A moça do Pijama Amarelo

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.

Often referred to as a giallo, The Pyjama Girl Case (or The Girl in the Yellow Pajamas) is one of the more unique entries into the sub-genre. Frankly, it's not really much of a giallo in my eyes. I look at it as more of a dramatic murder mystery with some underlying splashes of the yellow paint.

In Sydney, a young girl discovers the charred remains of a woman in an old car on the beach. The woman's face is too badly burned for the police to make a proper identification. The case is given to an inspector by the name of Ramsey, though retired Inspector Thompson insists on getting involved as well much to Ramsey's dismay. While we watch their investigation unfold, we are also treated to an alternate story involving a sexually troubled young woman who has gotten herself involved with three different men. What's the connection? Ray Milland is solid as the retired Thompson, and he delivers a few laughs to boot. He has a distaste for the methods that police have began using since his time on the force, and it's quite entertaining to watch his sense of glee whenever he's crowding Ramsey's space. Ramsey is a pretty unlikable guy too. He refuses to listen to Thompson's logical reasoning, and he tries his best to find a scapegoat as quickly as he can. Caring more about getting credit and going on a nice vacation as soon as possible, Ramsey is behind Thompson every step of the way.

On the alternate end of the spectrum, Dalila Di Lazzaro successfully captures the very troubled and torn nature of her character, Glenda. She spends her time between a wealthy doctor (Mel Ferrer) and a German factory employee (Howard Ross), both of whom she uses for meaningless sex. Through Roy, the German, she meets Antonio, a Polish waiter with a seemingly soft and sensitive nature. They fall for each other and marry, but the marriage is a very troubled one as Glenda, starved for both intimacy and an emotional connection, becomes very bored with the shy natured Antonio. This in turn sets off his jealous tendencies. As Antonio, I think Michele Placido gives what is perhaps the film's best performance. He's just as troubled as his wife, and his emotional outbursts seem genuine and heartfelt.

The film's unique narrative is constructed in an effective manner as we bounce back and forth not only between stories, but in time as well. Director Mogherini also throws in some wonderful pieces of misdirection throughout the alternating story lines. Carlo Carlini's cinematography is splendid. Sydney is a lovely city, and Carlini milks it for all it's worth, delivering some striking shots and images. Mogherini's film is further complimented by some rather arty directorial flourishes. One of my favorite sequences has tons of people in trance-like states shuffling around a tank containing the woman's body, the police hoping someone will be able to identify her. The scene plays to Riz Ortolani's beautifully haunting score, and has a very surreal, detached feel to it. It's a masterfully crafted little sequence.

Overall, while a stylish film, The Pyjama Girl Case is mainly about the characters. It's a very character driven story with a real emotional punch to it, something I wasn't expecting when I first gave it a go. I have zero reservations about recommending this to fans of gialli and Eurohorror in general. Just don't go in expecting your typical giallo.

A quite curious case on display here - no pun intended. Then again, the "display" scene in the movie is based on an actual case! A case the movie is losely based on. As said million times before, Life is stranger than Fiction. This movie still tries to go as strange as possible.

Having said that, the two storylines evolving here are nicely cut and edited together. And while the main police character is quite funny, there are other characters too that hold the film. Our female main character for example, who does enjoy and play with her sexuality. Now some falsely may think or judge her for that. May even wish her bad things, which is never a good thing. A free spirited individual like that, cannot be contained. One should make peace with that, otherwise one may get hurt - which leads to more hurting of course.

A really stellar cast in a I guess strange Giallo as everyone seems to point out (I wouldn't call myself an expert but those who are say so). Still strange is not bad as I hope I made clear already ...

A young girl and her older brother find a body of a young woman dressed in yellow pyjamas on a Sydney beach. So a retired inspector comes out of retirement to help out the police with their investigation. But he sees that the modern methods of police work aren't getting results and when they make their mind up there's no swaying it. So Inspector Thompson decides to start his own case on the side using his own methods.

'The Girl in the Yellow Pyjamas' is a reasonably modest Italian/Spanish giallo that does construct itself around some striking fixtures and an involving plot. A quick note; during the opening proceedings it's labelled that the actual story is supposedly based on true facts with the names of those involved changed. I'm not what you call an expert of this sub-genre, as I've only come across oh so few, so you can say I'm fairly new to it all. Thinking that man I've got to see more gialli, I notice that this was playing on telly one night and I thought that it isn't one to pass by. Form what I saw; I definitely had an above average time with this giallo piece. It was a bit confusing at first glance, but as you keep on following the story it all comes together rather neatly, without any real hiccups. I'll admit when watching it I was kind of thinking is this actually going to go anywhere or is it just going lose its way. As I thought some sequences were rather pointless to this whole investigation with the mystery playing second fiddle to the central drama position, but the structure of the story, which I've never come across before works out in the bigger picture. Well I have, but definitely not edited in this way. So don't be fooled like I was that most of the sub-plots were not contributing to the case, but they most definitely are and that's proved so, in the last half-an-hour.

The story structure comes into its own by being truly ambitious, which it could make or break the film, but actually I thought it was quite ingenious and refreshing. The plot does more than enough to throw you off course with some surprising knock offs. Like a reviewer had already mentioned there's so much going on in a matter time that it does become crowded with characters coming and going. Too many characters can spoil the brew, but this time it was easily overcome. Throughout the feature we get very moody and drawn out sequences that has of touch of pretentiousness to it, but still it's hard to take your eyes off it.

Director Flavio Mogherini makes the most out of the impeccable location cinematography. The Sydney backdrop is easy on the eyes, but at times I just couldn't stop getting the sneaking impression that they seem to forget they were shooting a film. I say that because excessively it felt like there was more concern in the sights then developing any rhythm and plot. But in the long run I was wrong. Another factor that stabs away at you is the funky soundtrack that makes one real lasting impression. Which at times was a good thing, but also a bad thing. Moments it would be humming with irresistible ooze that breathed such silky elegance, but that wasn't always the case with some high-strung tunes that were tiresomely wretched. The repetitiveness too didn't help either. Mogherini creates some spots of brilliance amongst some odd and arty images that do make headway, like the tasteless scene involving a dead body and glass case and the moment when we discover the dead body. The pacing is stodgy but somehow your just transfixed to what's happening that it doesn't really matter, especially because it does pick up after the hour mark with an cleverly laid out climax that's more than a exceptional ending. The editing was executed to perfection, but the camera work is a bit unstable and lacking flash of style. The performances were that of high quality and Ray Milland as Inspector Thompson was leading the way. Dalila Di Lazzaro as Glenda Blythe was impressive too. What might be a turn off is that it might lack the violence and brutality, but not a sexually charged vibe. Though you might call it very sleazy. Overall, it a professionally done production.

It might have its fair share of flaws, but this unique Giallo has a whole lot more lurking under the surface than what actually meets the eye. It's definitely worth tracking down if you're an enthusiast of the sub-genre.

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.