The Girl Who Knew Too Much

MOVIE #1,202 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 10.22.23 50 MOVIES IN 32 DAYS! Every Sunday here in #SpookyMonth2023 we are examining a triple feature of films. Today’s entry will explore a trio of decade-by-decade (60s-80s) giallo films by three of the most notable directors in the Italian sub-genre. Up first is what some consider the very first giallo movie ever made: 1963’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much by the legend and “Master of Horror” Mario Bava. A very quick primer on what constitutes a giallo picture, as the designation can sometimes be vague (and our third film of the day barely qualifies): they are usually described as having a mixture of thriller/mystery, sexploitation and horror conventions. I would also add that there’s usually a supernatural element as well.

Their heyday was definitely in the 70s (Bava’s own A Bay of Blood might be the prototypical example) but this still has enough of those notes even if it is decidedly light on the horror (his subsequent film, 1964’s Blood and Black Lace is often viewed as a more traditional giallo — and perhaps a better starting point — but I wanted to go to the earliest source, even if isn’t quite hitting all the sweet spots one is looking for in the genre).

The film looks great — Bava went back to glorious monochrome after previously working in color — and the acting is solid enough but there's a whole lot of nothing in between the artifice. Bava himself even called the story “preposterous.” There is a really forced narrator that pops in out, clearly added to try and make sense of things, but it doesn’t work.

It also deals with some tonal issues. There is a goof about marijuana cigarettes that bookends the film which is completely unrelated to anything else. And the final killer reveal is very lame (a sometimes common problem with giallos) in that it literally could have been anyone and the motivation is a total afterthought. But still, a young John Saxon and a lovely Letícia Román in her first leading role are nice to look at and simply vibe with alongside the wonderful exteriors of 60s’ Rome.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
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The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Italian: La ragazza che sapeva troppo) is a 1963 Italian giallo film. Directed by Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, the film stars John Saxon as Dr. Marcello Bassi and Letícia Román as Nora Davis. The plot revolves around a young woman named Nora, who travels to Rome and witnesses a murder. The police and Dr. Bassi don't believe her since a corpse can't be found. Several more murders follow, tied to a decade-long string of killings of victims chosen in alphabetical order. It was released on February 10, 1963.