1962's "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (La Ragazza che Sapeva Troppo) was a lesser known thriller from Italian maestro Mario Bava, virtually the genre debut for Hollywood veteran John Saxon, who would eventually become one of Italy's busiest stars (Dario Argento used him in 1982's "Tenebrae"), pegged as leading man by the beautiful Leticia Roman, a native of Rome whose American career petered out before the decade's end. Cast as mystery buff Nora Davis, Leticia's arrival in Rome to visit her ailing aunt swiftly turns into tragedy despite meeting Saxon's handsome doctor Marcello Bassi, as the sickly old woman expires right before Nora's eyes; moments later, while on her way to see Marcello at the hospital, she is first accosted by a violent purse snatcher before witnessing the stabbing murder of a young woman, the knife protruding from her back as a shadowy male figure pulls out the weapon, flings it aside, then drags the body away. Passing out from the strain as the rain starts to fall, no trace of a crime is found in the morning, the blood having been washed away during the night, and for a time she is branded an obsessed bibliophile whose imagination has simply run away from her. Curiously, Nora receives an offer to stay at the very residence where the murder took place, Valentina Cortese as Laura Torrani leaving to visit her husband on the road, yet strange things are left behind such as newspaper clippings describing the killing as Nora saw it, then conversations with a probing reporter (Dante Di Paolo) suggesting that what she witnessed could well be a telepathic connection from 10 years before, the third in a series of incidents labeled the 'Alphabet Murders.' Nora soon realizes that the most recent victim had a last name beginning with C, and that she herself is bound to be next as her name is Davis. Leticia makes for an appealing heroine, well matched with John Saxon, but the shifting, uncertain tone loses steam after an intriguing opening half hour, and the viewer never is shown any reason to be truly afraid for our brave heroine. The climax foreshadows the better known Giallos to come with an absurd and torturous confession from the guilty party, perhaps most influential on Dario Argento for his debut "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage." The US cut includes more footage aboard the plane during the opening yet drops the references to cocaine and marijuana, adding Mario Bava's amusing cameo as the portrait of Nora's voyeuristic uncle, seemingly watching her with his eyes only when her back is turned, also expanding on a neurosurgeon discussing psychic phenomena in the belief that Nora experienced a 10 year old murder. Both versions end quite differently, Nora throwing away the drugged cigarettes before Marcello can light one up in Bava's cut (confiscated by an unknowing priest), while in the AIP edit the couple are discussing their upcoming nuptials as Marcello chastises her not to allude to any more killings as shots ring out nearby (she simply smiles knowingly: "something happen?"). Leticia makes for an appealing heroine, well matched with John Saxon, but the shifting, uncertain tone loses steam after an intriguing opening half hour, and the viewer never is shown any reason to be truly afraid for our brave heroine. The title of this embryonic Giallo indicates its obvious debt to Alfred Hitchcock, his color remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" having been released in 1956, Bava's handling adding a bit more spice than was there, just not enough to make it a particularly memorable mystery, his final black and white feature.
Review of The Evil Eye
