In Prague, the body of American journalist Gregory Moore (Jean Sorel) is found and brought to the emergency room. With no pulse or heartbeat, he is pronounced dead and sent to the morgue. He is fitted with a toe tag and put in cold storage. Gregory is actually alive but is unable to move. Still with his brain functioning he tries to piece together what happened to put him in this state.
He remembers picking up his girlfriend Mira Svoboda (Barbara Bach) at the train station. They make love and talk about the future. Gregory is being transferred to London and wants Mira to go with him. Gregory takes her to a fancy party where Mira is ogled by all the men there. After the party they return to Gregory’s apartment. Later that night he gets a call from his fellow journalist, Jacques Versain (Mario Adorf) about a story. The call turns out to be a ruse. When he returns to his apartment Mira is gone.
As he is remembering, his friend, Ivan (Relja Basic), who is also a doctor, shows up at the morgue. Ivan hears about Gregory’s lack of rigor and consistent body temperature. Ivan decides to try to reanimate his friend but ultimately, he is unsuccessful.
Kommissar Kierkoff (Piero Vida), from the police department, is useless. Gregory decides to do his own investigation. He enlists Jacques and Jessica (Ingrid Thulin). Jessica is another reporter which whom he had an affair previous to meeting Mira. Jessica is still a little jealous but agrees to help. Gregory recalls that the only time Mira wasn’t alone with him was when they went to the party at Valinski’s (Jose Quaglio). They begin questioning everyone that talked to Mira that night. They begin with a man named Professor Karting (Fabijan Sovagovic). Running through the list they get nowhere.
The investigation uncovers a number of beautiful girls that went missing in Prague. Gregory begins questioning the relatives of the missing girls. He is met with a lot of fear. When one relative agrees to meet with him, he is murdered in front of Gregory. On him is a membership card to a place called Klub 99. Gregory learns that Klub 99 caters to a satanic cult that partakes in black magic rituals.
“Short Night of Glass Dolls” AKA “La corta notte delle bambole di vetro” AKA “The Short Night of the Butterfly” AKA “Paralyzed” was released in 1971 and was directed by Aldo Lado. It is a horror mystery and an Italian giallo.
It is a strange film in that it is both intense and a bit confusing at times. Unlike most giallos there isn’t a lot of blood or gore but there is a lot of creepiness that is disturbing. The scenes where Gregory is on a slab in the morgue, unable to move but aware of everything around him, are the stuff of horror films. I did find that the unfolding of the events prior to the paralyzing of Gregory were a little slow. One other little point, you don’t exactly know what the cabal did to make Gregory a frozen zombie; you just know it worked, really well.
The setting of Prague adds to the unsettling feel of the film. Although Prague is a beautiful city, it is also mysterious, exotic and a bit unnerving. The Kommissar’s immediate suspicion of Gregory also adds some intimidating aspects as well.