Who Saw Her Die? (Region Free) (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray]
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Who Saw Her Die? (Region Free) (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray]
George Lazenby, in a career-defining departure from his role as James Bond 007 (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), delivers a powerful, gutsy performance in Aldo Lado‘s chillingly disturbing giallo masterpiece, WHO SAW HER DIE?
Lazenby portrays Franco Serpieri, a sculptor recently separated from his wife (Anita Strindberg). He invites their young daughter, Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi), to spend time with him in an autumnal Venice. As father and daughter joyfully make up for lost time exploring the city, their idyllic bonding is shattered when Roberta becomes the target of a dangerous child-killer lurking in the city’s foggy canals. Consumed by grief and driven by a thirst for justice, a tormented Franco embarks on his own investigation, uncovering vicious depravity in the highest echelons of Venetian society controlled by a Machiavellian art-dealer Adolfo Celi (Largo in 007’s Thunderball).
Bearing striking and uncanny similarities to Nicolas Roeg’s later film, Don’t Look Now, Lado’s WHO SAW HER DIE? delves into a father’s haunting guilt within a spellbinding giallo mystery. Enhanced by Ennio Morricone‘s eerie score and Franco Di Giacomo’s (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly) evocative cinematography, now properly revealed in this definitive 2K-restored version, it showcases the giallo genre at its most chilling and captivating.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Special Features:
- Interview of Director Aldo Lado – ‘Ring a Ring o’Rosie’
- Interview of Producer Enzo Doria – ‘The Quest for Money’
- Interview of writer Francesco Barilli – ‘To Live and Die in Venice’
- Aldo Lado Q&A courtesy of the ‘Abertoir International Horror Film Festival’
- New English subtitles & additional English SDH
- New encode in Full HD 1080P from 2K-Restored full-length original negative
TECH SPECS
| FORMAT | Blu-Ray |
| RUNTIME | 94’ (UNCUT) |
| ASPECT RATIO | 2.35:1 |
| REGION | Free |
| LANGUAGE | English + Optional Italian – English + English SDH subtitles |
| STUDIO | Shameless Films |
| ||
|---|---|---|
GEORGE (007) LAZENBY | with ANITA STRINDBERG | ADOLFO CELI |
WHO SAW HER DIE BLURAY from SHAMELESS 2024!!
This review is for the BLURAY released 26 AUGUST 2024. Other reviews refer to their DVD of 2008 (which I also have – So to be clear – this is a re-release same durstion and extras (I think) but with the addition of good subtitles on both the English language dubbed version and the original Itlalian. I confess that my main reason for getting this is the splendid location photography of the mysterious, sometimes foggy, Venice. captured beautifully (and the subs, important to my wife and me now). The plot has (very) vague similarities to “Don’t Look Back” in that George Lazenby spends most of the film trying to find out who murdered his young daughter. This involves many suspects, much chasing round the streets and canals and warehouses. A slow burn but as the film progresses so do the twists and murders as befit the “Giallo” of which genre I find this to be an excellent example. Apart from the excellent transfer, good sound, picture and subs, you have the usual gallery of truly beautiful women Anita Strindberg/Dominique Boschero and more, who decorate the film and frequently undress. A bit of nudity and brief sex scenes help the medicine. Lazenby looks very ill. He seems to have lost 2 or 3 stones from his Bond film (he could have been among the best Bonds – such bad advice to quit), not helped by long dank hair and droopy moustache. I found the ending just a bit hurried and failed to explain everything, but overall this is a fine mystery, and a good giallo. Will shamelses release other classics with subtitles???
Death in little-known Venice.
These days one might quibble whether child-murder is a suitable subject for pure entertainment but, putting such qualms aside, this is an excellent murder mystery. It is set in Venice and would have had Inspector Morse enraptured for weeks. Although there are some graphic murders of adults, the child killings are of course sanitised; the scene where a child’s body gradually appears in the canal at the vegetable market is one of the best and most moving in the film. The girl’s father (George Lazenby) not only has to deal with her death but also that it occurred while she was in his care, away from her mother. Naturally, when the latter arrives on the scene there are tensions to work through in their relationship. Considering the police enquiry to be unsatisfactory, the father sidelines his work commitments and sets out to hunt down the killer. This leads to the introduction of a range of intriguing characters, many of whom could be suspects. A favourite among these is a rich and rather oily philanthropist with possibly sinister motives and a very elaborate birdcage. The killer is eventually revealed but, apart from a brief revelation at the very end, there is no opportunity to explore their character and discover their motives. This is unfortunate as it would provide a more satisfactory conclusion than simply assuming the killer is a pervert.
Venice makes a wonderful setting for the film. It is shown as few tourists see it: uncrowded and without a gondola in sight. Often dank and misty, it is a working city with small businesses and local children. A deserted warehouse is used for a scene in the docks area, very creepy and sinister. Befitting this Venetian background the music by Morricone is another factor that raises this film above the ordinary. It is generally uplifting but does vary to reflect the prevailing mood. Towards the end of quite a long plot, however, it becomes a little repetitive and another theme would have helped to keep it fresh.
Considering the plot, characters, setting and music, this is a film that is enjoyable to watch many times.
Must be one of the best from the giallo genre - and a film with ...
Must be one of the best from the giallo genre – and a film with an opening Alfred Hitchcock would be proud of.
A child murderer is running loose in Venice. Distraught father George Lazenby (who is sadly dubbed – what’s wrong with his real voice?) investigates after his daughter is killed. Director, the underrated Aldo Lado, shows us the enchanting scenery of Venice in a truly eerie and creepy way, imbued with fog, Ennio Moricone’s chilling music and unsettling camera angles. It’s worth seeing the film for these effects alone.
You could say this owes a lot to Nicolas Roegs, Don’t Look Now, which came out the following year. Sadly this film doesn’t get the same recognition because it still works well today with many red herrings in a fast moving thriller; I was engrossed right up until the end. And after reading much about this film I have finally got around to seeing it. And I’m glad I did. But it’s a shame that this is largely forgotten.
If you like thrillers in the same vein as Alfred Hitchcock, then this is for you.
If you like Alfred Hitchcock thrillers then don’t miss this.
In France, 1968, a young red headed girl is playing in the snow with her nanny. When the girl wanders off alone for a game of hide and seek, she is snatched, killed and buried under the snow by a woman dressed in black wearing a veil. Four years later and sculptor Franco Serpieri is working in Venice when he’s visited by his young red haired daughter Roberta, it seems as though Franco and his wife Elizabeth split up and he was hoping she’d be visiting with her daughter. It’s not long before Roberta meets a few of the local kids and starts playing with them, but she’s being watched by a woman in black wearing a veil. When Roberta gets seperated from the other kids, she is snatched by the woman and Franco begins looking for her. A day or two later, her body is found floating in the canal. Elizabeth arrives in Venice to attend the funeral and stays with Franco, when a friend of Franco tells him about a case he found out about in France with very similar circumstances, he sets out to find out who is responsible for the murder of the two girls. The deeper he digs, the more people around him start to die.
George Lazenby plays Franco, he’s almost unrecognisable from his role as James Bond three years earlier. He reportedly lost thirty-five pounds for the role and has a moustache, I couldn’t help thinking he looked very similar to Christopher Lee in many scenes. I’ve always been a fan of his Bond performance in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and despite being dubbed, I really liked his performance here. Swedish actress Anita Strindberg plays Franco’s wife, Elizabeth. She should be instantly recognisable to giallo fans as she appeared in The Case Of The Scorpion’s Tail, The Two Faces Of Fear and Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key around the same time. She was a very good looking woman and had good screen presence, she and Lazenby had great chemistry and made a believable, grieving couple. Most fans of gialli and Italian horror should also know the then eight year old actress Nicoletta Elmi, the red head was also in Mario Bava’s A Bay Of Blood, Dario Argento’s Deep Red and much later Lamberto Bava’s Demons. The supporting cast all do reasonable jobs, Adolfo Celi, another post Bond actor having played villain Emilio Largo in 1965s Thunderball was probably the pick of the bunch. It’s beautifully directed by Aldo Lado, he later went on to direct the Last House On The Left inspired Night Train Murders, some called it a rip-off, but others believe Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now ripped off Who Saw Her Die? I personally think all of those films stand on their own, and I enjoyed them all regardless of the similarities. Ennio Morricone’s music score is brilliant, the children singing and the creepy choral pieces complimented the film perfectly. At times it reminded me of the type of music Goblin would use in Dario Argento’s films, it’s been a long time since I enjoyed a film’s music score as much as this. Being set in Venice, the cinematography is superb and the canals and surroundings look beautiful and eerie at the same time.
It’s not all good though, there’s long periods of time where very little seems to happen. There’s nowhere near enough blood and gore for some people, but there is a few scenes with nudity. The dubbing is particularly bad at times, especially when you consider that Lazenby was speaking English to begin with and he’s badly dubbed to sound American. I really don’t mind dubbed Italian films as I’ve been watching them for years, but it’s a lot more noticeable here than normal. Even though it’s explained why the killer has committed the crimes, it’s not explained all that well and if you wasn’t paying very close attention, it could go over your head as it did mine at first. There’s also one or two very obvious red herrings, but for me personally the good far outweighed the bad.
Shameless have done another great job with this release, the picture quality for the most part looks superb. There’s no grain, good detail, great colour and hardly any speckles, scratches or dirt. I suppose the best thing to say about the picture quality is, it doesn’t look anything like a forty year old film, it looks much more recent. Audio quality is good, but now and again, just a few times I had to rewind as I missed what was said. Even when rewinded, it was still difficult to understand but this only happens rarely. As with most Shameless releases, the only extras are trailers for other films in their back catalogue, and this is the only area I feel they could slightly improve on. Still, it’s fantastic that some of these old Italian films are even available to begin with, so moaning about a lack of extras seems a little silly. There’s no option to watch the film in Italian with subtitles, the film only plays dubbed in English and there’s no subtitles in any other language. If you don’t like gialli then this won’t change your mind, if you don’t like dubbed films then I’d advise you to skip this one. However, if you’re a fan of Argento, Bava, Fulci, Soavi, then I’m sure this will be another wonderful addition to your collection.
I'm never going to Venice
I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum. Let’s be honest. A thriller about a person who stalks and kills children will never enjoy the same recognition as other films from that era, even if it’s excellent. The reason is people would rather not remind themselves that such things are happening, and an evil witch, or zombie, or supernatural manifestation are all less disturbing.
If you thought Helloween’s suspense was merciless, the first 20 minutes of this is nothing less. The choral music that plays when we are in the killer’s viewpoint, a children’s choir nonetheless for extra creepiness, is panic-inducing, seeming to accelerate forever. One thing to note is that halfway the style of the film changes, from horror and mystery to bodycounting, identifying it much easier as a giallo.
One star is taken away because of the male protagonist who is not only ugly, but in several action sequences he actually looks bored! Overall, it’s worth your time.
Made all the way back in 1972 Who Saw Her Die? Starts with one of the most disturbing openings I have ever seen, nestled in the beautiful snow filled French mountains you see a young girl enjoying herself with her nanny and her sledge. From out of the trees looms a figure of a woman with a veil covering her face. Grabbing the young girl, the woman proceeds to smash her skull in with a stone before burying her rather carelessly under the snow. Moving forward 20 years, we are teleported to Venice in the 1970’s; and the arrival of Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi) who has come to stay with her father Franco (George Lazenby) is about to cause history to repeat itself.
The movie is a product of the great Aldo Lado the mastermind behind Night Train Murders, and The Short Night Of The Glass Dolls, Lado is not necessarily the best know of the Italian directors especially to the casual Italian movie viewer, but familiar or not you’d certainly agree Lado’s movies have a certain style about them. Here Lado shows a side of Venice that the Italian tourist board would not like you to see, looking dowdy and dirty you can almost smell the dirty Venetian water, add to this a vision of darkness, rain, fog, and cloud cover that you do not think of when Venice enters your mind. Everything about Lado’s outlook of Venice is dark and sinister and not the image you get with movies like The Talented Mr. Ripley or Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now even though this is hardly sun filled; on the subject of the Roeg masterpiece I’d go as far as to say that I suspect that Roeg took a little inspiration from this movie as you can easily spot similarities between the two movies, while Roeg painted a harsh image of Venice, Lado’s version is far more extreme and explicit. Now don’t get me wrong, Lado’s vision is not all dark, there are some most beautiful scenes in the movie, for those with a passion for travel, history, and architecture this movie will make you want to visit Venice even more, what is carefully delivered however is the thought “be careful what you cannot see”.
Lado scored well with his leading man acquiring the services of George Lazenby (former James Bond) for a song due to his incredibly high debts (caused due to his dramatic over the top spending while filming On Her Majesties Secret Service), and while Lazenby was criticised for his poor acting on Bond and his lack of sex appeal, he was still a big enough name to ensure that Who Saw Her Die? Got a few more bums on seats in cinemas across the world. I should add that if you thought Lazenby lacked sex appeal before, seeing him naked here is not going to improve your views. Sex appeal or not, this movie does prove that the world was wrong about Lazenby and certainly here he proves himself to be a very capable actor. There is a little more Bond-age here in the casting of Adolfo Celi who starred as Emile Largo in the James Bond movie Thunderball. Celi or rather his character of Serafian a sort of Mafioso boss manages to dominate the entire movie, as a shadowy and untouchable criminal mastermind, a man with fingers in many pies. Fear not ladies it’s not a male dominated piece and the casting of enchanting Swedish actress Anita Strindberg with her devastatingly striking looks finishes the lead cast off perfectly, an actress who young in her career had already starred in two very successful Italian movies Lucio Fulci’s A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin, and Sergio Martino’s The Case Of The Scorpions Tail; few actresses have the powerful look of this actress, let alone the very capable acting skill as she plays a woman in mourning.
I have now seen Who Saw Her Die? A dozen times, and reviewed it now for the third time; what I love about the picture is that there is a wonderful power that the movie has, forget the horrible story of a child killer, and the further sideline of a depraved group of perverts; the movies great talent is that by the time I watch the movie again I have completely forgotten who the killer is, making Who Saw Her Die? A movie that you can watch again, and again. How many movies do you know that feel fresh with each repeated watching? And how many movies grow in power with repeated viewings? I won’t deny the first time I saw this movie I could take it or leave it, but now it makes its way to the top of my list for all-time favourite movies. From its gruelling story, its impressive visual delight by its director Aldo Lado, onto its rather impressive score by Ennio Morricone, this is an all round winner.
Shameless have again gone out of their way to preserve the movie well, it’s in my view a far superior print to the US Anchor Bay edition released some years ago, and greatly improved by the additional seconds of footage, and English subtitles over a couple of scenes previously un-dubbed and without text translation. At last I get to see what it is the creepy kids are singing about in an Italian variant of “Ring A Roses”.
As you progress through the movie there are a few things I had not noticed before, aided by what appears to be better framing. The movie boasts a 2.0 soundtrack, and a frame ratio of 2.35:1.
The cover features a front image of a hand holding a knife above a corpse the cover text reading “Before Don’t Look Now Came… Who Saw Her Die? But Who Will Survive To Tell The Tale?” As has become tradition with Shameless Screen Entertainment releases there is an alternate reverse cover featuring a child like picture with a photo of the character Roberta superimposed on it.
There are some trailers on the disc starting with The Designated Victim a release due on the 8th of September and a movie that has never been seen in the UK before. Strip Nude For Your Killer is a classic Giallo thriller by the director of The Nights Of Terror, another future release is Umberto Lenzi’s long unseen Oasis Of Fear also due out with the other two titles in September. As well as a look at the future there are trailers for Night Train Murders, What Have They Done To Your Daughters, and The Black Cat. There is also a trailer for Who Saw Her Die? That captures perfectly the magic of this spectacular film.