Well, you know what they say in Italy,
"There's always room for Giallo," so here we go again under the new midweek flagship title of Weird & Wacky Wednesday, with
"La Ragazza Dal Pigiama Giallo", or as they say in English, "The Pyjama Girl Case" or "The Girl In The Yellow Pajamas!" I don't know who came up with "Pyjama" because as far as I know, that's not a word in the English language, last time I checked, but let's not get picky!
Yeah, you guessed it, this is an arty movie, and there's a charred and disfigured woman's body in one of those cars! The music is composed by Mr. Riz Ortalani, who you can read a lot a more about by searching his name on our search deal over there on the side! The sultry and sensuous voice you hear in the sound clip is that of Eurodisco Queen Amanda Lear, who is a whole story unto herself that I just don't have time to detail right now! You can look her up on Wikipedia, but here's just a couple of highlights of her public life.
Amanda Lear was literally Salvador Dali's
Muse, model, and traveling companion for 15 years or so, she seriously dated Brian Jones, Bryan Ferry, and had an affair with David Bowie, and has had a killer music, modeling, and more career! She also composed the songs she sings in this film, and was the model for this Roxy Music album cover which has nothing to do with this movie, but fits right in!
The main reason I wanted to see this film was because another Dungeon Hero, Ray Milland is in it! Our motto is: "If Ray's in it, we're watchin' it, and that's that!"
As a retired police inspector, Ray's daily routine is still not quite too normal!
I like this shot where Ray is pleading with the police to let him work on the case, as the two rocket surgeons assigned to the case mill around in the background with the body!
It's not official, but Ray gets the go ahead to do his own investigation! What a mug!!
Some of "La Ragazza Dal Pigiama Giallo" was shot in Italy, but the bulk of the movie was shot in Sydney, Australia! The story is based on a true murder mystery that happened in the 1930's!
So you've got this murder case going on, and then also there is another story happening here about this beautiful woman, Dalila Di Lazzaro as Glenda Blythe, and her crazy, mixed-up life! Dalila was also the female monster in "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" among many other things!
Glenda's life is very complicated for some reason, she has a female lover, Vanessa Vitale as Evelina, just for starters!
Here's Giacomo Assandri as Quint, the perv who lives on the beach near where the body was found, being questioned by Ray!
Upon departing, Ray takes a moment to reflect on some of Quint's erotic art collection, that he displays on his walls so proudly!
Another one of Glenda's lovers is Howard Ross as Roy! Howard's real name is Renato Rossini! I'm not sure what she sees in him! He's a jerk!
Just so you don't forget that this movie was filmed in Sydney!
They put the body on exhibition, in hopes of identifying it, and it comes across like a surreal classical painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres!!
There is no shortage of eccentric characters in "La Ragazza Dal Pigiama Giallo," and you can take that to the bank!
"La Ragazza Dal Pigiama Giallo" was directed by Flavio Mogherini, and the very fine cinematography was by Raúl Artigot and Carlo Carlini!!
Ray has a very good part as Inspector Thompson, and although he does figure out who the murderer is, he doesn't make it to the end of the film!
Michele Placido is Glenda's annoying husband, I don't see what she sees in him either!! He's a pendejo!
Mel Ferrer is Glenda's sugar daddy, but he can't show up because he's too busy when she really needs him!! He turns out to be just another loser!
So after everything breaks down in all her relationships, Glenda stoops way down low to take on this slimey sleazebag and his two friends, in a sweaty scene I could have done without!!
I think I'd be pretty worried about global warming if I lived near a graveyard by the ocean!
In a fitting and final scene, one of the big losers is hit by a bus full of majorettes!! Wow, what a movie!!
So what else could I follow Pyjama Girls and Sleeping Corpses with except another movie set on the coast, a surf and beach party movie in disguise as a Scientific Fictional "Pajama Party!"
"Pajama Party" is a sci-fi musical comedy beach movie that wiggles and shakes it's way along, with the help of Annette, Tommy Kirk, and whoever else Arkoff and Nicholson could find walking around the studio, to throw into the mix!
Jody McCrea as Big Lunk has the best line early on, when he says, "Hey guys, let's head to the beach for volleyball," and one of the other guys says, "...and leave the girls?" and Big Lunk comes back with, "Heck no, we need Vicki for setter!" Jody was in at least 6 'Beach Party' movies, and a couple of them, "Beach Party," and "Muscle Beach Party" stream for free at IMDB.com! What are you waiting for, there is no reason to worry about stuff like Korea, when we have Beach Party movies streaming 24/7! 
Tommy Kirk is Go Go, and he's from outer space, Mars, the planet! Tommy wouldn't play a Martian again until 1967, when he would return as Dop, in the Larry Buchanan stinker, "Mars Needs Women!" Believe it or don't, Tommy's joined here by ulta classic, Elsa"The Bride Of Frankenstein"Lanchester as good ole Aunt Wendy!
A man we've written about many times before, Les Baxter gets credit for the original music, but the songs sung by Annette and Donna Loren are written by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner, who between the two of them wrote music for all the Beach Party movies, and Guy Hemric also wrote the music for "The Mini-Skirt Mob," and "Wild In The Streets," and was one of the pajama boys in this movie!
Susan Hart is Jilda! Her job is to look hot, and she's very good at it! Director Don Weis likes to juxtaposition Susan's slow and senuous dance style with the manic twisting of the other girls as a sight gag! All the guys would like to do a little juxtaposing with her themselves! Susan was in "The Slime People," and was 'The Ghost' in "The Ghost In The Invisible Bikini!"
Center stage we now have Pajama Girl Toni "Hey Mickey, You're So Fine" Basil, who is still working as a choreographer today!!
One of the weirdest things I have ever witnessed in my life was back in about 1971, in Alaska, after a grueling 3 or 4 hour drive down a potholed gravel and dirt road, Dave and I arrived at the lodge in Mount McKinley Park, and when we went in, the place was like a ghost town, although there were plenty of vehicles in the parking lot, there was nobody around! We surveyed the scene, and eventually found all the people downstairs watching "Beach Party!" It was surreal!
It's time for Donna Loren to sing a song about how nice it is to be young, with the help of The Nooney Rickett 4!! Rough life!! That's the unstoppable Candy Johnson over on the right as Candy!
Susan's back distracting the boy's again!!! You can also see more of Susan Hart and a lot of these other characters in "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine," where she plays the notorious Robot #11!
Time for every boy's favorite sweetheart dreamgirl Annette Funicello, who was still making Disney movies, so she was asked by Walt Disney if she would not wear a two piece bathing suit, so she could keep her image super squeaky clean! It looks like they chose to shoot Annette against the blue screen, instead of actually going to the beach. The ocean air probably curled her hair! 
Tommy Kirk is such a great actor, and what a wild career, just for example, in between Go Go and Dop, Tommy had a close relationship with a monkey, had to deal with crazed giant teenagers, Dr. Goldfoot, and a ghost in an invisible bikini, on top of being given LSD to cure a Mother Goose obsession!
Eric Von Zipper and The Rat Pack multitasking as the bad guys and the extra comedy relief! Harvey Lembeck was Eric Von Zipper and the pack was rounded out with Alan Fife, Andy"Hill Street Blues"Romano, Bob Harvey, Linda Rogers, Alberta Nelson, and Jerry"The Stunt Man"Brutsche!
Aaah! How cute!! You know you wish you were a big stupid looking stuffed animal right about now!!
This little song and dance routine, entitled "Where Did I Go Wrong" was sung by Dorthy Lamour, and was also penned by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner. That's Toni Basil again doing the dancing! Among the other names of note who appear in "Pajama Party" are Don Rickles, Jesse White, Buster Keaton, and Terri Garr!!! Be there or be square, you don't wanna be a Pajama Party Pooper!
