La ragazza dal pigiama giallo

Ray Milland had a long career (1929-1985) and many roles, including his Oscar as Best Actor in Billy Wilder's Lost Weekend. He managed a couple of Italian films in the 70s, including this one.

It is not a typical giallo, as the body count is very low. However, it does have a certain charm as a police procedural as they try to discover who killed the girl in the yellow pyjamas.

Seeing Dalila Di Lazzaro certainly makes the film worthwhile, and you do see all of her as she romps with men and women (Vanessa Vitale, who was not bad herself.).

Red herrings and surprises abound in a film that was shot in Sydney, and really looked good there. In fact, it was based upon a true story in Austrailia in the 30s.

Good acting by Lazarro and Michele Placido, as well as a fine performance by Milland.

A little girl in Australia finds a dead woman wearing yellow pajamas on a beach, whose head has been badly disfigured or burnt. The police have no idea who she is. Scenes alternate between the police investigation storyline, and scenes from the life of a woman who has a number of different men in her life. How the latter scenes fit in doesn't become clear (or didn't for me) until fairly far into the movie. In fact, I think the other user misunderstood who she was.

This is a fair giallo, but something that really hurt it for me was that there were so many characters who weren't really well identified. From scene to scene I often wasn't sure if I was meeting someone new, or someone from a previous scene.

It isn't without some interest. One memorable scene was when the police put the body into a glass case and put it on public display in an attempt to find someone who could identify her!

Perhaps it was just a flaw in my copy, but it seemed like some short scenes or shots were tinted different colors. There are other scenes where there are clearly intentional changes in colored lights, as when there is an advertising sign just outside a window.

This film was confusing when I watched it, however, all was revealed at the end. Suddenly, everything fell into place and it seems that this films' directional technique was employed years later by directors like Tarintino and Ritchie.

The film doesn't run in the standard order of things, making it stand out for it's time. A good screenplay, good acting all round and not bad by any movie viewers standards.

It's weird but always thrilling to come across a completely unknown and hard-to-find giallo, especially when you're an avid fan of this Italian sub genre of horror, like myself. The majority of good gialli have received fancy DVD-releases by now and, considering this gem was still nowhere available, I began to fear that it might be a real stinker. The opposite is true, however, as this is an engaging murder mystery with original plot-twists, an innovating structure and good acting performances. The decomposed body of a murdered young girl is found on the beach, with only her yellow pajamas as a possible lead to find the killer. Retired detective Thompson (Ray Milland from "Premature Burial") teams up with the police and his old-fashioned investigation methods are a lot more fruitful than the routine cop-work. This film differs from other gialli because the body count is really low and the cinematography is is rather monotonous. Nevertheless, the red herrings are more effective than usual and the flashback sequences are extraordinary stylish. If the whole thing seems too confusing at first, just force yourself to carry on watching, as the actual revelation clarifies all you need to know in a very original way. Intriguing stuff, definitely worth a look if you can find it.

Those expecting a sleazy, gory late entry in the "giallo" cycle of Italian cinema might be let down at THE PYJAMA GIRL CASE, but the film is actually a superb murder mystery, a fascinating character study, a police procedural, and a visually striking experience. Perhaps it's best to say that it was "inspired by a true story," since much liberty is taken with the original Australian case on which the film is based (and the Blue Underground DVD has as an extra an interview with investigative Australian author Richard Evans, who wrote a book about the real case from the 1930's). Ray Milland stars as a retired detective who spends time most of his time in his greenhouse (is this an allusion to the Columbo episode where Milland was into gardening?) but is brought out of retirement by a baffling case where an unknown corpse is found charred and decayed in an abandoned car on a beach. The police must first find who the woman is before finding who killed her. All the while as this story is being told we are following a second plot which I won't divulge here. At about the mid-point it seems as though the film might be nearly over, but it takes another turn and the chronologies of the stories become clear. As a regular watcher and reader of murder mysteries, the red herring characters were clear to me, the identity of the victim was no surprise, and the solution to the crime was not as much of a surprise as other IMDb reviews seem to think. However, I was riveted the way I am in a good Columbo episode thinking about the HOW and the WHY of the crime, and the clever way in which the various threads are tied together. Milland is, as always, superb, bringing many interesting quirks to the character of Thompson the retired detective. Michele Placido is impressive as the Italian immigrant waiter who is a major player in the parallel story, and Mel Ferrer is his usual suave self as a Professor who is having an affair with Placido's wife, who is played by the lovely Dalila Di Lazzaro. Fortunately, Milland and Ferrer provide their own voices. Howard Ross is also memorable as a vain and brutal German who is also having an affair with Dalila. While Riz Ortalani's music is largely the thumping electric euro-funk one expects in a 1977 film, it's much more subtle than, say, a soundtrack by Goblin, and two songs by Amanda Lear (my wife asked me "is that Nico?") are haunting and perfect, although many will find themselves initially put off by her singing. I don't think I can get the main song of hers out of my head. I had always considered buying a pan-and-scan VHS of this, but I'm glad I waited for the new and beautiful widescreen DVD. The Australian locations for the film as surprising and shot in an unexpected way that is fresh and makes the background an important character. I've been waiting to see this for two decades, and while it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I was completely satisfied by it and watched it twice the day I bought it. Mystery fans and those into 70's Italian genre films should not miss it. However, don't expect the level of sex and violence you're usually provided in such films.