Review of Short Night of Glass Dolls

In Prague, a man is found dead and sent to the morgue. The coroner finds his passport and identifies the American journalist Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel).He finds strange his body temperature and the absence of rigor mortis. However, Gregory is alive and totally paralyzed and recalls all the previous events. Gregory works in Prague with the journalists Jessica (Ingrid Thulin), with whom he had a love affair, and Jacques Versain (Mario Adorf). He will be transferred to London and meets his girlfriend Mira Svoboda (Barbara Bach) to invite her to travel with him. They go to a party and then he returns to his apartment with Mira. During the night, Jacques calls him to investigate the death of a minister. However the information is fake and when he returns to the apartment, he finds that Mira has gone missing. The inefficient Inspector Kierkoff (Piero Vida) is in charge of the investigation and Gregory finds that several young women have disappeared in Prague. He carries out his own investigation culminating to find a mysterious cult. Meanwhile his friend and doctor finds weird the condition of his corpse and tries to revive Gregory. Will he succeed?

"La corta notte delle bambole di vetro", a.k.a. "Short Night of Glass Dolls", is a totally different giallo. The story has no gore and slightly recalls the idea of "Sunset Boulevard", where a dead man tells the previous series of events until his death, and "Rosemary's Baby" since there are many people involved in a satanic cult. The conclusion is excellent with no redemption. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Breve Noite das Bonecas de Vidro" ("The Short Night of the Glass Dolls")

Note: On 11 June 2020 I saw this film again.