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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Put On Your PJs, July 24, 2006
On the books this film is a giallo, but it is only in the most basic sense. Yeah it's a murder mystery, it deals with sexual themes and it's Italian. That's where all comparissons end though. No rampaging killer with gloves and a hat/hood and no real body count to speak of other than the Pyjama girl herself. Sure there are a few more deaths, but not until the end of the film. There are basically two plotlines running throughout the film. The first is the investigation into the dead woman that's led by two detectives(one of them Ray Milland). Once the second plot begins, it ends up taking up about 75% of the film. This deals with the yummy Dalila Di Lazzaro(yummy except for the armpit hair) trying to juggle three lovers. She sleeps with just about everyone but poor Milland. The film pretty much becomes a drama in the Lifetime Original Movie vein. No suspense, no killer stalking anyone. In fact, as you get more and more tangled into the story, you nearly forget there was a murder mystery at the heart of all this! Ray Milland seems to just diappear about an hour into the film. Before you know it, you're asking yourself, "Hey, wasn't Ray Milland in this film?" It's like Milland only had a two day shooting schedule and his time ran out before director Mogherini could shoot all his scenes. His character is funny though. Even with my complaints, I was never bored with this movie, just not terribly impressed. But if anyone should find it boring, you can always dance around your living room to the funky Riz Ortolani score. The disc has a half hour documentary about the actual Pyjama girl murder case which is actually more interesting than the film.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Interview With The Author Was Better Than The Movie, June 2, 2008
"The Pyjama Girl Case" disappointed me for several reasons. First, and foremost, it is not a true Italian giallo. Absent is the typical black-gloved serial killer. Only two people are murdered. Second, this movie doesn't contain any major shocks or plot twists. The plot is very linear. Third, there is only one attractive woman and that is actress Dalila Di Lazzaro who later went on to act in Dario Argento's superb "Phenomena," which is definitely an Italian giallo.
Based on a true, unsolved crime, "The Pyjama Girl Case" centers around the badly burned body of a young woman found on an Australian beach. Ray Milland (of "Man with X-ray Eyes" and "Frogs") does an excellent job of portraying Canadian detective Thompson. While he investigates the murder, the actual events of what led to the discovery of the corpse are told in flashbacks. The victim, we learn, is a waitress named Linda who had several lovers. Eventually she marries a waiter while continuing to have other relations. I didn't feel too sympathetic towards her. The scene where she has sex for money with two older, overweight gentlemen was particularly vulgar and slimy; it should've been omitted.
The interview with the author Richard Evans who wrote the true life account of the Pyjama Girl was more interesting and enjoyable than this movie. It was like watching an episode of "60 Minutes." Actual photographs of the burned corpse of the Pyjama Girl were shown. Details were given concerning who she may have been.
The reproduction of the comic book, "Taboo," containing a story about the Pyjama Girl was hard to read. The print was very small.
The soundtrack is great. Music was scored by Riz Ortolani who also provided wonderful scores for Armando Crispino`s "The Dead Are Alive" and Lucio Fulci's "Perversion Story."
The music score and the author interview compelled me to give this movie three stars in lieu of two. However, I strongly urge that you rent "The Pyjama Girl Case" before purchasing. It left me very unfulfilled.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
almost a true story, December 11, 2008
This giallo about a Australian murder case is almost a true story. It has the same names as the real people but in fact the real murder took place in 1934. And this movie is taking place in the 1970's. In fact the whole movie other than a few facts is fiction. After watching the authors interview one can only hope that the true story is finally told in film someday in a proper manner. That being said this is a good mystery movie. It is a bit confusing though as we watch the investigation run by the great actor Ray Milland and the story of the pajama girl intertwined. It isn't made clear that this is the dead girl until the end. That her story is taking place in the past while Millands hunt is in the present. The acting is good in this movie though and the story is a standard murder mystery. Blue Underground did a great jobn with this giallo but they have yet to get many other greater giallos out for some reason. Truth is often better than fiction and I while this is a good mystery movie they shouldn't have bothered to uee the real peoples names as the story is different, and too often filmakers don't even bother to try to tell a true story. They change too many facts and in this case nothing accept the names and the public showing of the victims body are the same. Still it's a good little mystery movie if you take it as fiction.
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