User reviews

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 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.

Quite an oddity this and none the worse for that. So late into the seventies and set in Sydney, Australia, this was never going to be in any way a standard giallo and in truth it is more a romantic thriller with giallo overtones. This did not start well for me with the opening song and I never really appreciated the soundtrack throughout which I found to be rather grating. Things didn't get better with the appearance of a seemingly over acting Ray Milland but gradually it began to win me over until it seemed Milland was in some other film. Calming down again, helped by the constant on screen smouldering of Dalila Di Lazzaro, I allowed the film to wash over me and presto a most unusual film with most original structure reveals itself. It's not perfect but give this one a chance to surprise.

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 ...

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.

Fragmented narrative seems totally random for a good deal of the running time, if this is intended or a mistake is never really clear. The feel of the photography is so uneven, lots of hand held camera in some scenes where it just seems they didn't have time to set up a tripod interspersed with better shot material. This is probably due to perhaps a rushed on location shoot in Australia (which is certainly unique for the time) and the more carefully done footage shot in Italy. Then there is the totally god awful music from Riz Ortalani. The underscore is bad enough, but then there are these songs each of which should be on Dr. Demento with lousy pseudo disco beats and off key lyrics and some of these songs play under, or at the same level of, dialog! These are hurdles the film has to overcome.

Main, high jumper award goes to Ray Milland, this is one of the meatier roles of his later career. He's quite funny and loose getting to play a hero rather than the collection of grumpy quasi villains that filled up most of the back half of his career. All his material shines and his performance has energy and direction that film lacks in other ways.

The story, based on sort of a true life Black Dalhia type case in Australia in the 1930's is interesting in spurts, but some of the elements do seem out of step with a 1977 era film.

The uneven photography is a real distraction, there are some beautiful moments but other and more frequently it has a haphazard feel and there is little real effective style to the direction and the occasional super cheapo looking FX, be it makeup or a bad looking fake rain storm.

True crime fans may find it the most interesting and again Milland fans should check it out, though you have to put up with the Colombo style raincoat he wears.

Not really a Giallo, perhaps ultimately not very well done, but a worthy script that probably deserves better. Milland does do his own dubbing just FYI. Too bad you can't turn off the music score, the rating would go up sharply. Script does have some surprises if you stick though the long periods of rather pot boilerish melodrama to get back to the police story, Milland is really the only engaging character though there is one engaging pervo character as well.

Flavio Mogherini's crime thriller The Pyjama Girl Case comprises of two seemingly separate plot-lines: the investigation of the murder of an unidentified young woman, whose charred body is discovered in a sack in a car wreck on a beach; and the complicated love-life of beautiful but promiscuous waitress Glenda Blythe (Dalila Di Lazzaro), who is married to Italian Antonio (Michele Placido), but is also sleeping with his friend Roy (Howard Ross) and sugar daddy Henry (Mel Ferrer). Enquiring minds will soon ask 'How are these two stories connected?', and I expect most will arrive at the logical conclusion long before the film reveals its secret, making the whole thing far less effective than was presumably intended.

Matters get a little preposterous when the murdered girl's body goes on display in a glass case for the public to gawp at (would this really be allowed?), but the script does deliver a nifty unexpected turn of events at around the hour mark which adds a little zest to proceedings. Mogherini's direction is stylish, with nice cinematography, and his cast are solid, Milland putting in a fun turn as the grouchy old detective, and Di Lazzaro looking gorgeous throughout. Riz Ortolani provides a terrific score with pulsing synth beats - particularly effective when Glenda sells her body to a pair of sweaty fat guys and a dorky 13-year-old for $100- and there are a couple of groovy songs performed by transexual songstress Amanda Lear.

With a deliberate pace, a 102-minute runtime, and a final revelation that is far too easy to figure out, The Pyjama Girl Case is far from an essential giallo (and many might reasonably argue that film doesn't even qualify as part of that genre). Give it a look if Italian murder mysteries are your thing, just don't expect anything that special.

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.

If you are a fan of Italian giallo films, you assuredly know they range from dramatic art to stylish mystery to sexploitation to horror. This is one of the stylish mysteries. The Pyjama Girl Case is not quite What Have You Done to Solange? Or Don't Torture a Duckling, but the characters are complex and likeable (well, some of them) and the random costumes that pop up on minor characters are a treat. One of my favorite running subthemes in the background were episodes of The Muppet Show. As usual, I suggest that you watch this film in Italian, I believe it improves the entire giallo genre. This one is not too gory although extreme violence is implied, and there is a sexual assault scene.

Avoid this movie at all cost...there are thousands of thriller which are better than this.. poor editing - so many shots have been repeated for no reason. Story line is average. There is absolutely no character or plot development. Movie starts with a murder after going around in circles a killer is revealed. Absolute lack of imagination on writer's part. Save yr time and do something else ...

A detective searches for the identity and killer of a young woman found dead on the beach, wearing only a pair of yellow pajamas; meanwhile, a friend of the dead woman sets off on the road to avoid being the next victim. That's not all there is, but the central idea behind this film's construction is so brilliant I can't say any more. The end is such a surprise that you'll either be blown away or feel ripped off. It plays with story construction in a way I've never seen done before, one that's begging to be copied by some high-profile indie here in the US. Film school buffs will dig it and find a lot to argue about, others might be confused or annoyed. Ray Milland is good but kind of decrepit-looking, here in the evening of his career; the chief culprits in this film are the pop songs that they repeat endlessly (though catchy). I'd love to see reactions to this one; I recommend it highly.

The Girl in the Yellow Pyjamas is an oddball entry in the Giallo cycle as it veers away from so many of the key elements of the style. The most obvious difference between this and the rest is that the body count is amazingly scarce, featuring only three murders; none of which are very bloody. Furthermore, we don't have a black-gloved killer to follow, and the majority of the film follows just one murder - which actually takes place before the film begins! The plot is split into two halves; first of all we've got the investigation into said murder, and this is backed up by a story told in flashbacks of the murdered girl's life up until it ended. The way that director Flavio Mogherini implements these two stories works well in a way, as it gives us a different angle than featured in most Giallo films and it allows us to identify with the victim despite the fact that we already know she's dead - but on the other hand, it's often confusing as to exactly what is going on because it's never really made clear that we're watching flashbacks, and the girl's life really isn't all that interesting; which made me continually want the film to get back on track with the police investigation.

At the start of the film, we see a young girl find a horrifically mutilated corpse on a beach. This then leads to an investigation into the murder, which is most notable for the fact that the body is put on public display in order to allow the body to be identified! The Australian setting is well realised by Mogherini, and makes for an interesting place for a Giallo to take its scene as the majority of fans are so used to seeing them set in Italy. The sun drenched locations help to set the scene, and this is excellently offset by the sleazy atmosphere, which is propped up by scenes of prostitution and voyeurism. The majority of Giallo fans will be used to seeing the story take place in a lush vibrant world of colours; and that is something lacking here. Prior to this movie, Flavio Mogherini was the art director for a few well known Giallo films; but it seems that the style's preoccupation with tension and thrills didn't wear off on him. The film is held together by Ray Milland, who stands out as the old detective investigating the case. He is joined by a talented cast of Italian performers, including an excellent Dalila Di Lazzaro in the title role. Overall, this isn't the greatest Giallo and fans of the more macabre entries may be disappointed; but if you ask me, The Pyjama Girl Case is definitely worth a watch.

Giallo pictures always has been offered under a drown up screenplay in attempt to conceal the mystery until the end, two things overcame some blatant weak points, the charismatic Ray Milland with your undeniable artistry given to the movie a sharp sense of humor, the second came from the plot when a burned girl was found death at beach, his face was unknowable where the Police were groping in the dark, meanwhile a smart screenplay is split in two path provides a life of a young girl Glenda Blythe (Dalila Di Lazzaro) that seemingly is out of the context, however quite sure isn't, which the audience will finds in the end, based in real facts happened on Australia the writer ameliorated over Glenda who has an ambiguous behavior as really call girl as suggesting on the motel's sequence as true prostitute, just on final both ways intersect and we finally can understand what's the real point, such weak points alluded above are about a slow pace linked with conceptive matter, which the picture had two dubbed versions, one with Ray Milland has been dubbed in Italian worst way, another with Milland speaking English and all others Italians actors has been dubbed in English, anyway whatever your choice is dreadful, the picture itself is fulsomely satisfying, aside these two specific cases, glad to see the great Ray Milland on acting again, often good actors are welcome!!

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First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

When the burnt body of a woman is found on the beach, Inspector Thompson (veteran actor Ray Milland, around 70 years old by then) returns from retirement to take control of this case. His colleagues believe quickly that they found the killer, a local pervert, but as you can guess from the running time, the truth is more complicated and takes more investigative work to unveal...

The movie benefits from a very clever construction. We don't know who the killer is, that is normal for a crime story. But also the identity of the victim is unknown, and this parallel search keeps the suspense up for the audience. Due to its location in bright Australia, this never looks like a typical dark Italian Giallo, but that's making it more special.

The cast is great, including Michele Placido, Howard Ross and Mel Ferrer. The female lead Dalila di Lazzaro maybe less known, but she appeared in a weird selection of bizarre movies, ranging from Andy Warhol's 'Frankenstein' to Dario Argento's 'Phenomena' to Klaus Kinski's 'Paganini'.

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.

I only watched this film because Ray Milland was in it. But boy, was it boring.

Over 100 minutes of slow scenes, seemingly go on forever. Accompany this with the most mindless soundtrack imaginable. Tedious songs sung by what sounds like a transvestite in a sleazy nightclub.

I'm very surprised this film has the '6' rating it has. It's dreadful. Terrribly acted and badly directed. There is a story. But it could have been condensed into a 30 minute short.

Also, if you're watching the American version it's dubbed from Italian into English. Even this is terrible.

I will give it 3 out of 10, simply because of Ray Millland. Otherwise you can forget it.

Not one of this best films. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's his worst.