which they were partnered, either on the basis of the finished product or from comments made by Bava or oth- ers in interviews. In the case of La ragazza che sapeva troppo and its transformation into Evil Eye, however, there is less documentation than usual to tell us what happened, and why. But by connecting some dots, we can learn a bit more.
The fact that the film began shoot- ing in the spring of 1962 (according to Armando Govoni’s production diary) and was not delivered to the Italian censor until February 10, 1963— nearly a full year afterwards—indi- cates, at the very least, that some ad- ditional post-production filming was done later in the year. (One scene that appears only in the AIP version shows Leticia Roman and Robert Buchanan bundled up in warm-looking over- coats, which would not have been nec- essary for spring shooting in Rome. John Saxon is also conspicuously absent from the scene, though he ac- companied them in the dinner scene immediately preceding it.) The ending of the American version differs from that of the Italian one, but Govoni recalls that both were filmed during principal photography in the spring, and both do feature Saxon—who, if reshoots were done, was evidently not flown over for them. Evil Eye is sometimes touted as a “comic” version of La ragazza che sapeva troppo, but this is not entirely accurate. Whereas the Italian version is more or less a straight, if somewhat overwritten, suspense picture, Evil Eye is more of a suspense soufflé—a “brilliante horror thriller,” as John Saxon has aptly termed it—lighter in touch, more representative of the ex- pectations of a young American tour- ist visiting a foreign country, and it is built around a far more vivacious and spirited heroine. Of the two versions, Evil Eye also seems more expressive of Bava’s own personality—a complete turnabout from the usual state of AIP’s “revised” versions of his films.
US one-sheet poster, art by Albert Kallis.
8 To further complicate matters, the Warner Pathé pressbook for the film’s British release refers to the film’s heroine as “Nora Dralston.”
