The Evil Eye (1963)
5/10
Overrated Thriller
4 July 2009
The American fan of mystery novels Nora Davis (Letícia Román) travels from New York to Rome to spend vacation with her mother's friend Ethel Windell Batocci (Chana Coubert). In the airplane, she accepts a pack of cigarettes from the passenger on the next seat and in the airport she finds that the man is a drug dealer. When she arrives at Ethel's place, she meets Dr. Marcello Bassi (john Saxon) and finds that the old lady is in the deathbed. During the night, Ethel has a heart attack and dies; Nora runs to the hospital to call Marcello. However, she is attacked and robbed in a staircase by a thief and faints; while awaking, she witnesses a stabbed woman and a man after her. In the hospital, nobody gives credit to her words. In the funeral, the stranger Laura Craven- Torrani (Valentina Cortese) introduces herself as a friend of Ethel and invites Nora to stay in her apartment while she travels to Switzerland to meet her husband. Nora accepts the invitation and decides to investigate the murder; she believes that the serial-killer of the so called Alphabet Murders is chasing her and she will be the next victim.

"The Girl Who Knew too Much" is an overrated melodramatic thriller by Mario Bava visibly inspired in Alfred Hitchcock. The awesome cinematography in black and white using shadows gives a fantastic atmosphere to the streets of Rome. However, the hysterical Nora Davis is annoying in many moments and the attitudes of Dr. Marcello Bassi are silly and naive. The conclusion of Dora about the cigarette of marijuana is ridiculous. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Garota que Sabia Demais" ("The Girl Who Knew too Much")
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