Valentina Cortese & John Saxon in The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

Obscurity factor: 6

Keeping with the "woman in danger" thriller theme from yesterday we find Nora (Leticia Roman) visiting Rome to care for a sick aunt. After her aunt dies she is invited to stay in the home of a new acquaintance, Laura (Valentina Cortese) while she's away on vacation. She witnesses a murder, but is told that it must have been a hallucination because the crime had been committed 10 years earlier - part of a grisly series of murders by a serial killer dubbed the Alphabet Killer. As she tries to make sense of it all she begins to suspect she may be the next victim. The only one she can turn to for help is a young doctor (John Saxon), but can she trust him?

Poster source: Wikipedia

This film is part of the Italian Giallo film movement and was directed by Mario Bava. It's very moody and atmospheric and while the story takes some suspension of disbelief to swallow, it has a very stylish quality to it that makes it interesting.

This film, which was renamed The Evil Eye for the American market is available on DVD and can be seen in its entirety on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by monster4josh.

Obscurity factor: 6 (available on DVD & YouTube, known to Gaillo fans, largely unknown to the general public)

Valentina Cortese & Richard Basehart in The House on Telegraph Hill 1951

Hard core film buffs will know Valentina Cortese and Richard Basehart. They're both film industry veterans and have done some significant cinema, however, the casual fan might be unfamiliar with their work. The House on Telegraph Hill, (1951) masterfully directed by Robert Wise, is a great opportunity to see them at their best. This film is beautifully crafted and delightfully suspenseful. It centers around a woman who takes the identity of a deceased, wealthy friend after being imprisoned with her in a concentration camp during WWII. She emigrates to the US to rejoin the woman's son, who was in infant when she was imprisoned. The boy's father was killed in the war, and no one in his prominent San Francisco family knows the mother personally, so she has a chance of taking over her life quietly and completely.  Upon arrival she's welcomed with open arms but strange and accidents begin happening.

I highly recommend this film. It's very well made and lots of fun to watch. It's available on DVD and the trailer is on YouTube. I can't caution you strongly enough against watching the trailer, though. It has some really unfortunate spoilers in it. Avoid it at all costs until you've seen the film. The poster above is available at MoviePostershop.com

Obscurity Factor: 3 (available on DVD, considered a cult classic in some circles)