Cover Art

Credits

Director: Flavio Mogherini Starring: Ray Milland, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Michele Placido, Mel Ferrer, Howard Ross Screenplay: Flavio Mogherini, Rafael Sanchez Campoy Music: Riz Ortolani Country: Italy AKA: La Ragazza dal pigiama giallo; The Girl in the Yellow Pajamas

Glenda (Dalila Di Lazzaro), a beautiful but troubled Dutch immigrant, has a rather complicated love life – she is having simultaneous affairs with fellow recent arrival Antonio (Michele Placido), a penniless but hardworking Italian; Antonio's best friend, the sleazy, overly macho Roy (Howard Ross); and wealthy Professor Douglas (Mel Ferrer). Glenda eventually marries Antonio, hoping that their union will lead to the happiness she desperately seeks. However she quickly becomes disillusioned as she sees herself and Antonio tied to their low-wage waiting jobs and living in a cramped Kings Cross apartment forever and resumes her liaisons with Roy and the professor. Glenda's impulsive desires for love, attention and the trappings of a comfortable lifestyle lead to her life spiraling out of control, humiliating sexual degradation…and to her brutal death. But who murdered her? Inspector Timpson knows the answer – but will he survive to see Glenda's killer brought to justice?

A stylish, unique murder mystery from former art director Flavio Mogherini, The Pyjama Girl Case is loosely based on a true crime that took place in Australia in the 1930's. Though catergorised as a giallo, the film is one of the more unorthodox entries of the subgenre as it steers clear of expected key elements – there is no rampaging black-gloved killer, no trail of bloody, over-the-top murders and no baroque Italian architecture (the story is set in contemporary 1970's Sydney). Despite its lurid title, those expecting a sensationalistic, gory late entry in the giallo cycle might be let down by The Pyjama Girl Case, but the film is actually a highly ingenious 'whodunit', a fascinating character study, a police procedural, and a visually striking experience.

The plot is split into two halves; the first is the investigation into Glenda Blythe's murder, and the second is the story of Glenda's life up until it ended (which is revealed in flashbacks). The pleasant, sun-drenched cinematography of Sydney's landmarks, beaches and parks contrasts sharply with the film's downbeat and occasionally voyeuristic and sleazy tone (including a memorable scene of the baffled authorities putting Glenda's naked corpse on public display in a glass case, attracting hordes of sweaty, morbid curiosity seekers). A subtext of the movie is isolation – in Glenda and Antonio's case having to adapt to a new, unfamiliar country (wonderfully realised in shots of the couple wandering around the strangely underpopulated city streets and Opera House, creating an alien, lonely atmosphere and dwarfing the characters by their surroundings).