finally accepts it--and the entire pack, along with some advice from the man that Rome is not a place for young women to be roaming at night. They de-board, and as they are standing in the customs line, a group of policemen accost the gentleman, accusing him of running drugs into the country. They open his suitcase, and in a bottom compartment find rows of cigarette packs which contain not tobacco, but marijuana cigarettes.

Nora, a bit shaken from all the excitement, remembers the pack of cigarettes the gentleman had given her before they got off the plane. She reaches into her coat pocket for the pack, and tries to nonchalantly drop it on the floor. However, a guard spots the pack, picks it up, and gives it back to her! This is the first of many comedic scenes, as it is played off very lightly and with a good sense of the humorous.

As Nora arrives at her friend’s house, the door is answered by a handsome young man--a doctor who is caring for her elderly friend. After another humorous scene in which Nora and the young doctor literally butt heads, he introduces himself as Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon). He informs Nora that her friend has a heart condition, and that if she has any ‘spells’ during the night, he advises her to give her a pill and call him. Nora greets her old friend and begins to settle down in the house.

A little later, Nora hears Edith gasp and call out her name. As Nora rushes to the room, she sees that Edith is in some distress and attempts to give her medicine. Too late--Edith collapses on the bed and dies right in front of her. Nora tries to call Dr. Bassi at the hospital where he works, but because there is a storm raging outside, she has a bad connection and cannot hear anyone on the other end. Her only recourse is to go out into the night for help--against the advice of her gentleman companion on the flight over.

She opens the window to get a breath of fresh air, and in a truly bizarre scene, hears a squeaking noise. She turns back to the bed, where it seems Edith has come back to life, shaking the bed and causing the springs to squeak. We are then treated to a shot of Edith’s cat, on the far side of the bed, kneading the bedcovers with enough fervor to cause the entire bed to rock and squeak. This is too much for Nora, and she dons her clothes and raincoat and goes out into the dark Roman night in search of help.

As she is walking along the Piazza Di Spagna, a shadow is following her--and it’s not her own. A man is stalking her, and at the most opportune time, accosts her, grabbing her purse and pushing her down with enough force that she is knocked unconscious when her head strikes the ground. He takes her purse and leaves her lying there--apparently not interested so much in her as in whatever money she may have in her bag.

When she comes to much later, she is greeted by yet another terrifying sight. Through the dizzy haze of semi-consciousness, she witnesses what appears to be a murder, as a woman runs screaming from a house across the Piazza and collapses on the cobblestone walkway with a rather large knife protruding from her back. The woman looks Nora in the eye, and then seemingly dies right in front of her.

A man comes out of the house, and as Nora looks on in horror, he pulls the knife out of the dead woman’s back and drags her back inside. Poor Nora, having just been a witness to two deaths and having been a victim of an assault herself, all within a span of a couple of hours, shuts down completely and falls once again into an unconscious state on the cold, wet cobblestones of the Piazza.

She is found in the morning by a man who tries to revive her by giving her a strong shot of alcohol. This doesn’t work, and as the man hears someone else approaching he slinks away, realizing that it is a policeman.

The policeman sees Nora lying unconscious on the Piazza and tries to wake her up. Thinking the policeman is the murderer she has seen, she becomes hysterical until she realizes that she is indeed safe. She swoons again, and next we see her she is waking up in a hospital.

In a brilliant and artistic scene, we see an overhead shot of a groups of nuns standing around Nora’s bed. At first all we see is the top of their pointed hats. Then the hats unfold like a kaleidoscope or the petals of a flower as the nuns raise their heads to reveal Nora coming around on the hospital bed. The nuns assure her that she is all right, and also state that they know all about the murder as Nora has been talking in her sleep. They introduce to another man who is a detective. He questions her, and is already of the mind that she has hallucinated the murder. He cites that because of the knock on the head when she was attacked, and the fact that she had been recently reading a murder mystery, he thinks she has imagined the woman being killed. She insists it is real.

In another hilarious scene we see another group of doctors and interns surrounding her bed. As she looks up at them in a semi-drugged state, one doctor explains to the others that she is the perfect example of a delusional alcoholic! This angers her, and when Dr. Bassi finally arrives, she demands that he find a way to release her from the hospital before she makes a scene.

Dr. Bassi indeed gets her released into his care, and as he is walking her home in the bright daylight, they stop on the Piazza and Nora begins to explain to him exactly what happened to her the night before, insisting that everything, including the murder was real. In the middle of this explanation, she is interrupted suddenly by the presence of two playful children who are in the middle of a game of "Cowboys and Indians." A lady steps out of what seems to be the same house in which the murder occurred the night before and calls out to the young boys. Nora sees her, and thinking that she looks familiar, approaches slowly. The lady sees Nora approaching and asks if she can help her with something. Nora, a little flustered says no, and returns to her dead friend’s house with Dr. Bassi.

The next day at her friend’s funeral, Nora is approached by the same lady, who has overheard her and Dr. Bassi talking about the supposed murder on the Piazza. She assures Nora that no murder occurred or she would have surely heard the sounds of a struggle, or at least the screams that Nora has described. She also tells Nora that her friend Edith was well known in the area, and had been a good friend to her as well. She states that undoubtedly Edith would’ve introduced her to Nora if only she hadn’t passed on so soon after Nora’s arrival. She introduces herself as Laura Torrani (Valentina Cortese) and invites Nora back to her house in the Piazza.

Even though Laura is modest about her dwelling, Nora seems taken with it, stating that it must be very nice to live in a house so beautiful. Laura then offers to let Nora stay in the house while she goes out of town to meet her husband, Prof. Torrani (Gianni DeBenedetto). Nora protests at first, but Laura insists that she stay and house-sit for her, and Nora eventually accepts the offer. Laura gives her a tour of the house, pointing out that Nora has full run of the place except for her husband’s study, which is locked. This of course only piques Nora’s active curiosity, and when Laura is gone one of the first things she does is try the door. It is locked of course, and denies Nora entrance.

As Nora is enjoying her time in Laura’s beautiful house one evening, the phone rings. Nora answers, and a voice on the other end asks if this is Nora Davis--Davis with a "D", as in "death"? Nora hangs up quickly and calls Dr. Bassi. He picks her up and calls a psychic friend of his and they all go out to dinner. As they are sitting and talking, it is revealed to Nora that a murder had indeed taken place in the exact spot Nora had described--only ten years earlier! It was part of a series of killings the police coined "The Alphabet Murders" as it seemed that all the victims last names began with the letters of the alphabet in sequence.

There had been three murders and the last victim’s name began with a "C". The psychic implies that perhaps Nora has had an episode of post-cognition and had actually witnessed the murder of ten years previously because of the knock on her head. Nora does not tell them of the phone call, and the camera glides in for a close-up of her face as a narrative voice-over tells us that she must keep it to herself and solve this murder on her own--at the risk of her own life. Nora kind of half-smiles at this prospect, anticipating the thrill of solving a real-life murder mystery!

Back at Laura’s house, Nora thinks of ways to protect herself from becoming the next victim of what she believes is indeed the "Alphabet Killer". She thinks back to her mystery novels, and remembers a trap that had been set for one of the murderers. She gets some talcum powder, and pours it all over the entrance way. Then, she takes some twine, and strings it tightly all throughout the house leading up to her bedroom nook.

As she is doing this, the narrative voice over states that she remembers from her books that talcum powder is insidiously slippery, especially when one is caught up in a tenacious nest of twine. The voice-over then humorously states that murderers don’t usually read mystery novels, so the chances that one would know of her trap is rare. Funny stuff!

Soon, satisfied that she is indeed safe from any would be murderers, Nora decides to get some sleep. She is awakened some time later by a sound outside her window. In another brilliant shot, we see a large shadow through the windows making it’s way slowly around the outside of the house. As the shadow reaches the front door, Nora screams. The door swings open, and it is only the policeman, assigned to protect her, coming to check on her.

However, Dr. Bassi, who has also been staked out at her place, has heard her scream, and in another campy scene, runs into the house without a second thought, and becomes tangled in the nest of twine, and indeed slips on the talcum powder and falls. Nora’s trap works, but alas, she has hilariously trapped the wrong man. Dr. Bassi receives a broken finger in the melee. Do you see a pattern here? First a knock on the head, then a broken finger. Seems every time he is close to Nora something physically unpleasant happens to him, poor guy.

Nora has discovered a box with clippings related to the "Alphabet Murders" in a closet in Laura’s house. The next day, as Dr. Bassi is trying to make some sense of the supposed murder that Nora initially witnessed, he comes across a name associated with the older series of murders--Landini. Nora says she remembers the name in association with the murders as well, and off they go on a goose chase to find the elusive Landini. They inquire at various stores and restaurants on the Piazza, and finally track him down to a flea-bag hotel where he supposedly lives. No luck, as the desk man states that Landini is rarely there during the day.

So, Nora and Dr. Bassi decide to spend a day relaxing at the beach. A scene takes place there which may make one think that Dr. Bassi is the culprit, when actually he is just infatuated with Nora. Back at Laura’s house, Nora and Dr. Bassi are about to say goodnight, after some heated passionate kisses, when Nora hears a noise coming from inside. They enter and a strange man is standing in the living room--Landini.

He has heard that they have been looking for them, and decided to stop by the house. He explains that as he knocked he thought he heard sounds of a struggle inside and decided to go on in and check it out. The door was unlocked he stated, and when he got inside no one was there. He was just about to leave when they arrived. He explains to them his connection with the "Alphabet Murders."

Turns out he was the prominent journalist back then who was covering the murders. He became too obsessed with the case, and his employers decided to fire him. With his reputation shot, and his obsession with the case still intact, he has become something of a pariah in the locals eyes. He tells Nora, that it was he who initially found her on the Piazza the morning after the murder. He tells her that he had tried to give her some alcohol to bring her around, but when he heard the policemen approaching, decided to leave quickly because he didn’t want to get into any more trouble with the law. Nora decides that he is trustworthy because he is only one of two people who believes her story that a murder had actually taken place that night on the Piazza, and that it was not her imagination.

Dr. Bassi is needed back at the hospital. Nora and Landini follow a lead that he has thought of, and they track down a housekeeper who may have some clues about the last girl who was murdered ten years ago. After following that lead to it’s end, Nora returns to Laura’s house, where she receives another strange phone call. The voice instructs her to go to a certain location to obtain more clues. Nora does so, not aware that Dr. Bassi is tailing her.

She arrives at an apartment building, and she takes the elevator to an upper floor. As she steps from the elevator, she hears the sounds of an old jazz standard, and follows it. In an abandoned apartment room, she finds a tape recorder. After the song ends the recording continues, bearing an ominous message implicating that she may indeed be the next in the line of "Alphabet Killings". As she turns to run from the apartment, a dark figure appears, silhouetted in the doorway. She panics, and as the figure grabs her begins to fight with a vengeance. In her haste, she has failed to realize it is Dr. Bassi, and she re-injures the broken finger he sustained when he previously became entangled in her twine and talcum powder trap--another campy scene.

They take the tape recorder back to Laura’s house, and Nora tells Dr. Bassi about the clippings she found in one of the closets. She looks for them again to show him, but they have disappeared. However, they do have the tape recording as proof of the murder, and they contact Landini. When he gets there Nora opens the cabinet where they stashed the recorder--it also is gone! By this time, it is certain that someone has been coming in the house to steal all their evidence.

Dr. Bassi returns to the hospital and Landini leaves as well, only to call Nora a short time later to tell her that he has come upon something that may reveal who the killer is. He asks if she would meet him in an hour at his apartment. She agrees, and when she arrives the desk man tells her to go on up, stating that Landini has been typing for over an hour now.

As Nora enters his apartment, she hears the incessant clatter of the typewriter, but when she sees it, she notices that there is no one sitting at it. She looks around, and finds another tape recorder playing the sounds a typewriter would make. She looks around and to her horror sees Landini lying dead on the floor by the bed. She walks over to the typewriter, and sees what looks to be a confession to the murders and a suicide note.

At the police station, Nora meets Dr. Bassi and tells him and the detectives everything. Murder solved? It would seem so, with the culprit being Landini. Laura Torrani, who has heard the news of the murder case being solved, and being concerned for her friend, has returned from her trip and arrives at the station to take Nora back to her house.

Dr. Bassi assures Nora that all is well now, and as he has become quite infatuated with her, tells her that all she has to think of now is their future together. Back at Laura’s house, Nora receives another call from a detective who has a few more questions to ask her to wrap up the case. When she arrives at the detective’s office, they ask her to identify the body, which she affirms is the girl she saw killed on the Piazza. The detective then takes her back to his office and shows her a button that was clasped in the dead girl’s hand. He asks if she recognizes it, and even though she does, she tells him no. As he turns to open the door to let her out, she grabs the button and takes it with her--just as the detective suspected she would do.

She arrives back at Laura’s house and immediately starts going through the closets, knowing she has seen the button before, but not quite being able to place it. At first it seems that it might be from Prof. Torrani’s clothes, as he had also become something of a suspect until Landini’s confession letter had been found. The button does not match any of the Professor’s clothing, but it does match a sweater--a wool sweater that Laura Torrani had been wearing the day she met Nora at the cemetery!

With dawning horror, Nora realizes that she has been living in the lair of the murderer for some time now, and that murderer is none other than Laura Torrani! Laura suddenly appears from behind a curtain where she had been hiding, and pleads with Nora not to be afraid of her. It is clear that Laura Torrani is exceedingly unstable, and in a bravura performance by Valentina Cortese, it is made clear to us that she has been psychotic for quite some time. She shows Nora the clippings of all her victims, and with joy, playfully throws the toy letter blocks into the air that has become the symbol for her "Alphabet Killings". She does show some remorse as she remembers her first victim--stating that she was a poor, pretty girl. However, her eyes light up with maniacal glee as she remembers killing her sister ten years previously.

Nora tries to escape, and opens the Professor’s study, which had previously been locked. There, Laura has tied her husband up in a chair bound and gagged, preparing to do away with him as well, as he was always so afraid people would find out about his wife. He has been hiding the bodies of his wife’s victims, rather than risking his reputation by revealing her as the murderer. Laura thinks this is a sign of weakness, and abhors her husband for not being stronger.

Nora finally resorts to the "I promise I won’t tell anyone" line, that always seems to seal the fate of would-be victims, rather than save them. Laura’s eyes glaze over, and her murderous nature rises again as she reaches into her dress pocket for a knife that she will use to kill Nora with. Just as she is ready to deliver the fatal blow, gunshots ring out. Laura Torrani falls dead, revealing three bullet holes through the study door. The Professor has killed his wife from the inside of the study.

Dr. Bassi and Nora are finally getting the chance to relax and see Rome as a beautiful city for the first time since they have met. As they stand on a high balcony overlooking the Piazza, Nora offers him a cigarette. Suddenly she remembers that the pack she has just offered him a cigarette from, is the marijuana laced pack. She remembers that she had actually smoked one of these drugged cigarettes on the plane. She then wonders if the marijuana could’ve made her hallucinate the murder. Then she realizes that everything did indeed happen.

She immediately grabs the cigarette from Dr. Bassi’s mouth and throws it and the entire pack over the balcony, stating that cigarette smoking is bad for you, and can lead to terrible tragic events. A jaunty tune is played as the camera pans down to the fallen cigarette pack, which is noticed and picked up by a passing clergyman! A humorous ending for a fabulous film!

"The Girl Who Knew Too Much" was the final film by Bava to be shot in black & white. Even though there is the lack of color-drenched sets and lighting, this film still has tons of visual style. The nun-shot in the hospital, and the shadow-shot, both of which I described earlier are a couple of the more memorable scenes. Another scene would be a wonderfully morbid point-of-view shot from Edith’s grave as the gravediggers shovel cemetery dirt onto the casket.

An additional well-shot scene is where Nora finds the initial tape recorder in the abandoned apartment. At one point, the lights go out inside the room, and as the hallway door is still open the only light is coming from the hall. When Dr. Bassi and Nora struggle in the doorway for a moment, they are nicely silhouetted against the lit hallway. Finally, there is a shot when Landini and Nora explore the Piazza looking for clues, of a row of gorgeous neo-classical statues. Stylish stuff!

This is also the first film which features horror-film veteran John Saxon, who went on to star in such genre offerings as Bob Clark’s Black Christmas, Dario Argento’s Tenebre, and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare On Elm Street. Saxon is always a favorite of mine, and here he delivers a performance that is charmingly believable.

Leticia Roman is perfect as Bava’s imaginative heroine and Dante Di Paolo as Landini gives us a performance that is both threatening at first, and then just sympathetic. However, it is Valentina Cortese as the mad Laura Torrani who shines in this film. When we first meet Laura, it is hard to believe that somewhere within her personality lives a murderous maniac. When that murderous side emerges we are enthralled with her rather than repelled. A fine performance indeed!

Of course, this film was cleaned up for it’s American release as The Evil Eye, with all the drug reference scenes completely cut, and interlaced with more humorous scenes. Apparently, the American version is a much more light-hearted romantic thriller. Bava darkened it quite a bit for the Italian release, but still, it retains quite a bit of humor for a film that may be the genesis of the giallo.

Finally, you just can’t go wrong with a film that has a theme song that’s as cool as "Furore", a swingin’ jazz-pop tune performed by Adriano Celentano. This tune will have you snappin’ your fingers and tappin’ your toes long after you’ve viddied the movie.

My source for this film is the Image Entertainment DVD release for their Mario Bava collection. It is presented here in it’s 1.66:1 theatrical aspect ratio, and is enhanced for 16X9 TV’s. The print is pristine and the sound perfect. The subtitles are presented in yellow, and can be a little hard to keep up with at first, so be prepared to read quickly. No English language track is offered--strictly Italian with English subtitles only. The special features include a Mario Bava biography and liner notes by Tim Lucas, director and cast filmographies, theatrical trailer and a photo and still gallery. The running time is 86 minutes.

If you are in the mood for a rather light-hearted murder mystery with it’s roots firmly planted in giallo, I highly recommend this charming little film.  You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks, Tess.  This is probably the Bava film that has best demonstrated the usefulness of DVD and the need for fans to get a DVD player.  This is indeed one "Girl" you want to meet.

Article copyright © Tess Henson

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