Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Girl Who Knew Too Much/La Ragazza che Sapeva Troppo/The Evil Eye (1963) - Bava begins giallo genre with preposterous, sexy, Rome-set romance mystery

2/17/2021

The Girl Who Knew Too Much/La Ragazza che Sapeva Troppo/The Evil Eye (1963) - Bava begins giallo genre with preposterous, sexy, Rome-set romance mystery

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A delectably designed and painted French poster for Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much

An American tourist in Rome gets attacked and witnesses a murder, - or did she?

The Girl Who Knew Too Much is written by Ennio De Concini (The Twist/Folies Bourgeoises (1976)), Sergio Corbucci (Goliath and the Vampires/Maciste contro il Vampiro (1961)) and Eliana De Sabata (The Attic/L'Attico (1963)), with Mino Guerrini (Commando/Marcia o Crepa (1962)), Francesco Prosperi (Slave of Rome/La Schiava di Roma (1961)) and co-writer/director/cinematographer Mario Bava (Lust of the Vampire/I Vampiri (1957)) contributing elements.

It has a trashy/silly plot, which seems loose not only because the protagonist is an Italian-speaking 'American' with an aunt in Rome and no American characteristics, SPOILER but also from the killer turning out to be a madwoman, who slays in alphabetical order ... John Saxon (Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)) and Letícia Román (Who Wants to Sleep?/Das Liebeskarussell (1965)) are sexy, and Bava thankfully manages to get a lot of the eternal city into his film, which is beautiful to behold, and so for the Italophile The Girl Who Knew Too Much is acceptably entertaining. It is also of interest as the ostensibly first giallo movie, the particularly Italian dime-novel adaptation thriller mystery genre, and it certainly is premier giallo nonsense.

Related posts:

Mario Bava: Blood and Black Lace (1964) or, The Fashionista Killer!

Black Sabbath/I Tre Volti Della Paura (1963) - Bava and Karloff's great, gothic anthology
Hercules Unchained (1959) - Spaghetti decadence never fades (cinematographer)

Watch the opening 3 minutes of the film in the French version here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Girl Who Knew Too Much premiered 14 February (Turin, Italy) and runs 86 minutes. Bava was convinced to not leave directing for good and do the film by its American executive producers from American International Pictures, Samuel Arkoff and Jim Nicholson. Shooting took place in Italy, including Rome, from June - August 1962. One source says the film made 27k $ in its opening and only weekend, likely in Italy, but this collides with another information that it opened in different regions of the country in February, June and July of 1963. In North America it was edited with scenes cut, a new score and another ending and more comedic elements and given the title The Evil Eye, playing on a likely highly lucrative double bill with Bava's Black Sabbath (1963). Bava later disparaged the film, calling it "too preposterous." He returned with Black Sabbath (1963). Saxon returned in The Cardinal (1963); Román in The Reunion/La Rimpatriata (1963). 3,982 IMDb users have given The Girl Who Knew Too Much a 7.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Girl Who Knew Too Much?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

2/17/2021

The Girl Who Knew Too Much/La Ragazza che Sapeva Troppo/The Evil Eye (1963) - Bava begins giallo genre with preposterous, sexy, Rome-set romance mystery

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