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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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