SHORT NIGHT OF GLASS DOLLS (1971)

In a park in Prague, the body of reporter Gregory Moore is found. A doctor says, "Call the morgue," but in fact Moore is still barely alive, in a catatonic state. The doctors can detect no life but his body remains unusually warm so he is left on the slab for a time before an autopsy is performed and he narrates his story to us through an interior monologue. Gregory is dating young and sexy Mira and is trying to get her smuggled out of the Communist country to join him in Berlin. At a party, we meet Jessica, another reporter and former lover of Gregory's who is clearly jealous of Mira. A report of a death nearby draws Gregory from the party, but it turns out to be false. When he returns, he finds Mira is missing. Along with Jessica and another reporter, Jacques, Gregory investigates and discovers that young women have been disappearing from the streets of Prague for some time. Clues lead to a private social group of older people that meets at the Klub 99, ostensibly to listen to chamber music concerts. Elements of youth worship and black magic (including a not very sexy orgy) crop up before the surprisingly unsettling climax on the autopsy table. This Italian film directed by Aldo Lado has been accepted into the giallo canon even though it's short on gore and sex and elaborate setpieces; it's basically a mystery—Gregory acts like a detective more effectively than the real cops—with a horror overlay and excursions into not-so-subtle political commentary on authoritarian governments. The setup is reminiscent of the classic noir D.O.A. in which a man who has been fatally poisoned has only a few days left before he dies to find out who his killer is. The narrative meanders a bit and the long flashback is broken up by brief scenes on the autopsy table as a doctor keeps trying to figure out what's going on with this seemingly dead body. Visually, the movie is not particularly distinguished, but handsome French actor Jean Sorel (pictured) delivers a good if somewhat lightweight performance as Gregory. The lovely Barbara Bach has limited screen time as Mira, and Ingrid Thulin, a regular in Ingmar Bergman movies—and top billed above Sorel—is effective as Jessica, keeping us guessing for a time whose side she's on. The climax is a shocker. The title means nothing that I could figure out; its original title, Short Night of the Butterflies, makes a bit more sense due to a reference by Mira about collecting butterflies that can't fly. [YouTube]