The Evil Eye (1963) Synopsis

Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) is a young, sexually frustrated American woman who journeys to Rome, Italy to visit her elderly Aunt Edith. On the flight from New York to Rome, Nora is befriended by a young man sitting next to her on the plane who offers her a cigarette, and she accepts. He gives her his pack as a token of appreciation. Upon arrival at the airport, the man is arrested for smuggling drugs by custom officials who recognize him as a infamous drug smuggler.Upon arrival later that afternoon at her aunt's apartment, Nora is greeted by Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon). Marcello tells Nora that her aunt is very ill and that she needs absolute quite and rest. After giving her instructions in case of an emergency, the doctor leaves. Nora is obviously smitten with him.Later that same night, as a violent thunderstorm rages, Nora checks on her aunt who suddenly dies of a heart attack. After trying to phone Marcello at his house in which there is no answer, Nora flees from her aunt's apartment. On the street, Nora is attacked by a sailor-dressed purse snatcher. In the ensuing struggle with the thief, Nora is knocked unconscious. A few hours later, she is awakened by a woman's scream. To her horror, Nora looks up to see a young woman collapsing to the ground a few yards from her with a knife in her back. She also sees a strange man crouching over the dead woman's body. Nora then faints.The next morning, the soaked and unconscious Nora is discovered by a passing stranger, who attempts to awaken her by giving her some whisky. Noticing a policeman approaching, the stranger flees. The policeman notices the unconscious Nora and successfully revives her. But upon smelling liquor on her breath, the policeman immediately thinks that she's a drunk sleeping off a binge. Ranting a raving about seeing a woman killed, Nora is shocked when she sees that there is no body anywhere. With no identification on her, Nora is locked away in a hospital's lunatic asylum where she is diagnosed by a doctor an intern residents as suffering from "delirium tremors". Nora is soon rescued by Marcello, who happens to notice her while on his rounds.After she is released from the hospital, Nora tries to tell Marcello about what she saw. But he is skeptical, thinking that it was an hallucination brought on by double shock of her aunt's death and the subsequent attack by the purse snatcher. Convinced that she witnessed a murder, Nora plots not to give up and find the murder victim and the killer.At her aunt's funeral, Nora meets with Laura Craven-Torrani (Valentina Cortese) who introduces herself as a friend of her aunt's and she takes Nora to her house for some coffee. As she is going out of the country to visit her husband for a few days, Laura asks Nora to stay and look after her house. Nora is initially reluctant, but accepts the offer.During her first night at the house, Nora discovers a collection of old newspaper clippings. Among the articles is a story about Laura's sister, who had been brutally killed. The murder took place in the same area where she herself was attacked. The article also states that the crime was the latest in a string of so-called 'Alphabet Killings' (the first victim's last name began with the letter 'A', and then the letter 'B', and so on). Nora meets with Marcello the next day to tell him of her find and comes to two theories: first since no body was found, Nora thinks that she had a psychic vision of the killing. She might not have seen an actual killing, but the killing of Laura's sister in her mind's eyes. Second: since the last victim was named Craven, she realizes that the next victim will be somebody whose last name starts with the letter 'D', and her surname is Davis. Marcello again skeptically assures Nora that shes fretting over nothing.Meanwhile, Nora begins to receive crank phone calls. Afraid that her life is in danger, she rigs a crude burglar alarm by setting up a web of strings all along the entrance to the house. That night a policeman, who has been asked by Laura to stop by to see if everything is all right, enters and is attacked by Marcello who has been standing guard outside. The ensuing scuffle ends with the love-struck doctor falling on the burglar trap and breaking his left forefinger.Seeking to distract her from her worries, Marcello takes Nora on a trip to the various tourist sites in Rome. At the end of their day, they return to the Craven house where Nora gets another phone call. The anonymous caller tells her to go to a particular address. That evening, Nora goes to the address, which is a run-down boarding house, and is guided to a vacant room by the sound of a voice. Without realizing it, Nora has been followed by Marcello, and when he suddenly reveals himself, she hurts him once again by scratches his face, thinking him to be the killer. Together, they discover the voice to be emanating from a tape recorder. It warns Nora to leave Rome before she meets the same fate as Laura's sister. Nora and Marcello investigate and discover that the room is leased to a man named Andrea Landini (Dante Di Paolo), whom Nora recognizes as the author of the newspaper article regarding the Alphabet Killer.After several unsuccessful attempts to locate Landini, Marcello and Nora go to the beach for relaxation. Marcello's desires finally erupt and he practically forces himself on Nora. But Nora stops him by telling him that although she is interested in him too, she encourages him to wait for a more appropriate time to consummate their relationship. Upon their arrival back at the Craven house, they are shocked to discover a stranger sitting in the living room. It is Andrea Landini, who had been informed that they were inquiring about him. Landini explains that he became obsessed with finding the Alphabet Killer, and that he collaborated with the police while writing a series of articles about the killings. When the police arrested and convicted a man whom Landini knew to be innocent, he kept on writing articles, using them as a opportunity to criticize the police for jumping to the wrong conclusions. He soon lost his job at the newspaper, but he continued to investigate the matter. Landini also explains that he was the one who tried to revived with her whisky, and he believes her to be the mostly likely target for the killer. Because of this, he has been following her ever since. Though Marcello is distrustful of him, Nora agrees to collaborate with Landini. Nora's teaming with Landini finds them venturing across Rome inquiring about the first two alphabet victims and of their connection to one another. But the results only lead to dead ends.The following day, Nora goes to meet with Landini at his apartment. She is perplexed to find that the apparent sounds of typing are actually emanating from Landinis tape recorder. When she finds a photo of herself labeled 'Fourth Victim', she becomes convinced that he is the killer. However, the matter seems to resolve itself when she finds Landinis body, an apparent suicide, with a note of confession by his side.That same day, Laura returns to Rome from her trip abroad. Nora and Marcello plan to go to America the following morning, and she agrees to spend one more night in the Craven house. Then Nora reads the daily newspaper where the body of a young woman was found, and she recognizes it as the murdered woman she saw that night. After identifying it at the morgue, Nora begins to realize that she may have indeed witnessed the killing after all.That night, when Laura is apparently out, Nora notices that the study door is open. Especially since Laura had earlier remarked on her husband instance that the room be locked at all times. Nora cannot resist the temptation to enter the room. In the study, Nora notices an adjoining door, and s sliver of light shining thought the bottom. Upon opening the door, she sees a man rising uncomfortably from his chair. Nora recognizes him as the same man standing over the dead body of the woman from that night. He then walks towards Nora, and collapses to the floor with a knife in his back. Nora attempts to flee, but is prevented by Laura. No longer acting like the good-natured woman as previously seen, the crazed and wild-eyed Laura confesses to the killings and explains that she just stabbed her husband because of his attempts to turn her over to the police. Laura reveals that the alphabet system is all a hoax meant to cover up the real motivation: the desire to steal her sister's money compelled her to murder. The trill of killing has apparently warped her mind, and Laura is now completely deranged. Before she can kill Nora, Laura is suddenly shot dead by her husband through the study door.In the final comic scene, Nora is happily reunited with Marcello. Marcello asks Nora for a cigarette, but after she gives him one, she is reminded of an important incident. The pack of cigarettes that Nora accepted on the plane to Italy in the opening scene were laced with a marijuana and cocaine combination. On the night of her aunt's death, Nora smoked a few of these cigarettes, and consequently she had interpreted the situation incorrectly. Though she witnessed an actual killing, her blurred memory confused the facts. The man she saw at the scene was Laura's husband, but he was not the killer. He was merely disposing of the body of the woman that Laura stabbed. When Nora comes to realize this, she takes the lighted cigarette away from Marcello and crushes it, saying that it's about time they both gave up smoking. She takes the pack of cigarettes and pitched it over the balcony where they are. The tainted pack of cigarettes are picked up by a passing priest who takes one out to light it up.

Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) is a young, sexually frustrated American woman who journeys to Rome, Italy to visit her elderly Aunt Edith. On the flight from New York to Rome, Nora is befriended by a young man sitting next to her on the plane who offers her a cigarette, and she accepts. He gives her his pack as a token of appreciation. Upon arrival at the airport, the man is arrested for smuggling drugs by custom officials who recognize him as a infamous drug smuggler.Upon arrival later that afternoon at her aunt's apartment, Nora is greeted by Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon). Marcello tells Nora that her aunt is very ill and that she needs absolute quite and rest. After giving her instructions in case of an emergency, the doctor leaves. Nora is obviously smitten with him.Later that same night, as a violent thunderstorm rages, Nora checks on her aunt who suddenly dies of a heart attack. After trying to phone Marcello at his house in which there is no answer, Nora flees from her aunt's apartment. On the street, Nora is attacked by a sailor-dressed purse snatcher. In the ensuing struggle with the thief, Nora is knocked unconscious. A few hours later, she is awakened by a woman's scream. To her horror, Nora looks up to see a young woman collapsing to the ground a few yards from her with a knife in her back. She also sees a strange man crouching over the dead woman's body. Nora then faints.The next morning, the soaked and unconscious Nora is discovered by a passing stranger, who attempts to awaken her by giving her some whisky. Noticing a policeman approaching, the stranger flees. The policeman notices the unconscious Nora and successfully revives her. But upon smelling liquor on her breath, the policeman immediately thinks that she's a drunk sleeping off a binge. Ranting a raving about seeing a woman killed, Nora is shocked when she sees that there is no body anywhere. With no identification on her, Nora is locked away in a hospital's lunatic asylum where she is diagnosed by a doctor an intern residents as suffering from "delirium tremors". Nora is soon rescued by Marcello, who happens to notice her while on his rounds.After she is released from the hospital, Nora tries to tell Marcello about what she saw. But he is skeptical, thinking that it was an hallucination brought on by double shock of her aunt's death and the subsequent attack by the purse snatcher. Convinced that she witnessed a murder, Nora plots not to give up and find the murder victim and the killer.At her aunt's funeral, Nora meets with Laura Craven-Torrani (Valentina Cortese) who introduces herself as a friend of her aunt's and she takes Nora to her house for some coffee. As she is going out of the country to visit her husband for a few days, Laura asks Nora to stay and look after her house. Nora is initially reluctant, but accepts the offer.During her first night at the house, Nora discovers a collection of old newspaper clippings. Among the articles is a story about Laura's sister, who had been brutally killed. The murder took place in the same area where she herself was attacked. The article also states that the crime was the latest in a string of so-called 'Alphabet Killings' (the first victim's last name began with the letter 'A', and then the letter 'B', and so on). Nora meets with Marcello the next day to tell him of her find and comes to two theories: first since no body was found, Nora thinks that she had a psychic vision of the killing. She might not have seen an actual killing, but the killing of Laura's sister in her mind's eyes. Second: since the last victim was named Craven, she realizes that the next victim will be somebody whose last name starts with the letter 'D', and her surname is Davis. Marcello again skeptically assures Nora that shes fretting over nothing.Meanwhile, Nora begins to receive crank phone calls. Afraid that her life is in danger, she rigs a crude burglar alarm by setting up a web of strings all along the entrance to the house. That night a policeman, who has been asked by Laura to stop by to see if everything is all right, enters and is attacked by Marcello who has been standing guard outside. The ensuing scuffle ends with the love-struck doctor falling on the burglar trap and breaking his left forefinger.Seeking to distract her from her worries, Marcello takes Nora on a trip to the various tourist sites in Rome. At the end of their day, they return to the Craven house where Nora gets another phone call. The anonymous caller tells her to go to a particular address. That evening, Nora goes to the address, which is a run-down boarding house, and is guided to a vacant room by the sound of a voice. Without realizing it, Nora has been followed by Marcello, and when he suddenly reveals himself, she hurts him once again by scratches his face, thinking him to be the killer. Together, they discover the voice to be emanating from a tape recorder. It warns Nora to leave Rome before she meets the same fate as Laura's sister. Nora and Marcello investigate and discover that the room is leased to a man named Andrea Landini (Dante Di Paolo), whom Nora recognizes as the author of the newspaper article regarding the Alphabet Killer.After several unsuccessful attempts to locate Landini, Marcello and Nora go to the beach for relaxation. Marcello's desires finally erupt and he practically forces himself on Nora. But Nora stops him by telling him that although she is interested in him too, she encourages him to wait for a more appropriate time to consummate their relationship. Upon their arrival back at the Craven house, they are shocked to discover a stranger sitting in the living room. It is Andrea Landini, who had been informed that they were inquiring about him. Landini explains that he became obsessed with finding the Alphabet Killer, and that he collaborated with the police while writing a series of articles about the killings. When the police arrested and convicted a man whom Landini knew to be innocent, he kept on writing articles, using them as a opportunity to criticize the police for jumping to the wrong conclusions. He soon lost his job at the newspaper, but he continued to investigate the matter. Landini also explains that he was the one who tried to revived with her whisky, and he believes her to be the mostly likely target for the killer. Because of this, he has been following her ever since. Though Marcello is distrustful of him, Nora agrees to collaborate with Landini. Nora's teaming with Landini finds them venturing across Rome inquiring about the first two alphabet victims and of their connection to one another. But the results only lead to dead ends.The following day, Nora goes to meet with Landini at his apartment. She is perplexed to find that the apparent sounds of typing are actually emanating from Landinis tape recorder. When she finds a photo of herself labeled 'Fourth Victim', she becomes convinced that he is the killer. However, the matter seems to resolve itself when she finds Landinis body, an apparent suicide, with a note of confession by his side.That same day, Laura returns to Rome from her trip abroad. Nora and Marcello plan to go to America the following morning, and she agrees to spend one more night in the Craven house. Then Nora reads the daily newspaper where the body of a young woman was found, and she recognizes it as the murdered woman she saw that night. After identifying it at the morgue, Nora begins to realize that she may have indeed witnessed the killing after all.That night, when Laura is apparently out, Nora notices that the study door is open. Especially since Laura had earlier remarked on her husband instance that the room be locked at all times. Nora cannot resist the temptation to enter the room. In the study, Nora notices an adjoining door, and s sliver of light shining thought the bottom. Upon opening the door, she sees a man rising uncomfortably from his chair. Nora recognizes him as the same man standing over the dead body of the woman from that night. He then walks towards Nora, and collapses to the floor with a knife in his back. Nora attempts to flee, but is prevented by Laura. No longer acting like the good-natured woman as previously seen, the crazed and wild-eyed Laura confesses to the killings and explains that she just stabbed her husband because of his attempts to turn her over to the police. Laura reveals that the alphabet system is all a hoax meant to cover up the real motivation: the desire to steal her sister's money compelled her to murder. The trill of killing has apparently warped her mind, and Laura is now completely deranged. Before she can kill Nora, Laura is suddenly shot dead by her husband through the study door.In the final comic scene, Nora is happily reunited with Marcello. Marcello asks Nora for a cigarette, but after she gives him one, she is reminded of an important incident. The pack of cigarettes that Nora accepted on the plane to Italy in the opening scene were laced with a marijuana and cocaine combination. On the night of her aunt's death, Nora smoked a few of these cigarettes, and consequently she had interpreted the situation incorrectly. Though she witnessed an actual killing, her blurred memory confused the facts. The man she saw at the scene was Laura's husband, but he was not the killer. He was merely disposing of the body of the woman that Laura stabbed. When Nora comes to realize this, she takes the lighted cigarette away from Marcello and crushes it, saying that it's about time they both gave up smoking. She takes the pack of cigarettes and pitched it over the balcony where they are. The tainted pack of cigarettes are picked up by a passing priest who takes one out to light it up.

Published Time: 2021-04-02 15:35:44