The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970)
If you think you are being followed home from this movie, keep telling yourself that it's all in your mind.
Director - Dario Argento
Writers - Dario Argento, Bryan Edgar Wallace
Fredric Brown – Novel
Starring - Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho, Renato Romano, Giuseppe Castallano, Mario Adorf, Pino Patti, Gildo Di Marco, Rosito Torosh, Omar Bonaro, Fulvio Mingozzi, Werner Peters, Karen Valenti
Review by The_Void
Argento's debut Giallo is a fine one indeed
Bird with the Crystal Plumage, the first and best of the "Animals" trilogy is an important film. First of all, it's the directorial debut of a man who is without doubt one of the finest and most important horror directors to ever pick up a camera, and secondly because this is a film that set a lot of the ground rules that Argento would abide by in his later movies; such as the harassing phone calls, the protagonist that sees something that later turns out to be something else and, of course, the black gloved killer. The plot follows Sam Dalmas, an American writer, staying in Rome that witnesses the attempted murder of a young woman inside an art gallery. After initially helping the police by telling them as much as he knows, Sam decides to conduct an investigation into the murder on his own. However, as he delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, he becomes more and more intrigued and has to find out who the killer is - even though he might just end up the next victim.
The principal reason that Bird With the Crystal Plumage succeeds is it's plotting. Italian horror has never been known for coherent plots, but with this film you'd be forgiven for forgetting that. Unlike with some of his other films, Argento clearly knows what he wants to do with this film and he does it. The plotting is efficient, and little time is wasted deviating away from the central premise, which allows Argento to connect with story and bring out the best from it. The film creates an almost constant sense of dread and tension, and we really feel like the killer is on our protagonist's tail all the time. This is done by all sorts of methods, such as the phone calls from the killer to things such as our hero being chased while out for a walk with his girlfriend. Argento constantly keeps his audience on the edge of their seat by throwing in these things, and also by the way that the murder investigation is conduced. Argento puts his audience at the centre of the riddle and via the various clues that Argento gives us, we are able to work the mystery out for ourselves. Bird With the Crystal Plumage also features an incredible soundtrack courtesy of a man that is probably the greatest composer of all time – Ennio Morricone. Ennio's score doesn't rival the ones that he did for Sergio Leone (what does?), but it is a great score in it's own right and more than does the film proud.
Even though this film is the first that Argento ever directed, it easily stands up to the rest of his oeuvre and surpasses most of it, mostly due to the fact that it's such an assured picture. With his later Giallo's, such as Profondo Rosso or Tenebre, Argento would become more ambitious and start adding more to his plots, and don't get me wrong; I'm a big fan of those films, but with this one Argento has proved that a film doesn't need a big plot to create an enticing mystery. Bird With the Crystal Plumage is at the very top of the Giallo sub genre and easily ranks as one of the best films that Argento ever made. Highly recommended viewing.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
Review by Wayne Malin
Very good, especially for Argento fans, 25 May 2001
A writer notices a woman being attacked and tries to save her. She survives...but now the killer is after him. A very early Argento film (I believe his first) shows all the trademarks that he perfected in his later films--shots from the killers POV; the killer being in a black trenchcoat; the stalking sequences; the eye looking through the hole in the door; the killings; the great use of wide screen. The only thing missing is graphic gore (the film is PG)...there are murders but they're pretty tame. The story is fairly interesting with huge gaps in logic (an Argento trademark) and has some very good, suspenseful moments. The dubbing does detract and the acting is pretty bad, but Argento keeps things moving quickly and some of his direction is astounding. Worth seeing. If you're an Argento fan (like me) this is a must-see. Also, it has the be seen in a theatre or letter-boxed...that's the only way it would work.
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