Who Saw Her Die?

Rating:
Summary: Buy "Don't Look Now" on DVD instead!
Review: "Who Saw Her Die" is a slightly above average foreign who done it, murder mystery (an Italian giallo). It's not an essential film but is one of definite interest. The director is Aldo Lado who worked with Bernardo Bertolucci as an (A.D.) on The Conformist and at least during pre-production of Last Tango in Paris. The film pre-dates Nicholas Roeg's modern classic,'Don't Look Now' and you can see many similarities in the two films from the Venice locations, how the camera is used in several scenes, and with the subject of a couple dealing with the loss/murder of their child. The film has another memorable film score from Ennio Morricone which seems likely to have inspired John Carpenter's 'Halloween' score. George Lazenby, who was Bond, James Bond in the very good 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is the star and does a decent job (though he looks sickly thin). Former Bond bad guy Adolfo Celi (Thunderball) has a memorable supporting role. There's a couple of very beautiful women in the cast (including:Anita Strindberg) who have nude scenes as well. The gore is fairly minimal, but the subject matter of child murders is quite disturbing. Elements of the film are certainly dated, but for most this will make the film more interesting. There is a final last line in the film that is an utter cop out, but I'm quite sure the censors absolutely insisted on such a thing and since it is obviously a very quickly tossed off final line, one should be able to keep in mind the filmmakers were probably forced into doing it.

Let me again mention the wonderful Venice location work that is in this film-not the Venice most tourists are likely to see but the older and off-the- beaten path Venice.

The film opens with a child sledding in the snow. The child is being watched by someone with a black veil. Then the child is murdered and buried under the snow. Most of the shots are from the murderers P.O.V. and our clue of a black veil is a stylish touch (that wasn't as overdone when this film was made as it is now).

The film then takes it time introducing us to a sculptor (George Lazenby) and his visiting young daughter (Nicoletta Elmi) whose mother (Anita Strindberg)lives in London. We realize, the young child is being stalked by what appears to be the same person who murdered the child in the snow. After several close calls, the thing every parent fears most happens. The child disappears and then is found brutally murdered. The police don't seem to be working hard enough to solve the murder so it is up to the determined, grieving and obsessed father to interview possible suspects and explore every possibility. He meets some pretty shady characters and the film seems to be setting up the possibility that several characters are somehow involved in the murder. Although it's often a run-of-the-mill formula type film, there are enough stylistic touches, a good score, and interesting locations to keep your interest. The who-done-it might surprise you but even if it doesn't the film may be of some interest to Giallo, or mystery fans.

The film is in English and presented in wide screen. The image and sound quality is very high.

The DVD also features a short recent interview with the director that many will find very interesting (the interview is in Italian but subtitled).

Giallo fans may want to up my rating a half-star.

...

Rating:
Summary: Above average 'giallo'
Review: "Who Saw Her Die" is a slightly above average foreign who done it, murder mystery (an Italian giallo). It's not an essential film but is one of definite interest. The director is Aldo Lado who worked with Bernardo Bertolucci as an (A.D.) on The Conformist and at least during pre-production of Last Tango in Paris. The film pre-dates Nicholas Roeg's modern classic,'Don't Look Now' and you can see many similarities in the two films from the Venice locations, how the camera is used in several scenes, and with the subject of a couple dealing with the loss/murder of their child. The film has another memorable film score from Ennio Morricone which seems likely to have inspired John Carpenter's 'Halloween' score. George Lazenby, who was Bond, James Bond in the very good 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is the star and does a decent job (though he looks sickly thin). Former Bond bad guy Adolfo Celi (Thunderball) has a memorable supporting role. There's a couple of very beautiful women in the cast (including:Anita Strindberg) who have nude scenes as well. The gore is fairly minimal, but the subject matter of child murders is quite disturbing. Elements of the film are certainly dated, but for most this will make the film more interesting. There is a final last line in the film that is an utter cop out, but I'm quite sure the censors absolutely insisted on such a thing and since it is obviously a very quickly tossed off final line, one should be able to keep in mind the filmmakers were probably forced into doing it.

Let me again mention the wonderful Venice location work that is in this film-not the Venice most tourists are likely to see but the older and off-the- beaten path Venice.

The film opens with a child sledding in the snow. The child is being watched by someone with a black veil. Then the child is murdered and buried under the snow. Most of the shots are from the murderers P.O.V. and our clue of a black veil is a stylish touch (that wasn't as overdone when this film was made as it is now).

The film then takes it time introducing us to a sculptor (George Lazenby) and his visiting young daughter (Nicoletta Elmi) whose mother (Anita Strindberg)lives in London. We realize, the young child is being stalked by what appears to be the same person who murdered the child in the snow. After several close calls, the thing every parent fears most happens. The child disappears and then is found brutally murdered. The police don't seem to be working hard enough to solve the murder so it is up to the determined, grieving and obsessed father to interview possible suspects and explore every possibility. He meets some pretty shady characters and the film seems to be setting up the possibility that several characters are somehow involved in the murder. Although it's often a run-of-the-mill formula type film, there are enough stylistic touches, a good score, and interesting locations to keep your interest. The who-done-it might surprise you but even if it doesn't the film may be of some interest to Giallo, or mystery fans.

The film is in English and presented in wide screen. The image and sound quality is very high.

The DVD also features a short recent interview with the director that many will find very interesting (the interview is in Italian but subtitled).

Giallo fans may want to up my rating a half-star.

...

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Giallos Around
Review: Aldo Lado's 1972 film is easily one of the best giallos around. In terms of style it comes close to the early Argento films which makes it a standout among dozens of other similar films. In the lead role, George Lazenby is very good as a grief-stricken father on the hunt for the killer of his child. The cast also includes the stunning and appealing Swedish actress Anita Strindberg and Adolfo Celi. The Venice locations and camerawork are superb as is Ennio Morricone's score--it's hard to get the operatic theme out of your head!. This well-crafted, very entertaining film is one of my favorites and way better than Umberto Lenzi's silly "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids" or Sergio Martino's tiresome "All the Colors of the Dark". Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Who saw it make sense?
Review: Having seen my share of the Bavas and Argentos and Fulcis, I know it is a given that your average Italian horror/suspense movie made in the sixties and seventies is going to have some standard issues: gratuitous sex, gratuitously excessive violence, not very believable characters, even less believable villians (in terms of motivation) and a guarenteed non-sequitor unravelling (denoumois ??) that will often-times leave you scratching your head and saying 'What?????' Who Saw Her Die, directed by Aldo Lado, is no exception. As giallos go, it falls squarely in the middle of excellence, with Deep Red/Don't Torture a Duckling on the end of excellence and Blade In The Dark on the end of banality. For most of the film, the plot seems to move forward in a logical manner; it is only when you get to the climax you have to wonder how all the murders have been woven together--since each death in a Giallo is part of the bigger picture. I was completely stymied. The child murders I understand in terms of plot and character development, but the rest of the deaths are beyond me as to how they were connected with the murderer. Other problems were George Lazenby, the one-time James Bond in Her Majesty's Secret Service. In this film he was physically skanky and nasty; how could a character that foul and disgusting looking be married to a super-model wife and have an affair with a woman who almost looks as good. Ohhhh, he's an artist, so he must have the right. Uh-huh. The violence isn't particularly graphic, although the sight of dead children floating in the Venice canal might be particularly disturbing to some. Some of the scenes are very atmospheric, an always strong selling point for any giallo. Lado's scenes with the thick fog were especially effective. In all, Who Saw Her Die is a very entertaining giallo with lots of suspense, but don't expect the logic of plausibility to truimph in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Buy "Don't Look Now" on DVD instead!
Review: I am a fan of almost any film made in Venice. Since I was familiar with the '72 Classic "Don't Look Now" starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, I came across this film which was supposed to have inspired "Don't Look Now". Well, save your money and "don't watch" this! It has some nice shots of Venice in the 1970's, however, the story is slow and weak, the murders are tame, most importantly, the sex scenes are PG-13 by today's standards!...I can't find a good enough reason to recommend it. I expected "Italian erotica" mixed in with some tension and suspense....there is very little of either in this yarn.

Buy "Don't Look Now" and watch Sutherland banging Julie Christie silly, when you aren't being scared out of your socks by a short person in a red coat, murdering people in Venice! Its a much better film than this one!

Rating:
Summary: A reluctant 4 star Giallo
Review: I'll start off by saying that this isn't a 4 star film, but is in my opinion easily deserving closer to 4 stars than 3. For my money, Lado easily surpasses his earlier effort on "Short Night of the Glass Dolls". Maybe I am just getting desensitized to Giallo violence, but I found this film to be more in the style of a Hitchcock than an Argento. The movie was well shot in a beautiful Venice setting which made for some very nice cinematography. The Ennio Morricone soundtrack provided a perfect compliment to the many suspenseful moments in this film. As I said to a friend, "The film is good. It reminds of a mediocre Hitchcock, which is really quite high praise indeed". It's also interesting to see Nicoletta Elmi several years before she appears in the Argento masterpiece "Deep Red".

Have no fears with purchasing this DVD from a technical standpoint. Anchor Bay again does a fabulous job with the presentation. It's a little light on extra features, but the quality is first rate.

Rating:
Summary: A formulaic but engaging murder mystery
Review: In this engaging giallo directed by Aldo Lado, George Lazenby plays Franco Serpieri, a well-known Venetian sculptor. After Serpieri's young daughter is murdered, he grows impatient with the efforts of the police and tries to find the killer himself, with some help from his estranged wife (Strindberg). The film sticks to a familiar formula: the likely suspects are killed off one by one, and the last man (or woman) standing is revealed as the murderer. But the process feels clumsier than it ought to here, and since the killer turns out to be one of the film's least developed characters, the ending is less than satisfying. Fortunately, though, painterly cinematography and an intriguing score by the brilliant Ennio Morricone help compensate for the weaknesses of the script. Recommended.

Three stars out of five.

Rating:
Summary: A formulaic but engaging murder mystery
Review: In this engaging giallo directed by Aldo Lado, George Lazenby plays Franco Serpieri, a well-known Venetian sculptor. After Serpieri's young daughter is murdered, he grows impatient with the efforts of the police and tries to find the killer himself, with some help from his estranged wife (Strindberg). The film sticks to a familiar formula: the likely suspects are killed off one by one, and the last man (or woman) standing is revealed as the murderer. But the process feels clumsier than it ought to here, and since the killer turns out to be one of the film's least developed characters, the ending is less than satisfying. Fortunately, though, painterly cinematography and an intriguing score by the brilliant Ennio Morricone help compensate for the weaknesses of the script. Recommended.

Three stars out of five.

Rating:
Summary: The parts work while the whole fails
Review: It was a beautiful day indeed when Anchor Bay released a box set of four classic Italian gialli films. Most fans of Italian horror films know all about these colorful murder mystery pictures-- thanks to Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento--but how many of us know about Aldo Lado? Two of his films appear in the boxed set, "Short Night of Glass Dolls" and the impenetrable "Who Saw Her Die?" On the surface, the latter movie looks like an absolute grand slam winner. We've got the black clad killer, gruesome killings, red herrings, and a father determined to bring the guilty to justice. Lado also gives us point of view shots from the killer's perspective, an evil and powerful conspiracy working behind the scenes, and style wafting off the screen in waves. Yep, "Who Saw Her Die?" is definitely a giallo film in every respect. It cannot, however, stand with the giants of the genre. Lado's picture comes nowhere near to approaching the greatness of Argento's epic films "Deep Red" and "Tenebre," not even close to Lucio Fulci's massively entertaining "Don't Torture a Duckling." Without a doubt, of the two Aldo Lado gialli included in the box set, "Who Saw Her Die?" is by far the lesser entry. It is, in fact, the least consistent of the four.

The plot is the problem. "Who Saw Her Die?" is an absolute, unequivocal mess of a film. I haven't seen a movie this messy since...well...never, actually. Even in the convoluted world of the giallo movie, "Who Saw Her Die?" stands as a cryptic statement. It's only redeeming feature in terms of plot are the relatively easy to follow opening sequences. The film begins in 1968 on some snow-capped mountains as a girl and her mother play around in the snow. Soon the young girl zips down the hill on her sled, moves out of sight of her mother, and runs straight into the hands of a killer wearing a black veil. After completing the nasty deed, the murderer buries the redheaded girl in the snow. There is no explanation for this crime. Then the film jumps ahead four years to Venice, where we soon meet Franco Serpieri (George Lazenby!) and his redheaded daughter Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi). A sculptor with talent, Franco divorced his wife Elizabeth (Anita Strindberg) some time before and only gets to spend time with his daughter once in awhile. After a few scenes used to establish the father and daughter connection, and another scene in which the girl meets up with one of her dad's creepy acquaintances, Roberta suddenly disappears after playing with a group of local kids.

Franco is heartsick and frightened, rightfully so considering the circumstances, and quickly embarks on a search for his missing child. No one seems to know where she went, including the kids who were playing with her immediately before she disappeared. Sadly, Roberta eventually turns up floating face down in one of Venice's many canals, obviously a victim of foul play. Serpieri's anger knows no bounds, and with the help of his estranged wife Elizabeth, he begins to scour the seamy underbelly of Venice looking for clues to his daughter's disappearance. Perhaps a shady art dealer knows something more than he is willing to tell? Or does Father James (Alessandro Haber) have a hand in the crime committed against Roberta? Remember, in the world of gialli anyone and everyone is never above suspicion. One almost begins to suspect the city of Venice--with its brooding buildings, dark alleyways, and canals--assumed some sense of physicality in order to devour Serpieri's daughter. Franco eventually stumbles on to the clues he needs, including knowledge about the murder committed four years before, to piece together the who, what, and why of the crimes.

I'm glad Franco Serpieri cracked this case since I had absolutely no idea what the heck was going on after Roberta turned up in the canal. "Who Saw Her Die?" isn't merely unclear in spots: it's downright murky for most of its runtime. There are many good aspects to the film, however. Lazenby does a great job depicting an artistic type, complete with beard and long hair, suddenly turned private detective. Despite a voice dub that sounds ridiculous, Lazenby is completely believable in his character. Lado also did a wonderful job putting the city of Venice front and center in his film. This isn't a sunny, fun filled Venice full of vacationing tourists and lovers looking for romance, but a city exuding a sinister aura of doom and gloom. According to an extra on the disc, Venice is Lado's hometown and he wanted to show his audiences a side of the city never seen in films before, to show its hidden cafes, alleys, and enclosed spaces. He succeeded. "Who Saw Her Die?" makes me think twice about taking a trip there anytime soon, especially with the great Ennio Morricone score thundering away in the background. The composer used an eerie mixture of strings and a choir to create a truly memorable atmosphere. "Who Saw Her Die?" possesses enough good elements that its overall failure should not have happened. Yet fail it does.

Extras and Anchor Bay go together like ducks and water. The "Who Saw Her Die?" disc offers a trailer, an Aldo Lado filmography, and an eleven-minute interview entitled "Death in Venice" with Lado himself. He talks about choosing Venice as a location, his career, and his entanglements with censors over such touchy topics as the Church and presenting children as victims in his films. The Lado interview is worth watching, as is the film in some respects, but I recommend "Short Night of Glass Dolls" instead of this one. Doesn't matter, I guess--if you're a gialli fan, you will watch this one anyway.