The Italian giallo film is near and dear to my heart. Rich, stylistic films like Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace, and Dario Argento’s The Bird With The Crystal Plumage helped to define this treasured sub-genre, and went on to influence a litany of American slasher films.
However, like anything, it could get formulaic. With luminaries like Joe D’Amato, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci and the like turning out career making projects, it was definitely hard to get noticed at the tail end of the “golden age” of gialli. Short Night Of Glass Dolls, the directorial debut of Aldo Lado (Who Saw Her Die?) pushes the boundaries of what makes a giallo, and, quite unexpectedly, delivers one of the finest moments in the sub-genre’s history.
With an all new 4K Ultra release from the folks at Celluloid Dreams, new fans of the giallo have a perfect opportunity to see a pristine version of an oft overlooked classic!
Synopsis
An American journalist temporarily stationed in Central Europe searches for his new girlfriend, who has suddenly disappeared.
Check out the trailer below!
Foreign correspondent Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel; The Day of the Jackal) is just about to head home to the US, with his Czech girlfriend Mira (the gorgeous Barbara Bach; Caveman) set to join him. Waking up in the morgue, in a “dead but conscious” state, and trying to piece together why you’re there, and why your girl is missing, while avoiding the inevitable autopsy, can throw the proverbial monkey wrench into even the best laid plans.
That, in a nutshell, is the wholly unconventional plot of Short Night Of Glass Dolls. Told through flashes of memory, with help from his colleagues Jacques (Mario Adorf; The Bird With The Crystal Plumage) and Jessica (Ingrid Thulin; The Silence), Gregory begins to piece together the events that led to Mira falling into the hands of a bizarre cult at the center of Klub99. A very unusual race against time ensues that culminates in a perfect shocker ending!
Beautifully shot, and expertly scored by the legendary Ennio Morricone, Short Night Of Glass Dolls is a study in lush, artistic filmmaking. A superb cast makes this mind bending movie strangely relatable despite some lags in pacing. It’s this inconsistency, the film at times moves along at break-neck speed, and then languishes in overly long sequences, that is virtually the only flaw in a gorgeous, entertaining film. Putting Hitchcockian levels of tension and suspense over the raw violence that defined the giallo realm, Short Night Of Glass Dolls, achieves an “elevated” feel even in a very stylistic, artsy genre. This, friends, is quality filmmaking!
Lado really set the bar high for his subsequent efforts, and it is debatable if he ever reached such heights again in his career.
Sliding the case out of the glossy alternate artwork wrapped box, the four disc set (one 4K and three standard Blus) features 4 versions of the film: a stunning 4K restoration, a standard high def Blu, the 35mm “grindhouse” version, and the VHS version, released in the US as Paralyzed. A separate Blu contains a cornucopia of special features, including: 7 featurettes about the film. There’s also the requisite commentaries on the various versions of the film, English and Italian opening credits, and isolated score and trailers. A 64 page booklet, dedicated to Lado’s memory (he passed in 2023), contains a retrospective look at his body of work.
A creative, ferociously original and beautifully crafted entry into the giallo category, Short Night Of Glass Dolls is a film that absolutely should be mentioned along with the pillars of the genre. Celluloid Dreams put together a lovingly restored release of a film that not only deserves respect, it flat out demands it.
Celluloid Dreams 4K Ultra Collector’s Edition of Short Night Of Glass Dolls is available now from fine retailers.
