 Thanks for checking out this movie review video This is for the 1963 Italian giallo film the girl who knew too much and actually this is considered to be the very First giallo film which that sub-genre started in Italy So it would stand to say that it is the first Italian giallo film So Mario Baba did this I have really been digging some Mario Baba if you dig Mario Baba as well And you want to see more reviews of his works I have a whole playlist on my channel for Mario Baba I also have a whole playlist on my channel for giallo, which I have a decent amount at this point So I've been on a Baba and giallo kick at the same time basically so this is a very nice overlap I will say so once again like I said directed by Mario Baba Who's done other films these are the bigger ones a black Sunday black Sabbath the whip in the body Blood in black lace, which is his other giallo film Planet of the vampires kill baby kill five dolls for an August moon, which is another giallo of his hatchet Sorry hatchet for the honeymoon, which is another giallo of his shock and a Bay of blood Which is another giallo film of his all good stuff this script for this film was written by Baba as well as Franco Prosperi who wrote scripts for born of unknown father the hired killer kill me my love White slave and the green inferno Also, Mino greenie who wrote scripts for the attic date for a murder and the third eye Illiana de sabata who wrote scripts for the attic and nothing else that's horror But a bunch of other stuff which that's kind of the situation for a lot of these Italian writers Enzo Corbucci who wrote scripts for Island's center Goliath in the vampires the man who laughs Which I believe is the film that was that the Joker was based off of death walks at midnight and Anyo day Conchini who wrote scripts for appointment for murder the devil is a woman the facts of murder black Sunday the attic I kill you kill and devil in the flesh Now this film stars John Saxon who's been in many many many films people in the horror genre Typically know who John Saxon is and these are some of the films You know him from a nightmare on Elm Street black Christmas Tenebrae enter the dragon, which is not horror, but a lot of people in horror. No martial arts, too And the scorpion with two tails, which I do want to see the scorpion with two tails But I've seen all those other films. I do like Saxon Oh, and if you want to see a fun movie with John Saxon in it, that's a terrible movie, but it's really fun hell master It might still be on shutter. I'm not sure but look for it hell master all one word This film is also known as the evil eye So the girl who knew too much is the Italian title for it The evil eye is the us and uk release title So it's on when it's on shutter. It's it says the evil eye on shutter But it um when they were about to release it. They said it would it they named it as the girl who knew too much So don't get confused This was actually mario bava's final black and white film Now I will say that it looks great in black and white I know there are people who really don't like watching black and white films, but I say There's nothing wrong with that. I mean clerks was outstanding black and white Well, I mean it doesn't age terribly well. This does actually this film ages better than than clerks does for sure Uh, especially because of you know cinematography mario bava's directing style and cinematography style His use of light and shadows. I'll talk about all this stuff in in a little bit I really love the way bava directs and does cinematography. He has such a great look to his films But anyway, this was his final black and white film Um bava plays the moving eyes in norah's bedroom By the way early on when norah gets to ethal's place before ethal dies She's setting everything up in her room And there's that painting on the wall where the eyes are moving Those are the actual eyes of mario bava, which I think is fun Uh, also the fact that that particular scene when when you know, the eyes are moving It's kind of creepy, but at the same time It's actually more funny and part of that being that the music that was going on at that time was kind of playful Like kind of upbeat and playful. So that was one of those instances where The music really doesn't form a lot of how you feel about the situation Had it been playing more kind of like doom inspired or scary music You probably would have felt more creeped out in that instance or like, oh man, something terrible is going to happen But you know, nothing came of it Um, you easily understand the beginning of this that the plane is full of tourists because you know, they're going through You know going down the line, which I love that camera work just going down the line and getting kind of the inner monologue of each person as they're kind of Whatever they're thinking about, you know, and and you can tell they're all tourists Even before you get to norah the character of norah So it's a good setup so that you're just like, oh, ah, she's there as a tourist as well. She's not from around there she's there to You know, take in the sights be a tourist And so it sets it up to be an even tougher situation for her as a character So it's a good introduction for her Also, I was immediately struck by the fact that the film looks so crisp I think that kino lorber did a really really awesome job with this version of the film Really really good kind of makes me want to buy the blu-ray of it. I may end up doing that When norah reaches her destination and which is ethyl's house and meets doctor bossy played by john saxon There's a thunderstorm and that just made me remember that bava loves to put thunderstorms in his films especially early on as this foreshadowing of Bad things to come. Uh, it happens in I won't say every one of his films, but almost every film i've seen of his There is a thunderstorm Audible and visual well actually in this one. It wasn't visually it was just audibly So but all the other ones audibly and visually If you've seen enough bava this has his stylistic calling cards like I was talking about a little bit ago Great use of light and shadows. That's one of the things I love about his directing smooth free moving camera work scene movements from one portion of the set to another And long shots that really open up the scene for characters as well as the audience to kind of look around and take things in And that's those all those things I just named right there are the things That come together to make me really love the visual style of what mario bava did I think he passed away in 1980. I want to say but it um I mean you can see his influences in film going forward and Great influence. I mean, I think he's kind of in there with like the hitchcock type influences at least visually in my opinion You do see it coming in this that norah will end up having feelings for bossy because when she meets him He's very very charming. He's very outgoing to her in particular It seems like he's a little bit interested too So you definitely see that interest level coming and then obviously they Forge your relationship Although the majority of the time when it's going on as an audience member, you're kind of like man, this guy's very suspect And I'll kind of talk about a few of these suspect moments as I go on I wrote down man. Ethel kicked the bucket kind of fast. I mean, I think she was there for one night Not even a full night. I think an ethyl dies like that was quick poor ethyl Things went badly for norah immediately Ethel dies She gets mugged Then she witnesses a murder and this was all within the first 15 minutes of the film basically So it moves kind of fast and I like that about it It's only like a little bit past an hour and a half and it moves it moves very very well Which is kind of surprising It was surprising to me because I know some of the older films have a tendency to have slower pacing And this kind of does have a slower pacing But it's not slow to the point that I would have assumed So Yeah, yeah, I mean it moves and it's very interesting. It's very intriguing You can see why after this film giallo was pretty popular at least until I think 1974 I think is when people kind of started giving up on giallo and we're like, all right. We want to move on Nora is questioned as a reliable narrator when it's kind of supposed that she got drunk and then passed out And she was delusional because she was kind of wrapped up too much in a crime novel Which of all that stuff, I mean, yes, she passed out and yes, she had been reading a crime novel But she had not been drinking Although you find out that booze had been poured into her mouth by Landini the reporter who was following her around because he saw her pass out And then he went to try and wake her up and was pouring some booze in her mouth. So Um At first I thought that they were kind of making things up that she was drunk But then when they really um revealed that portion about landini I was like, oh, so she actually did have alcohol on her breath And that's one of the cool things with this film is And a lot of films like this is you get little pieces of things That end up being explained much later and you're like, okay, well now that makes sense And I think that's just you know, that's giallo in general And that's one of the reasons I love giallo so much is because it always makes you look back On the film and really think and it also makes you want to you know, watch it again a lot of the times to catch extra stuff Um, but but that moment where she's kind of questioned about you know About you know, you were drunk and it's all these crime novels and stuff It it sets it up. So the audience isn't 100 sure if she's reliable or not to trust Because maybe she's just losing it. It's all in her head Um, the perspective on the shot from inside the grave going out at ethyl's funeral looks amazing And that's one of the things is, you know, bava gets these cool kind of like perspective shots And that's definitely one of them not just because it's kind of like straight up, but there's so much There's so much depth that you can see in that shot and it's just very visually interesting When norah meets laura rhyming And goes to her house everything seems okay Until they end up zooming in on the photo on the piano of who looks like the murderer Which we find out ended up being laura's husband who was not a murderer But was trying to get rid of a body For laura because she killed her sister To get the inheritance From her parents And apparently she was You know just from there had to kill Obviously there's something sinister in laura's husband's study as it's always locked and the music becomes foreboding when the camera Focuses on it now. We find out later. It's not so much sinister stuff up front It ends up being sinister in the end And that's why it's cool that it's locked initially and then we gain access to it at the end of the film With norah as she gets in there some of the stuff from in the house had been moved in there by laura laura's in there She had killed well had stabbed at least her husband who was dying at that point So I like that because especially when it's Introduced about the locked door and they zoom in on it and have some very kind of creepy Music to it. You know, it's going to be important. You know, there's something Behind that door that will matter to the film And it's awesome when they come back to that at the end and you're just like, ah, let's see what's in there It's great mystery So norah basically ends up seeing a murderer from a murder from 10 years ago And that's an interesting concept It's a little bit wacky at the same time that she's kind of like reliving This or like getting a vision basically of this murder But she didn't actually see the murder is what she ends up finding out She sees kind of the aftermath after laura had stabbed her sister and then her husband goes out to Get rid of the body basically so she only gets a portion of it For how concerned norah is that she'll become a victim She actually sure does seem to spend a lot of time out on the streets in the dark by herself I just thought that was kind of a funny observation that I had because she Voices quite a bit how concerned she is about her own safety And yet she's just walking at night on the streets with no one around her And at that point it seems even more sinister too because that's when landine Landini is following her and you as an audience member don't yet know his intentions or his backstory And but then when you find that out, you're just like, oh, okay So she wasn't really in danger at that point at least not for him It's funny and smart how norah puts down all the powder and strings around the house to protect herself at night It's a little seems a little crazy and a little bit over the top So that could play a little bit into The audience thought that maybe she's losing it a bit here But I also thought it was visually interesting seeing all those strings and how they were put up And I mean it's smart It's a smart situation because she was very concerned that someone's going to come in at night and try and get to her You can buy yourself a lot of time by you know, putting all the strings up and you can tell the next day By looking to see if there are footprints in the powder. So pretty cool. I like that idea It does seem very suspect suspect that bossy is at the house at night when the policeman ends up showing up That's not the only time. He's also Um unexplainably there when she's going through that empty apartment and she's hearing the What ends up being a recording? He just like shows up out of nowhere So he does this a few times which makes him very very very suspect And obviously that was intentional because it's this misdirection Which giallo always does where it's like look at this person We're going to make them look like they're a good Candidate to be the killer in the end But really we're hiding, you know who it really is over here Nor in the abandoned apartment with the voice speaking to her it makes you think she's potentially losing it yet again Uh until you actually find out that it is a recording and then you're just like, okay I feel like at that moment it becomes a situation where you're like, you know what she is a reliable narrator I don't think she's losing it because why would someone be doing this? This is weird There's definitely something suspect about that The misdirect of bossy coming at norah on the beach like a killer Very aggressively, but he actually ends up kissing her It's that whole thing where he's just like I can't help myself I need to now and she is viewing it and the audience is viewing it as he might take some sort of violent action towards her But he comes in and aggressively kisses her. He's talking about being so attracted that he's making his move But watching it now it just makes him look like weirdly aggressive with his advances So I understand the intent of it, but it it didn't age well Just because it becomes kind of like disturbing slash funny now If you know what I mean Landini's explanation of events and his involvement seems extremely believable when he's able to tell his story in this film And I think it was very important That um, all of it was laid out in a very believable way because that really does help you clear him The one thing that's interesting too about landini in it is At least this is the way I felt when you see him his face for the first time He actually looks like laura's husband But with all the facial hair gone and shorter hair and you know the hair cut a little bit differently So initially I thought he is the killer But he's just kind of you know changed his look And that ends up not being the case. So I I'm assuming that was an intentional misdirect If so very smartly done because you fooled me, but I don't know if anyone else experienced that you can make a comment Bava does a lot of shooting characters through openings and things I don't know if you notice that but it happens a lot in his films Well, it's one to two times per film basically he'll do that He really likes to do it, you know a few examples on this one Uh the when the guy There's a guy when she's out kind of sightseeing with um bossy Who looks like he's coming after her But when you introduce him he's shooting from between the guy's legs and a little bit behind and the shot is framing um Nora which looks really cool. I love how he does those types of things and then not long after that There's also one where it's a shot through a gap in a statue and it's framing Laura as well So that's just another thing that bava does which very artistic and looks good I figured landini wouldn't actually end up be in end up typing in his room when When nor goes to see him and the guy at the front desk is like, oh, he's just you know continuously typing As soon as he said that I was like Probably not and especially when you start hearing it like how fast it is and consistent I'm like no way and then you find out he's dead because it's yet another recording So in the end Laura ended up killing her sister for inheritance And then she had to kill the reporter and her husband because she feared the reporter would end up being On to her and she feared her husband was going to give her up So it's not just that she went after her sister for inheritance They play up the fact that she is Out there like she has lost it She's a killer so and then she's talking all about the alphabet murders and Yeah, it's a good kind of like unhinged performance at the end by that character I get the point of Nora's non reaction to the shooting at the very end of this film when they're on that like gondola-esque type thing But it's just kind of weird and it makes her seem a little bit out there because That's not a normal reaction to someone shooting a gun multiple times near you And she just is way too calm for that But I guess maybe it's just because she's just been through so much. She can't even at this point I don't know. That's just a Subposition I'm making Um, okay, so final things to say about this once again. It looks great It looks so crisp Kino Lorber did such a good job with this version of it It's got all of the bava calling cards like I talked about which look great Visually awesome good story. This is a fun time A lot of the score is very very playful I know I know I already commented on that a bit a little bit, but it kind of goes throughout Changes appropriately though where it needs to I would think that bava going from black and white to color film probably created a bit of challenge for Maintaining his excellent use of light and shadows I just feel like it's much easier to kind of have the play of light and shadows when it's black and white versus when it's in color So it was just interesting for me to see his final black and white film and see Um, you know make that comparison of his use of light and shadows in that style of film with his use of light and shadows In all the color films of his that I've seen and it that just got me thinking that I was just like, you know This was probably a kind of hard transition to kind of maintain that that signature style Moving to to color. So interesting So anyway, I would love to hear what people have to say about this film what your opinions are on it Do you love it? Do you hate it? Are you in between whatever? Put some comments down there and we'll talk about it So I'm gonna have to give this a rating out of five stars with half stars in play Oh man, this is good. Um, I think I'm between a four and a four and a half to be honest I think I'm gonna go the four and a half And it's gonna get the bump up to the four and a half because of how good the style is and it gets a little bit More of a bump. I think because it is the first giallo film It did kind of start a craze which I love this sub genre So there's a little bit of respect there from me personally. So I'm gonna give it a four and a half stars Um, but let me know what you would give it Like I said, let's talk. 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