The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) - film review

Whilst on holiday in Rome, a young American, Nora Davis, visits her bedridden elderly aunt.  When her aunt suddenly dies that night, Nora rushes out into the street to fetch her doctor, Marcello Bassi, but is attacked by a mugger.  When she comes to, Nora is horrified to see a young woman collapse in front of her, with a knife in her back.  The next day, Nora regains consciousness in hospital, but no one believes her story.  Even Marcello is sceptical but he agrees to play along with her.   At her aunt’s funeral, Nora is invited by a friend of her aunt, Laura Torrani, to stay at her house in the Piazza di Spagna whilst she and her husband are away.  Nora accepts the kind offer but is alarmed when she finds a box containing newspaper clippings in a cupboard.  The clippings are of articles reporting the murders of three young women, whose surnames begin with the first three letters of the alphabet.  As Nora’s surname begins with the letter D she naturally assumes she will be the next victim...

The early 1960s was a defining period for the Italian horror film, and also for Mario Bava, the director who played a crucial role in the development of the genre at this time.  Not only did Bava revive the Gothic horror genre with such spectacular works as The Mask of Satan (1960) and The Whip and the Body (1963), but he also pioneered the contemporary horror film, beginning with The Girl Who Knew Too Much, which is credited as being Italy’s first giallo film.  Throughout much of the 60s and 70s. the giallo, with its lurid mix of gory horror, mystery and sex, would be one of the most important genres in Italian cinema.  The genre derives its name from the pulp crime novels that were popular at the time, all printed with yellow covers (yellow being ’giallo’ in Italian).   Whilst The Girl Who Knew Too Much was intended as a light-hearted parody of the murder mystery, it contains most of the elements of the classic giallo film (although it is atypical for being shot in black and white) and is easily one of the most enjoyable entries in the genre.

As is suggested by its title, a cheeky reference to The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Girl Who Knew Too Much is an overt homage to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.  The film’s stylish design, particularly its imaginative use of atmospheric chiaroscuro lighting, achieves a chilling dreamlike impression that is instantly evocative of some of Hitchcock’s more memorable black and white films, in particular Psycho (1960).  Bava appropriates several Hitchcockian motifs, not only to build tension, which he does brilliantly, but also for comic effect.  It is testament to Bava’s genius that whilst the film is outrageously funny in places, it is also unrelentingly creepy, and for the most part the spectator sits on a knife-edge, not knowing whether to laugh out loud or tremble in fearful anticipation of the next horrific development.

Along with several of Bava’s other horror films, American International Pictures released The Girl Who Knew Too Much in the American market under the title The Evil Eye, but only after extensive cuts (which included the removal of all references to illicit drugs taking, hence robbing the film of its humorous ending).  Even with such glamorous performers as Letícia Román and John Saxon in the lead roles, the film was not a great success, neither in America or Italy, and even Bava himself was dismissive of it.  Yet it would have a far-reaching effect on Italian cinema and is now considered very favourably alongside Bava’s other achievements.

© James Travers 2010

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