L'oiseau au plumage de cristal

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage was Dario Argento's first film and it made him a hot property. Having had very little experience with actual filmmaking, he showed incredible potential with his debut and he took full advantage of it in years to come. Here he explored a lot of the scenarios that would later charectarize his films.

With this film, and particularly his next, Dario showed he had been influenced quite a bit by the great Alfred Hitchcock. The theme here; an american in a foreign country becomes a witness to a heinous crime and starts investigating himself; bears more than a little resemblance to many of Hitchcock's films. An innocent man finds his morbid curiosity getting the better of him and as he progresses in his investigations he puts himself in grave danger. The story unfolds in a similar way to Hitchcock's films, clues are gathered periodically and there's a surprise in the end which is hard to guess, but not impossible.

Argento gradually builds up the suspense and creates a genuinely intriguing mystery. The film never slows down too much and it never fails to be interesting. It's also got a surprising amount of laughs. But in comparing Argento to Hitchcock, Argento manages to create a style of his own, which he would perfect in Profondo Rosso aka Deep Red a few years later. That's of course the visual style. Here he has the assistance of one Vittorio Storaro and the visual aspect of this film is one of it's greatest assets. The film is wonderfully lit every single time and Argento switches effortlessly between dark and dreary visuals to shiny happy images. Argento's visual style is one of his greatest trademarks and it bears some influence from the likes of Mario Bava. I don't want to name any particular scenes, they all flow well together.

Another terrific Argento trademark is the music. Ennio Morricone's score is nothing short of fantastic, ranges from cathcy repetetive melodies to haunting sounds of fear. I think the impact from Argento's films would lessen considerably would it not be for those terrific scores he gets every time.

However, Argento is not perfect. He seems to lessen his standards when it comes to the acting department. Here, the characters are a bit wooden and he doesn't give them all that good lines to deliver. The dialogue in many of his films seem a little childish. And it doesn't look like he gives them many instructions, the acting here (and in most of his films) is shaky and not very consistent. It has been said about Argento that he basically thinks of actors as human props, what's most important is where they are positioned and how they move. Also, it's very annoying how he dubs every film, even the american actors have to do voice overs on themselves.

That said, Argento has more pro's than con's. His films are always interesting and wonderful to look at. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is in my opinion one of his best. 9 out of 10.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Written by Dario Argento; Produced by Salvatore Argento (an Italian-German co-production); released in American by UMC (United Marion Corporation). Photographed by Vittorio Storaro; Edited by Franco Fraticelli; Music by Ennio Morricone. Starring Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrio Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi and Mario Adorf.

Argento's first film is an Italian tour of Hitchcockland. This tale of psychological terror is an incredibly scary murder mystery about a black hatted and coated maniac on the loose in Rome. Fine photography by Vittorio Storaro and Ennio Morricone's beautiful/terrorific score help to build up tension. The key to the mystery is shown but is quite difficult to spot. It's quite representative of the new "case study' style of psychological horror films.

The stunning debut by Dario Argento the Italian Master of Terror deals with Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante), he is an American writer currently living in Rome with his model girlfriend Julia (Suzy Kendall). Sam meets with Carlo (Renato Romano) who gives him a check for his most recent work., Sam passes a small art gallery where he witnesses the attack of a woman (Eva Renzi) by a mysterious black-gloved assailant dressed in a raincoat. Sam then becomes involved in the mystery , carrying out a personal investigation to clear who's the alleged psychopatic murderer. Finally the police arrive and Sam discusses what he saw to Inspector Morosini (Enrico Maria Salerno). All the screaming in the world won't help!. A Jack-the-Ripper type story...with a twist!. Shock! Goosebump Tension!. Spine-tingling suspense that made Hitchcock a household word!. If you think you are being followed home from this movie, keep telling yourself that it's all in your mind !.

Vintage Argento mayhem with thriller, suspense, grisly killings, intrigue, twists and turns. A stunning portrait in psycho-terror, stars Tony Musante as an American writer living in Rome who witnesses a murder resulting in fateful consequences, along with other fine performers at the time, such as: Suzy Kendall , Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho, Renato Romano, Giuseppe Castellan, Werner Peters Reggie Nader and Mario Adorf. In his film debut Argento proves his capacity and skill on the cinematic shooting, showing the initial trademarks to be developed in his following films. This first important movie ¨The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" became an international hit, despite having continuous discussions with the main star, Tony Musante, who even claimed some authorship of the story. Argento followed up with two more thrillers, ¨The Cat o' Nine Tails¨ (1971), starring Karl Malden and James Franciscus, and ¨Four Flies on Grey Velvet¨(1971) starring Michael Brandon and Mimsy Farmer whose character and aspect bears remarkable resemblance to wife Daria Nocolodi which made her quite angry. These films were backed by his father Salvatore Argento who was the major promoter and producer, who financed all his projects and sometimes limited the highly imaginative and expensive productions that came out of Dario's mind. After this successful L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo(1970) in which Argento got a big hit in North America, he temporarily settled in the US, where he collaborated with director George A. Romero on the two-part horror-thriller ¨Two Evil Eyes¨ (1990) (he had previously collaborated with Romero on the horror action thriller ¨Dawn of the Dead¨ (1978)).

There's a suspenseful and thrilling musical score by maestro Morricone, including typical Ennio sounds. As well as a luxurious and evocative cinematography by expert cameraman Vittorio Storaro who would subsequently have a prestigious career for the best international directors. The motion picture was competent and originally directed by Dario Argento. Later ¨the bird with crystal plumage¨ Dario went back to directing so-called "giallo" thrillers, starting with ¨Deep Red¨ (1975), a violent mystery-thriller starring David Hemmings that inspired a number of international directors in the thriller-horror genre. His next work was ¨Suspiria¨ (1977), his masterpiece, a surreal horror film about a witch's coven that was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, which he also wrote in collaboration with his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red") and most of Argento's films from then to the late 1980s. However, due to some vicissitudes, discussions and the little recognition of Nicolodi's authorship, it gave rise to the sad marital separation between her and Dario, which caused him deep sorrow. Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with ¨Inferno¨ (1980), before returning to the "giallo" genre with ¨Tenebrae¨(1982), a sort of gory whodunit, and then with the haunting ¨Phenomena¨ (1985) with a very young actress: Jennifer Connellly. ). While still living in America, Argento appeared in small roles in several films and directed another violent mystery thriller, ¨Trauma¨ (1993), which starred his youngest daughter Asia Argento from his long-term relationship with Nicolodi. Argento returned to Italy in 1995, where he made a comeback in the horror genre with ¨The Stendhal Syndrome¨ (1996) and then with another version of "Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera",¨ The Phantom of the Opera¨ (1998), both of which starred Asia, in this last film she had her first on-screen love scene in front of her father, and where Asia said she lost her virginity. Most recently, Argento directed a number of "giallo" mystery thrillers such as: ¨Sleepless¨ (2001), ¨The Card Player¨ (2003) and ¨Do You Like Hitchcock?¨ (2005), as well as two gory, supernatural-themed episodes of the USA TV cable anthology series ¨Masters of Horror¨ (2005). Having always wanted to make a third chapter to his "Three Mothers" horror films, Argento finally completed the trilogy in 2007 with the release of ¨Mother of Tears¨ (2007). In addition to his Gothic and violent style of storytelling, "La terza madre" has many references to two of his previous films, "Suspiria" (1997) and "Inferno" (1980), which is a must for fans of the trilogy. L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo(1970) rating: 7/10. Essential and indispensable seeing for Dario Argento fans.

Dario Argento has come a long way since his first giallo. With classics such as Deep Red, Suspiria and Tenebrae under his belt he is often recognised as Italy's greatest horror director (rightly so). His style that he uses in all his movies is very noticeable here. The excellent score, long tracking shots, bloody murders and the shocking twist at the end. Although Bird with the Crystal Plumage is not as gruesome as his others and the twist not as shocking, he had to start somewhere.

Sam, an American writer in Rome witnesses the stabbing of woman in an art gallery but is powerless to help as he is trapped between two glass doors. The woman survives though, and the police tell Sam she is the first surviving victim of a serial killer. The police keep Sam in Rome which annoys him quite a bit but he soon starts to investigate after someone tries to kill him.

Bird with the Crystal Plumage, although not his best work, is still an intriguing and well-made movie. The acting is good, the score excellent and the twist sure surprised me! This is highly recommended for Argento fans.

4/5

An American writer witnesses an attempted murder and gets on the wrong side of the attacker as they try to finish him off to keep him from investigating any further.

While not as explicit as future gialli, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage ushered in a new kind of suspense film. It's violent, gory, and overtly sexual at times. The major twist is a real shocker.