As one of the lesser-known giallo titles (gialli are a type of Italian thriller), soon to be released to DVD by those purveyors of delectable cinematic delights, Blue Underground, The Pyjama Girl Case is also an atypical entry in this most distinctive of genres. For example, the film is based (quite loosely) on an actual unsolved murder committed in the 1930s, that to this day is still enveloped in deception and mystery. Much of the film was also shot in Australia, where the murder took place, removing the film from the typical and familiar Euro locales for which gialli are so well known.

The film opens on a beach where a young girl clutching an umbrella and a doll wends her way up the sandy, picturesque shoreline. Nearby, motorbikes race through the crashing surf as the girl sits next to an abandoned wreck of a car. Suddenly the little girl screams as a charred, lifeless arm falls from the mangled wreck, and rests its twisted hand on the doll's head. Once removed from the wreckage, it's discovered that the corpse is that of a woman whose face is so disfigured that the yellow pyjamas which she is found wearing serve as the major clue to her identity.

While busy spritzing the orchids in his glorious greenhouse, a semi-retired Inspector named Thompson receives a phone call from one of his colleagues about the unidentified woman's body, and the mystery surrounding it. Eager to trade in his flower mister for a flowering mystery, Thompson goes gum-shoeing once again in his search for both the identity of the woman, and her vicious killer(s).

This is a film that may leave those who possess a strict definition of what defines a giallo a little disappointed. In addition to the aforementioned departures, The Pyjama Girl Case does not feature a string of bloody, carnage-crazed murders and a faceless killer dispatching undressed damsels. Rather, there is only one murder, which serves as the catalyst for the film, and the ensuing investigation. Also, whereas the police are often on the periphery of gialli, in The Pyjama Girl Case they are on the forefront, the results of which are a film that is more police procedural than gore-gushing, mayhem-filled murder mystery.

In addition to familiar faces like the debonaire Mel Ferrer, and the fetching Dalila Di Lazzaro, the film features the acting talents of Academy Award-winner Ray Milland as the over-the-hill Inspector Thompson. Milland turns in a nice, and surprisingly spry performance as the curmudgeonly Inspector who everyone thinks is long past his prime, and whose unflagging desire to investigate is merely tolerated by his peers due to his decorated past. In part, the role Milland plays mirrors his own career as an actor whose best years, and most highly regarded roles, were far behind him.

In addition to Milland's performance, Thompson's storyline really anchors the film and his investigation is far more interesting, and substantially more bizarre, than that of his humdrum fellow investigators. Unfortunately, the storyline for Inspector Thompson, shopworn it may be, is mishandled quite badly as the film progresses, and as a result, The Pyjama Girl Case ultimately suffers for it.