George Lazenby's career outside of the James Bond world never gets as much attention as his solitary (but sensational) outing as 007. When you start right at the top, sustaining it is tough. But only three years after his outing in ‘On Her Majesty's Secret Service', Lazenby lent his name and residual star appeal to an Italian giallo film called ‘Who Saw Her Die?' (‘Chi l'ha vista morire?' to give it its original Italian title.)
Although giallo is a sub-genre of horror, it is highly distinctive. The stylised approach to storytelling is an acquired taste, with a sense of heightened reality often pervading the films. There's a startling set-piece opening, in this case, a brutal murder in the snow. Cutting between scenes with no music into a deliberately intrusive score is another trademark deployed to full effect here. Driving it all is inevitably a series of brutal, bloody murders. As with Italian cinema of the era, the sound is recorded in post-production so all of the actors are dubbed and speaking in their native languages during filming. Take the disjointed lip-synching in your stride, or enjoy it as a quirk of Italian cinema.
‘Who Saw Her Die?' brings together all of the defining giallo characteristics and runs with them. It's a thoroughly enjoyable film delivered with intensity and panache, in which George Lazenby gives a solid and assured leading performance. A gaunt, haunted and skinny appearance also helps to see Lazenby in a completely new light, and to lend credence to his acting range.
Credit must also go to Lazenby for switching the world of big budget spy thrillers for a low budget Italian horror and slipping convincingly into the character of Franco Serpieri, a divorced sculptor working in Venice whose young daughter comes to visit. There's a vulnerability and a tenderness to his performance that ensures he is sympathetic. Naturally, his physicality is superb and he's in his element in the fight sequences.
It's hard not to compare ‘Who Saw Her Die?' to Nicolas Roeg's masterpiece ‘Don't Look Now', though this film was released a year and a half earlier and may even have inspired the other. ‘Who Saw Her Die?' feels a bit like what ‘Don't Look Now' would have been had Dario Argento had directed it. Undoubtedly the master of the giallo sub-genre, Argento was visionary behind ‘Susperia', ‘Opera', ‘Deep Red' and a host of other enjoyably stylish Italian horrors in the 70s and 80s. (Child actor Nicoletta Elmi, who is strikingly good as Lazenby's daughter, was also in Argento's ‘Deep Red'.) If you like Argento's sweet spot output, there's a good chance you'll also enjoy ‘Who Saw Her Die?'
The director behind ‘Who Saw Her Die' is Aldo Lado, and there are interviews and features on the extras in which he reflects about the making of the film and his career. These interviews are timely historical records, as Aldo sadly passed away at the end of 2023. While ‘Who Saw Her Die?' appears to represent the pinnacle of his career, it's a vivid and engaging movie. Franco Di Giacomo's cinematography helps to bring out the best of the Venetian locations. You can't take a bad shot in the breathtakingly beautiful Venice, but nevertheless, Di Giacomo captures the early morning mists and the menace of the narrow streets at night when characters are fleeing from a murderer.
Also notable is the haunting choral score, using children's voices, by Ennio Morricone. In a long and prolific career, Morricone graduated from spaghetti westerns to becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after composers. His music for ‘Who Saw Her Die?' hits all of the right giallo notes. Intense, unsettling, repetitive and haunting, the central theme will reverberate around your head long after the final credits roll.
James Bond fans will enjoy seeing George Lazenby share screen time with celebrated Sicilian actor Adolfo Celi, who had played the principal villain Largo opposite Sean Connery's Bond in ‘Thunderball' the previous decade. José Quaglio is suitably sinister in a supporting role. The strikingly beautiful Anita Strindberg, who later gave up acting, plays Lazenby's estranged wife in perhaps her career-defining role.
Overall, ‘Who Saw Her Die?' is highly entertaining and makes a small budget go a long way by using the Venetian locations extremely well. Arguably it lacks the overall pace and wittiness of Argento at his best, but there's enough going on in the melodramatic plot to keep viewers hooked on the world of the story. George Lazenby is a likeable and credible leading actor and the location filming lifts it all to a whole new level. If you love a good giallo or you're a James Bond fan wanting to see George Lazenby prove he could do something totally different, then ‘Who Saw Her Die?' is well worth adding to your collection. It looks fantastic in this 2K Blu-ray restoration.
Cast: George Lazenby, Anita Strindberg, Nicoletta Elmi, Adolfo Celi, Dominique Boschero, Peter Chatel Director: Aldo Lado Writer: Francesco Barilli Released by: Shameless Films Certificate: 15 Duration: 94 mins Release date: 26th August 2024 Buy ‘Who Saw Her Die?'
