Catalepsia

Aldo Lado's first movie, "Short Night of Glass Dolls" is an effective and atmospheric giallo from the early '70s. Jean Sorel plays the cop who, it appears, "wakes up" dead. Paralysed in his body and unable to communicate with the outside world, we see the events leading up to this situation unfold in his memory as, in the present, an autopsy is started to be prepared for him.

The film contains a memorable cast. The delightfully beautiful Barbara Bach plays Sorel's missing love interest, Mira. The late Ingrid ("Salon Kitty") Thulin appears as work colleague and ex-lover, Jessica. Mario Adorf is excellent as the friend and fellow cop, Jacques.

The film is fast paced and the premise is gripping but I found the film less satisfying overall than many other giallo movies. Worthy of a viewing, without a doubt, but not in the same league as Argento's finest efforts.

With a score by Ennio Morricone and impressive cinematography by Giuseppe Ruzzolini, "Short Night" is a hauntingly beautiful and memorable film.

A strong 7 out of 10.

The reporter Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel) is found dead somewhere in Cold War Prague and brought to the morgue, but he is not really dead – his mind works, but he cannot move. Now he tries to figure out how he ended up in the morgue. Most of the movie is told through Moore's flashbacks from the morgue where an old friend of his is trying to revive him because he suspects something is wrong with the body since rigor mortis have not set in.

The next hour of the movie is very slow moving – through the flashbacks we learn that Moore had a girlfriend, Mira (played by the gorgeous Barbara Bach), who he loved very dearly. At a party she disappears without a trace and Moore starts his own investigation when the Prague police (almost dressed like the Gestapo) is of little help. His investigation leads him from place to place and he discovers that Mira is not the only missing girl in Prague. As he gets closer to the truth about the missing girls someone tries to stop him and the people who are willing to help him. It looks like a giant conspiracy… And the twist ending is magnificent and gruesome at the same time!

*****SPOILERS*****

The truth is that a satanic cult is behind it all. They sacrifice young people at giant orgies – we are so "lucky" to catch a glimpse at an orgy so we are treated to loads of old people having sex! Moore discovers the truth and is drugged. The effect of the drug is pretty gruesome since it is like being buried alive – he appears to be dead and cannot move, but his mind will be fully working! In the end the doctors at the morgue realizes that Moore must be dead and any attempt to revive him is abandoned. Instead they are going to perform an autopsy on him. Just before the autopsy is going to begin Moore gains a little control over his hand – sadly the doctor performing the autopsy is a member of the cult and he kills him! Pure evil!

*****END SPOILERS*****

Short Night of the Glass Dolls is a very unusual giallo mainly because of the pace. It is remarkably slow moving and lacks the stylish and vicious killings, which almost defines the giallo genre. The overall feeling of the movie reminds me a lot more of Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976) and Rosemary's Baby (1968). The Anchor Bay DVD from The Giallo Collection is brilliant and the 11-minute interview with director Aldo Lado is very informative. Especially his views on how the movie reflects on how the political elite buries people alive (reassigning them for example) when they come too close to the truth about the elite (hey, he is from Italy!), and how the old generation (the elite) lives of the blood of the young generation (the young has to fight the wars the elite engages in). Aldo Lado also directed the giallo Who Saw Her Die? (1972), which is also part of the box set. Both movies have a brilliant score by Ennio Morricone, but they are used very differently – in Who Saw Her Die? it was almost vulgar and in Short Night of the Glass Dolls the score is used very subtle. This has to be my favorite giallo so far! Go see it!

My rating: 8/10

In Prague, a man is found dead and sent to the morgue. The coroner finds his passport and identifies the American journalist Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel).He finds strange his body temperature and the absence of rigor mortis. However, Gregory is alive and totally paralyzed and recalls all the previous events. Gregory works in Prague with the journalists Jessica (Ingrid Thulin), with whom he had a love affair, and Jacques Versain (Mario Adorf). He will be transferred to London and meets his girlfriend Mira Svoboda (Barbara Bach) to invite her to travel with him. They go to a party and then he returns to his apartment with Mira. During the night, Jacques calls him to investigate the death of a minister. However the information is fake and when he returns to the apartment, he finds that Mira has gone missing. The inefficient Inspector Kierkoff (Piero Vida) is in charge of the investigation and Gregory finds that several young women have disappeared in Prague. He carries out his own investigation culminating to find a mysterious cult. Meanwhile his friend and doctor finds weird the condition of his corpse and tries to revive Gregory. Will he succeed?

"La corta notte delle bambole di vetro", a.k.a. "Short Night of Glass Dolls", is a totally different giallo. The story has no gore and slightly recalls the idea of "Sunset Boulevard", where a dead man tells the previous series of events until his death, and "Rosemary's Baby" since there are many people involved in a satanic cult. The conclusion is excellent with no redemption. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Breve Noite das Bonecas de Vidro" ("The Short Night of the Glass Dolls")

Note: On 11 June 2020 I saw this film again.

I had really high hopes for this new remaster from Blue Underground. In the last few months, I have become a big giallo fan. I've gained a real appreciation for the genre after viewing several.

"Short Night of the Glass Dolls" is without a doubt one of the most well-produced giallos I have seen to date. I think the budget was probably pretty large, compared to contemporaries. The cinematography is masterful and the soundtrack is amazing.

Where this film fell short for me was the plot and continuity. I found myself getting bored throughout. There is no gore. The murders are minimal. The sex is tired. I just din't think it was all that interesting. I get the point of it: old people take advantage of the young in order to better themselves and their world. It will always be their world, they feed off the blood of the young...etc. The problem is, this isn't even alluded to until the very end of the film. It's also vague and the plot takes too many twists. I lost interest because so many things were never explained.

Perhaps it would have been better viewed in Italian with subtitles. Maybe it was lost in the dubbing. (Which is good, compared to other Italian films.) Or maybe it was just the overly artsy feel, but somehow, it just failed to grab me. The last scene is pretty decent though. Does it make up for the slow pace? I guess it's up to the viewer to decide. If you can make it without falling asleep.

6 out of 10, kids.

Aldo Lado's directorial debut known by its English title Short Night Of Glass Dolls is a unique, cerebral experience. For those in the United States that have been searching, in 2002 was first released on DVD by Anchor Bay -- I got mine as part of a four-disc "Giallo Collection" that also contains Lado's second feature Who Saw Her Die? Currently in 2018 it's on Blu-ray from Twilight Time and 88 Films.

Short Night Of Glass Dolls was originally titled Short Night Of The Butterfly (also a song in the film), but right before its release another film came out with with the word butterfly in its title, thus the retitling of this one. Malastrana is a title Lado was originally going to call this film but at the insistence of others involved, it was then on to Short Night Of The Butterfly. Too bad Short Night Of Glass Dolls was the main choice, as the Butterfly title would have made much more sense to the story.

Jean Sorel stars as an American reporter found allegedly dead, and yet we hear his thoughts as he is examined in a morgue. His memories take us back to the beginning where he tries to find out the reason for his girlfriend's disappearance (played by a very young Barbara Bach). What follows is not your typical giallo, but a very thought provoking mystical mystery. It evokes the tone of films like Suspiria and The Tenant, and was made years before those. It really does transcend the typical Italian giallo -- most are just murder mysteries with a cast of characters that all have skeletons in the closet and you have to sort through their hangups to see if they have relevance as to "who done it." Here, there is much more going on amidst political unrest and metaphors for "power being fed by the blood of the young." I usually yawn at heavy political stuff the likes of Lina Wertmuller, but Aldo Lado's take is a nicely blended comment as well as visually stunning storytelling.

I really enjoy films from that period of time, as the actors are not so "GQ" looking, nor are they too young for the parts they're playing. The moustached Jean Sorel is nicely cast and easy to sympathize with, you'll find yourself really hoping he solves the mystery and gets out alive. The locations are used well and extremely scenic (another reason I love giallos from the early 1970s). Add to that a really well-written story along with a wonderful Ennio Morricone score and it just couldn't get any better than that! Even the famous "group" scene is handled so well that it does not come across as gratuitous nor cheap.

Short Night Of Glass Dolls is very accomplished filmmaking, and now that it has been restored and looking better than ever on DVD, those with a hunger for something very unique will be quite satisfied.