Wonderful character development!

Beautiful, moving film.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The idea of an Italian murder mystery set in Australia (based on, or inspired by, a true story) is a compelling enough hook for this reasonably well done film. Ray Milland plays Inspector Thompson, a retired detective who is allowed to help out in the investigation of a partly charred corpse found in a car on a beach. At the same time, we follow another story, that of a waitress named Glenda (the stunning Dalila Di Lazzaro) who has a couple of lovers, and even marries one, but won't commit to one man alone. As it turns out, the stories are ultimately connected."The Pyjama Girl Case" is a stylish film, gorgeously shot by Raul Artigot and Carlo Carlini and capably directed by Flavio Mogherini. It didn't always completely involve this viewer; the melodrama in Glendas' story just wasn't as interesting as the murder investigation portions of the picture. The slow pace has to rate as another debit. But at least the film is always pleasing to look at, in more ways than one: it also features some striking female nudity, and Di Lazzaro looks great in or out of costume. This further benefits from a lovely music score by the always reliable Riz Ortolani (of "Cannibal Holocaust" fame).The acting is solid from all concerned. It's a treat to see Milland (who actually smiles on a number of occasions) in this sort of thing, but when he disappears from the story, the film can't help but suffer. The international cast also includes Michele Placido, Mel Ferrer, Howard Ross, Rod Mullinar, and Giacomo Assandri.Admirers of those Italian films known as Gialli may find this to their liking.Seven out of 10.

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.

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.

This film was confusing when I watched it, however, all was revealed at the end. Suddenly, everything fell into place and it seems that this films' directional technique was employed years later by directors like Tarintino and Ritchie.The film doesn't run in the standard order of things, making it stand out for it's time. A good screenplay, good acting all round and not bad by any movie viewers standards.