L'oiseau au plumage de cristal

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.

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.

It's of course definitely true that the earliest Giallo's are also most definitely the best ones and the same can be said for Dario Argento's movies. And this movie was not just his first Giallo but also his first movie in general! And what a great debut it was for him! This movie is definitely being one of his bests and one of the better Giallo movies out there in general.

Finally a good Giallo again! I absolutely love the genre but I have to admit that most of the movies in it are extremely mediocre. Absolutely nothing tops "Profondo rosso", which also got directed by Argento but I can at least say that this movie comes close at times and especially considering that this is one of the earliest movies out of the genre, I really have to take my hat off for this one.

Some good mystery, some good characters, some great tension and killings. In other words, plenty to enjoy for the Giallo lovers in this movie. I think that this movie did a great job with its storytelling and the way it was handling its almost constantly present tension and mystery. Also good news about all of it is that it doesn't fall flat at the end, as often is the case with these type of movies.

The movie uses some great and at times also innovative cinematography, which helps to create a certain mood and tension for the movie, which all definitely helps to make this a very effective one within its genre.

And if you still aren't convinced to watch this movie, let me throw in a couple of more names, besides Dario Argento's; Ennio Morricone and Reggie Nalder. Nalder is a great character actor, I have seen popping up in a wide variety of movies. I have even seen a skin flick with him in it, which is all the more shocking once you know how Reggie Nalder looks. Luckily he himself didn't got nude in it but I always enjoy seeing him in movies and he often plays the quiet, scary looking henchman, as he basically also does in this movie.

And then there is also still the Ennio Morricone musical score. Most people don't really know it but by far most of Morricone's musical scores are some weird ones, that still have lots of quality to them though. As does the score to this movie, which is one Ennio Morricone himself is even proud off, since he often plays it at some of his concerts.

Finally a Giallo movie again of which I can truly and honestly say it's a great one, that I absolutely enjoyed watching.

8/10

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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

I recently bought a bunch of Argento movies on laserdisc because I'd seen a few and really liked them. I was pleased to find that the new titles in my collection are really good as well.

This film was Argento's first as director, and it's easy to see how he got work after that- it's great. It begins with an intriguing premise- that a witness to an attack saw more than he perceived- and pays off with a nice thriller.

My only beef is that I rewatched the beginning after it was over and, well, try it for yourself.

If you liked this and can stomach some much more extreme gore, try TENEBRAE. Maybe you shouldn't watch them back-to-back as I did, but give it a spin some time.