The Pyjama Girl Case (1977)
Set in Sydney, Australia, the only Giallo to take place there, this tells the story of a retired police inspector (Ray Milland) brought back to help out with a case in which a young woman's body, wearing pyjamas, was found burned to death on the beach.
Based on a real life unsolved murder from the 30's this was the very first Giallo movie i ever saw via a vhs from Redemption Films in the mid 90's. The genre was new to me and i absolutely loved this first time round. However the more Gialli i saw the more i realised that The Pyjama Girl Case really wasn't up there in comparison to so many of the genres offerings.
The Pyjama Girl Case plays out different with two story lines running concurrently which makes it more interesting than if it were linear plotted. In all truth not an awful lot happens and the middle third is rather dull although Milland is always highly watchable as is the gorgeous Dalila Di Lazzaro who plays the murdered woman and the focus of the second plotline. One sequence where she allows herself to be 'taken' by three sweaty men is grueling viewing. In fact what sets this film apart from the Giallo norm is the lack of a black gloved killer, or an endless stream of violence. As the film focuses on Di Lazzaro it's narrative takes a turn for the haunting as she's clearly a lost soul and it's all rather sad and harrowing in retrospect.
It's this sense of grim melancholia as well as the excellent Australian cinematography that has meant that as i've been typing this i've also been re-evaluating what the film offers and it's actually pretty damn good were it not for that middle third and is one of the bleakest Gialli i can recall.
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