SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS (1971)
Label: Twilight Time
Region Code: Region Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 97 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Italian 1.0 DTS-HD MA, English 1.0 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Aldo Lado
Cast: Ingrid Thulin, Jean Sorel, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bach, Fabijan Sovagovic, Jose Quaglio, Piero Vida
Synopsis: Short Night of Glass Dolls (La Corta Notte delle Bambole di Vetro, 1971) is a mystery-heavy giallo film, the début of director Aldo Lado. It stars Jean Sorel as an American reporter, trapped inside his apparently dead body, but still trying to decipher the disappearance of his beautiful girlfriend (Barbara Bach). Set in a Prague depicted as remarkably depraved, the film also stars the great Ingrid Thulin, and is highlighted by a stunning score from the one and only Ennio Morricone, available on this Twilight Time release as an isolated track.
Short Night Of Glass Dolls (1971) is the auspicious giallo-thriller that marked the directorial debut of Aldo Lado (Night Train Murders), a slice of Euro-cult that opens in Prague with the discovery of a young man's body found in a park. The body is that of American journalist Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel, Fulci's Perversion Story), his body taken by Ambulance through the streets of Prague to the city morgue where the coroners plan to autopsy the corpse. The twist is that we discover that he's not really dead, somehow he is trapped inside his own body unable to speak or move, his mind racing as he tries to remember how he ended up on a cold slab in the morgue, with him narrating the movie.
As he narrates the film we flash back and forth in time as he tries to piece together the events that landed him here, we go back a few week to a time when his girlfriend Mira (Barbara Bach, Black Belly of the Tarantula) has gone missing, vanished without a trace. He alerts the authorities but in typical giallo tradition they are neat useless, concluding that she's probably just run off with another man. Unconvinced he begins his own investigation into her whereabouts, which leads him to connect the dots between Mira's disappearance with those of other young women around the city, whose disappearances are all seemingly connected by an underground club called Klubb 99, an elite society membership with strange occult leanings.
The film moves back and forth in time, alternating between Moore's investigation and the medical examiner's own examination of his corpse. There's a medical angle here that seems almost science fiction in nature, with a cardiologist being called in when peculiarities about the body arise, such as the fact that the temperature of it has not dropped, and there are no signs of rigor mortis setting in even hours after the presumed time of death.
The film is a wonderful European thriller with plenty of giallo-style, but it's not quite the black-gloved whodunit we've come to expect from the genre, forgoing the usual black glove killer for a compelling mystery that is steeped in the corruption of elite society, obsession and occult paranoia, all wrapped up in a nicely lensed film that holds up to repeat viewings. This is a great film to watch when you're having a multi-film giallo spree, the one you throw on right in the middle of the marathon when you're a bit tired of the typical black glove shtick, because it's a unique film that both fits in as a gialli but is also something quite a bit more.
I always find the ending of Short Night of Glass Dolls to be a proper shocker, the whole film has creepy vibe with an insidious occult element, but you're really rooting for Sorel's character to pull through and come out on top in some way, and where it goes always feels like a punch right in the gut, a classic downer ending.
Audio/Video: Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Twilight Time presented in 1080p HD and framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The source looks fantastic with hardly a blemish to report, grain is well-managed and uniform, the visuals are rich and nicely detailed. Skin tones can look a bit cool at times, but overall this is a very filmic and pleasing transfer.
Audio on the disc comes by way of Italian and English 1.0 DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles. The Italian track is slightly more robust than the the English option, but both are solid, with dialogue being clean, crisp and natural sounding. The score from Ennio Morricone (What Have You Done To Solange?) is definitely a highlight.
Onto the extras Twilight Time offer a brand new audio commentary from film historians David Del Valle and Matteo Molinari, the track offers some excellent insight into the film. Both commentators offering a wealth of knowledge about the film, there's never a moment when they lag, they are on it from start to finish, filling every minute with loads of information, with Molinari having interviewed the still-living Lado prior to the commentary, so there;s some great info here. We also get both the English and Italian trailers for the film, plus an 8-page booklet with an appreciation of the film from TT's in-house writer Julie Kirgo, plus an isolated lossless music track spotlighting the excellent score from Ennio Morricone (A Bullet for the General).
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase - TT usually ship with a clear case but due to a manufacturer error it was produced with a blue case - but if you order from TT direct they are offering to send you a clear keepcase free of charge, which is a stand-up thing of them to do.
Special Features:
- Isolated Music Track (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
- Audio Commentary with Film Historians David Del Valle and Matteo Molinari
- Original English Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Original Italian Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- 8-Page Booklet with New Writing on the Film by Julie Kirgo
Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971) is a thriller I've watched several times these past few years, with every viewing it's quickly becoming one of my favorite non-Dario Argento giallo, a stylish entry that eschews the black-gloved killer for a strange Kafka-esque paranoia with occult leanings. This release from TT is a limited edition release with only 3000 copies being made, if you're a giallo connoisseur I think this is a must-own release, highly recommended.