La ragazza che sapeva troppo (1963)

Directed by Mario Bava [Other horror films: I vampiri (1957), Caltiki il mostro immortale (1959), La maschera del demonio (1960), Ercole al centro della Terra (1961), I tre volti della paura (1963), La frusta e il corpo (1963), 6 donne per l’assassino (1964), Terrore nello spazio (1965), Operazione paura (1966), 5 bambole per la luna d’agosto (1970), Il rosso segno della follia (1970), Ecologia del delitto (1971), Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga (1972), Lisa e il diavolo (1973), The House of Exorcism (1975), Schock (1977)]

Known under both The Evil Eye and The Girl Who Knew Too Much, this Italian classic directed by Mario Bava is often considered one of the earliest gialli. In truth, while I don’t mind that claim to fame, it’s nowhere near as memorable as the following year’s Blood and Black Lace, and while an okay movie, I don’t know if La ragazza che sapeva troppo really stands out that well.

A giallo it may well be, and there are certainly familiar elements here (an American witnesses a murder and attempts to figure out who the mystery killer is), but there are also quite a few missing elements. For one, the film’s nowhere near as vibrant, a big reason being the movie’s black-and-white. The killer also doesn’t wear any type of face covering. No doubt the mystery is decently solid, but it doesn’t quite feel what you might expect after seeing later gialli.

One small thing that did take some getting used too was the use of interior thoughts. Sort of like first person narration, though it’s just the thoughts going through some character’s minds. It doesn’t pop up too often, and mostly revolves around the main character played by Letícia Román, but it was somewhat interesting, and occasionally seemed an odd choice.

Personally, seeing a younger John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Tenebre, My Mom’s a Werewolf, Black Christmas) was a big selling point, but I can’t say his character made a huge impression on me. Letícia Román made an okay lead, but some of her character’s decisions were pretty sketchy. I did rather like Dante DiPaolo here, and Valentina Cortese (Un’ombra nell’ombra) did pretty well, especially around the finale.

From my understanding, some versions of the film (under the title ‘The Evil Eye’) have removed some scenes and added a bit of comedy not apparent in the original. Given this is the version I believe I watched, I can say that tonally, it seemed sometimes inconsistent. None of the comedy is over-the-top by any means, but the movie just felt a bit whimsical at times, and I don’t think that was a great decision. Also, the ending (what with a random murder on ski lift-type things) just felt sort of ridiculous.

Obviously, Mario Bava was one of the most important Italian horror directors of the 1960’s. Before this film, he was behind films like Black Sunday and Hercules in the Haunted World (along with films he wasn’t credited for, such as Caltiki and Lust of the Vampire), and while Black Sunday is well-appreciated, I think he hit his stride later on, Blood and Black Lace being one such example. Blood and Black Lace has some similarities to this, to be sure, but it feels more polished, and being in color, feels so much more like the gialli I’ve grown to love.

All of this is to say that La ragazza che sapeva troppo is an okay film, and it’s certainly watchable, but I don’t think it’s a particularly great movie. If you’re interested to see how gialli got their start, it’s worth a watch, but otherwise, I can’t say this film has that much to offer, at least the print I happened to see.

6.5/10