Quem a Viu Morrer?

"Who Saw Her Die" was a great little surprise. I had been searching for it for a little while, and when I had found it, I was happy to find that it was a much better film for actor George Lazenby ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service"), then the other films he had been making at that time ("Universal Soldier", "Stoner" etc.). It is a tad annoying to see that he was completely dubbed (a standard Italian practice I've heard), but I didn't find this too distracting from the film. It does however contain a great eerie soundtrack supplied by Ennio Morricone, which seems to jump in everytime we are viewing the killer's point of view through a veil. It's also a lot more mature than the typical Italian Giallo of that time, It's never too grautuidice in it's gore or nudity. It does contain great cinematography, especially great if viewed in widescreen. George Lazenby's daughter in the film is played by a little girl that seemed to play in every Giallo/ Horror flick that ever got produced in Italy ("Bay Of Blood", "Deep Red", and "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein"), which is due no doubt to her very unusual looks. Also, the fact that they have a cameo from Adolfo Celli ("Thunderball") makes me think that director had a James Bond fascination. The only problems I really have of the film, is that the ending is a little unclimactic and predictable (you guess who it is, before they show you). A slight influence from Nick Roeg's "Don't Look Now" is evident. Other than this, quite a little gem of a film. And actually hold's up to some of Dario Argento's earlier work, if not better.

For those of you wondering whether George Lazenby ever made another picture, after incarnating the most under-appreciated Bond ever in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"...well, here he is, three years later, in the Italian giallo "Who Saw Her Die?" In this one, he plays a sculptor named Franco who is living in Venice. When his cute little red-haired daughter is murdered and found floating in a canal, Franco naturally embarks on a quest to find the demented child killer. Lazenby, it must be said here, is almost unrecognizable from three years before. He sports a sleazy handlebar moustache in this film and looks decidedly thinner, almost gaunt, as if he'd been afflicted with a wasting disease in the interim. And the film itself? Well, it's something of a mixed bag. Yes, it does feature stylish direction by Aldo Lado, as well as a pretty freaky score by master composer Ennio Morricone, consisting largely of echoey chanting. We are also given plentiful scenery of Venice, which looks both beautiful and seedy here, an intriguing story to set our mental teeth into, AND Adolfo Celi, always a welcome presence (and another Bond alumnus, from "Thunderball"), here playing a mysterious art dealer. On the down side, I must confess that I was at a loss to understand what the hell was going on throughout most of the picture; what explanations do come toward the end are either half heard from distant rooms or grunted out during fisticuffs. Dubbing doesn't help matters (subtitles would have been a nice option), and the film is never particularly scary or suspenseful. I'll probably need to sit through this one again to get a better handle. Still, "Who Saw Her Die?" remains an interesting, nice-to-look-at giallo, nicely captured here in widescreen on yet another fine DVD from Anchor Bay.

_Chi L'ha Vista Morire?_ is, visually, a very beautiful film. From the first shots emphasising the starkness of the alpine landscape which segue into similarly stark black and white photos and drawings from a police file to the closing scenes, the cinematography is beautiful. In particular, one shot in which a flock of pigeons taking flight in a town square provides a metaphor for the rising panic of the father, played by George Lazenby, struck me as particularly beautiful - both aesthetically pleasing in its own right and a very tasteful way to lay the ground for the scene that follows. A unifying visual motif is the veil worn by the killer, which makes for some interesting point-of-view shots, although the impact must have been blunted somewhat by viewing on video.

Unfortunately, there's some flaws that detracted from the experience for me. Lazenby does not speak Italian, so his lines are dubbed. At times, the sound level appears to be much too high, making the dubbing glaring. Similarly, the soundtrack is at times overbearing, particularly during appearances by the killer, whose discordant "theme music" became incredibly annoying, particularly when the rest of the film was marked by such a light touch. Mercifully, this problem is rectified at the climax and the music is cut short.

On the visual side, watch for some very fake looking blood. Many scenes (particularly interior scenes) are very dark, which caused me some problems in determining what was going on, but again this may have been compounding by watching on videotape rather than the big screen.

Overall, a satisfying mystery film, if a little slow-paced.

An obvious catalyst to Nic Roeg's Don't Look Now. This film had a great first half but after that it sort of lost the plot a bit. The ending was horrible and some of the dialogue to risible. On the positive side, the settings were splendid and the music was harrowing at times.If your interested in Giallo films this is not the place to start your mission. Try Aldo Lado's far superior Short Night of Glass Dolls instead.

I don't know if it says more about Ennio Morricone or the movie itself that the most readily grabbing part of the production is the composer's score. The emphatic use of a children's choir in the soundtrack, particularly in that discordant theme that accompanies the killers movements, is altogether chilling, not least given the subject matter. 'Who saw her die?' occupies the thriller side of giallo more than the horror, but Morricone's music lends a tension to the proceedings that rather helps to tilt the needle. Put this aside and one may well remark on some recognizable names and faces in the cast, but even at that, this movie doesn't necessarily stand out otherwise. Make no mistake, all the stylings of the Italian genre are here in abundance - the very specific camerawork, the method of building and escalating the mystery, the weirdly particular type of fake blood. Even if it's not an essential must-see, however, 'Who saw her die?' is nonetheless capably engaging, and worth checking out.

Lent a hand with terrific selection of film locations, filmmaker Aldo Lado demonstrates a keen eye for arranging shots and scenes; the basic visual presentation is itself fair reason to watch. This includes fetching hair and makeup work, costume design, and art direction, and more so instances of violence, and those few stunts that we see. The ensemble give swell performances of controlled range and personality, with George Lazenby unexpectedly making at least as much of an impression as co-stars like Anita Strindberg. And especially with all this in mind, in those scenes of most immediate peril for one character or another, the feature ably builds strong tension that keeps one's attention.

As great as each individual element may be, however, the whole feels lesser than the sum of its parts. The main issue I see is that there's no real sense of dynamics in the picture. From expositions to killings, from investigation to climax and ending, 'Who saw her die?' carries the same tone all the way, with only the music offering major variation. If the classic model of narrative progression is a triangle with rising action on one side, peaking at the climax, and resolving with falling action, this movie mostly feels like a single flat line. As if to emphasize - I was shocked to glance at the digital timer at one point and learn that more than two-thirds the runtime had elapsed; for whatever had transpired in the story, it doesn't meaningfully feel like it goes anywhere. And for that matter, if we accept at face value the threads connecting bits and pieces of the plot where the killer is concerned, still the progression of the protagonist's investigation seems haphazard and flimsy, not least of all given little to no sense of rise and fall in the plot development.

One way or the other, I guess what it ultimately comes down to is that wherever it lands on the spectrum of quality, this falls in neatly among its giallo brethren. On some baseline level our expectations of the genre will be met, and it's just a question of how well. I think 'Who saw her die?' is better than not, and a decent way to spend 90 minutes, with the caveat that it has distinct faults that prevent it from meeting its full potential. So long as you're looking for passing entertainment over an actively compelling viewing experience, this is worth a look, and recommendable most of all for fans of the cast or of Morricone.