About Stefan Halley
Location: Malmo, Sweden
Occupation: Editor-in-Chief
Bio: Stefan has been writing reviews for seven years and started Pop Syndicate out of need to voice his mis-guided opinion.
Posts: 719
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The French attempt to create an Italian giallo.
I’ve seen tons of giallo’s (Italian murder mysteries from the 60’s and 70’s) and while I’m no expert, I certainly feel that I am a good judge of the genre. For the most part, giallo’s are dull tedious affairs that try to have a clever ending. Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll falls into the category except that the clever ending is actually very clever and makes that first predictable hour worthwhile.
Gilles (Paul Naschy) is an ex-convict who hitchhikes to a small French town in search of a new life. He’s hired as a groundskeeper for an estate owned by three sisters. One sister is lonely and very horny, one is a paranoid that’s confined to a wheelchair and the third sister has problems connecting with people due to her mangled arm. The police are looking for the murderer of a woman with blue eyes that had her them cut out. As suspects are narrowed down, all eyes focus on Gilles and his criminal past but as any giallo fan knows, the most obvious is never the killer.
This French variant on the classic Italian films has all the hallmarks of the grenre (boobs, blood and black gloves) but doesn’t really get what makes the films work. The first hour Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is a very formulaic story that falls deeply into tedious and dull. Only when the killer is on the downward spiral do we get to see the true brilliance of the film. The killer will be fairly obvious as everyone is either killed or cleared of the murders in very rapid succession. Still there are a few great plot twists that you won’t see coming.
Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll is a giallo that fans of the genre will appreciate but detracts will only find further aids their argument. Paul Naschy and the director provide a commentary track moderated by Angel Gomez Rivero (who knows). The track is recorded in Castilian with English subtitles. It’s almost impossible tell who’s talking at any given moment. It’s not very good and only true fans will want to check it out. Naschy provides an introduction to the film and you can find the original trailer as well as a series of stills.
If you’re a fan of giallo’s, you’ll appreciate some of the finer nuisances of Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (and really isn’t that what enjoying a giallo is really all about). Being well versed in the conventions of the genre, I can honestly say that while it won’t blow you away, the ending provides enough twists that you’ll be glad you at least rented it.
