Short Night of Glass Dolls

In Prague, a man is found dead and sent to the morgue. The coroner finds his passport and identifies the American journalist Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel).He finds strange his body temperature and the absence of rigor mortis. However, Gregory is alive and totally paralyzed and recalls all the previous events. Gregory works in Prague with the journalists Jessica (Ingrid Thulin), with whom he had a love affair, and Jacques Versain (Mario Adorf). He will be transferred to London and meets his girlfriend Mira Svoboda (Barbara Bach) to invite her to travel with him. They go to a party and then he returns to his apartment with Mira. During the night, Jacques calls him to investigate the death of a minister. However the information is fake and when he returns to the apartment, he finds that Mira has gone missing. The inefficient Inspector Kierkoff (Piero Vida) is in charge of the investigation and Gregory finds that several young women have disappeared in Prague. He carries out his own investigation culminating to find a mysterious cult. Meanwhile his friend and doctor finds weird the condition of his corpse and tries to revive Gregory. Will he succeed?

"La corta notte delle bambole di vetro", a.k.a. "Short Night of Glass Dolls", is a totally different giallo. The story has no gore and slightly recalls the idea of "Sunset Boulevard", where a dead man tells the previous series of events until his death, and "Rosemary's Baby" since there are many people involved in a satanic cult. The conclusion is excellent with no redemption. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Breve Noite das Bonecas de Vidro" ("The Short Night of the Glass Dolls")

Note: On 11 June 2020 I saw this film again.

A street sweeper finds a man, apparently dead, lying in a park. An ambulance is called. The camera shows the route followed by the ambulance: A grey city is revealed with old buildings and statues. A feeling of gloom and sadness permeates the screen, underlined still more by the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack of Ennio Morricone. Welcome to Prague, the city of Kafka.

At the hospital, the doctors, after examining the body, declare him to be dead. But he's not really dead! Even if he doesn't show signs of life, he's conscious and screams silently (he can't move or talk) for them to save his life. In fact, as his body doesn't show the rigor mortis or putrefaction signs usual in the dead, they think that maybe he's not really dead and decide to try to reanimate him.

On searching his effects, the hospital attendants discover that he is Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel), an American reporter. The film is divided in two parts - the remembrances of Gregory Moore and the attempts of the hospital staff to revive him.

After Gregory's girlfriend Mira (gorgeous Barbara Bach) mysteriously disappears, he decides to investigate on his own to discover what lies behind it. As his investigation progresses, the local police become gradually more hostile. Something horrible is happening. But the people that could shed some light on this story either refuse to speak or are "removed". Gregory is now on what could be his final journey. What happened to him? The atmosphere of mystery, fear and perplexity surrounding Gregory is excellently portrayed in "La Corta Notte delle Bambole di Vetro". If you want to know more, see the film. It's a very good giallo.

"La Corta Notte delle Bambole di Vetro"'s cast (Jean Sorel, Ingrid Thulin, Barbara Bach, Mario Adorf) adds still more charm to the film. It's interesting to say that Ingrid Thulin appeared in Bergman's "The Silence" (1963) that takes its place in a strange and mysterious city of eastern European appearance!

Highly recommended!

Aldo Lado's directorial debut is a mixed bag of confusion and greatly innovating ideas but, eventually, it's the director's ingeniousness that triumphs, and he makes this "Short Night of the Glass Dolls" a must-see experience for Italian horror fans, more particularly the admirers of typical gialli. Lado's intelligent script combines different styles like typically Hitchcockian thrillers, detective stories and near the end even pure occult horror! American reporter in Prague Gregory Moore is pronounced dead in a local hospital but his brain functions are very much alive and slowly reconstructing the fiendish conspiracy that put him into this disturbing medical condition. Gregory's stunningly beautiful girlfriend Mira vanished shortly after a social gathering and, during his private investigation, he discovers that many prominent citizens hide macabre secrets. I realize this is a very basic description of the story, but it really is all I can say without revealing essential clues. The actual denouement, albeit far-fetched, is truly unexpected and the grand finale at the hospital left me completely speechless…which is a rare event! Even though it was only his first horror effort, Aldo Lado proves himself to be a master when it comes to building up tension and he has a talented eye for imaginative camera-work. The classy location of Prague provides this film with one of the most beautiful settings in European horror cinema ever and Lado could also count on mesmerizing musical guidance by Ennio Morricone. The song entitled "Short Night of the Butterflies" is a real beauty. Highly recommended to fans of atmospheric, story-driven horror movies.

Aldo Lado's stylish 1971 giallo "Short Night of the Glass Dolls" is the story of Gregory(Jean Sorel),a reporter who is found dead in a Prague park.However his brain is alive as we can hear his frantic thoughts.It appears that his beautiful girlfriend Mira(Barbara Bach)has vanished without a trace and Gregory,along with his reporter pal Jack(Mario Adorf),work to uncover the secret of a mysterious group of Prague's wealthy elite who operate inside the mysterious Klub 99."Short Night of the Glass Dolls" is a fine Italian giallo.The plot is bizarre and rather unpredictable and there is a decent amount of sleaze.Ennio Morricone again provides the music.It should be noted that this film is pretty hard for me to classify as a giallo in the traditional sense as it contains no black-gloved assassin.Still it's worth checking out for fans of Italian horror.

I had really high hopes for this new remaster from Blue Underground. In the last few months, I have become a big giallo fan. I've gained a real appreciation for the genre after viewing several.

"Short Night of the Glass Dolls" is without a doubt one of the most well-produced giallos I have seen to date. I think the budget was probably pretty large, compared to contemporaries. The cinematography is masterful and the soundtrack is amazing.

Where this film fell short for me was the plot and continuity. I found myself getting bored throughout. There is no gore. The murders are minimal. The sex is tired. I just din't think it was all that interesting. I get the point of it: old people take advantage of the young in order to better themselves and their world. It will always be their world, they feed off the blood of the young...etc. The problem is, this isn't even alluded to until the very end of the film. It's also vague and the plot takes too many twists. I lost interest because so many things were never explained.

Perhaps it would have been better viewed in Italian with subtitles. Maybe it was lost in the dubbing. (Which is good, compared to other Italian films.) Or maybe it was just the overly artsy feel, but somehow, it just failed to grab me. The last scene is pretty decent though. Does it make up for the slow pace? I guess it's up to the viewer to decide. If you can make it without falling asleep.

6 out of 10, kids.