The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

An American expatriate in Rome witnesses an attempted murder. He learns later that it's connected to an ongoing murder spree in the city, and decides to do his own investigation, despite being personally targeted by the killer.

Director:

Dario Argento

Writer:

Dario Argento

Stars:

Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Musante	...	Sam Dalmas
Suzy Kendall	...	Julia
Enrico Maria Salerno	...	Inspector Morosini
Eva Renzi	...	Monica Ranieri
Umberto Raho	...	Alberto Ranieri
Renato Romano	...	Professor Carlo Dover (as Raf Valenti)
Giuseppe Castellano	...	Monti
Mario Adorf	...	Berto Consalvi
Pino Patti	...	Faiena
Gildo Di Marco	...	Garullo
Rosita Torosh	...	4th Victim (as Rosa Toros)
Omar Bonaro	...	Police Detective
Fulvio Mingozzi	...	Police Detective
Werner Peters	...	Antique Dealer
Karen Valenti	...	Tina, 5th Victim

Storyline

In Italy, the American writer Sam Dalmas witnesses an attempt of murder of the owner of an art gallery, Monica Ranieri, a couple of days before returning home. Inspector Morosini, who is in charge of investigating the three previous murderers of the serial-killer, asks for help to Dalmas and takes his passport. Dalmas decides to stay with his girlfriend Julia and to help the police in the investigation. The killer threatens Dalmas and Julia by phone and the police overhears a strange noise in the tape. Soon the serial killer stalks Julia and Damas. Who might be the killer?

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Plot Keywords:

serial killer | mysterious villain | mysterious stranger | american in italy | girlfriend | 

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Taglines:

A stunning portrait in psycho-terror!

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

Italy West Germany

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

12 June 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Point of Terror

Filming Locations:

Via Pietro da Cortona 28, Roma, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Seda Spettacoli, Central Cinema Company Film (CCC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director trademark: [Dario Argento] Character recalls clues from memory.

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Goofs

Language: It's never explained whether Dalmas speaks fluent Italian, or whether all the Italians (including the imprisoned pimp) speak fluent English. Furthermore, while all of the featured magazines, newspapers, street signs are in Italian, some letters and the computer print-out at the forensics lab is for some reason in English.

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Quotes

Sam Dalmas: Why did you wall up your house?
Berto Consalvi: To keep out the busybodies!

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Alternate Versions

Originally cut in the US by 20 seconds to achieve a US "G.P." rating with edits to a razor slashing (the Blue Underground DVD is uncut), and this print was then passed without further cuts for its original UK cinema release in 1970 (as "The Gallery Murders"). The film was re-released theatrically in the UK in 1983 (as "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage") and the full print submitted to the BBFC where it received 18 secs of cuts which removed all shots of a knife being traced over a woman on a bed and the slashing/removal of her nightdress and underwear. All video releases plus the 2005 Platinum Media DVD featured the same cut print, though the 2011 Arrow release finally presented the film fully uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in Giornata nera (2006)

User Reviews

Argento's first film is his first Giallo, and one that is sharply crafted, amusing, chilling, and even eerily jazzy

Dario Argento's first dip into the directorial pool is a pot-boiler somewhere in the realm between Hitchcock and Jack the Ripper, classic noir and the "modern" cat-and-mouse serial killer picture. Argento's method's may still be in a slightly embryonic state (i.e. his intense stylistic flourishes, which by the 80s would seem totally ridiculous in comparison to Crystal Plumage), but already on his first film as director- not on writer, however, as he penned all odds and sorts of spaghetti westerns and thrillers- he assumes control like it's second nature. Suspense sequences involving the coolly suited knife-wielding killer, with Argento trademark black gloves, and a long trench-coat and black hat, come off without a hitch, and not without the kind of excess gore that he and other Italian Giallo directors got branded with throughout the 70s and 80s. Damned if I'll say this, it's probably the one film by the director you can show unashamedly to your grandmother.

Tony Musante, an actor I've never come across, impresses (as far as a protagonist in an Argento film can such as this) as an American with his girlfriend who are in Italy for some reason or another (a writer it would seem, as we only are told in one or two scenes, which is just as well). He witnesses an attack on a woman inside an art gallery, the only witness in a string of what has already been vicious murders by butcher knife, all women, all unconnected. He just wants to leave, but he has to stick around to give more details. And then, lo and behold, he grows more and more intrigued and involved in the case till, of course, he and his girlfriend become a target by this sadistic killer! All of this is handled by Argento as if they're not the conventions that we all know in this kind of thriller; he approaches all of them with a fresh take, and adds in doses of unexpected humor to keep things interesting (the painter behind the possible clue-painting with the killer in a field and his cats is incredibly funny).

But it would be just one thing if Argento kept at making near-golden Hitchcockian ideals and the pulpy juices of a genre piece moving along. Argento is out to depict a sense of paranoia, growing and growing upon an aesthetic that is not quite the Master of Suspense, and not quite your common Dirty Harry thriller (though Ennio Morricone's score sounds like a mix of his quintessential touch and some Lalo Schifrin thrown in for good measure). In a sense Vittorio Storaro's cinematography throws one off guard; it's at times not so shot like your common thriller, but as something more ambitious, something that drills away through its premise to dig up any pure cinematic threat to the characters.

This might sound a little pretentious, but just watch certain sequences, like when Sam is being trailed by the man in the yellow jacket, or when the second female victim is seen, point of view changing without a beat misses on either end. Thanks to Argento's backup of Storaro and Morricone, he has here a twisting tale of a psycho killer with an artistic edge. It's clear to see, even with the ending that yells out as Psycho exposition rip-off, that he was on his way to a solid career.