The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
I'm sure we've all got films that we have always intended to watch, but for some reason or other, never got round to buying and viewing. Top of my list for far too long was Dario Argento's debut feature - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
Probably not the first gialli/giallo, but certainly one of the most influential, it's a stylish thriller with a plot that draws you in and should keep you guessing through to the final moments.
It's the tale of serial killer - dressed in black and on a killing spree in Rome. On hos way home one night Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante) sees a girl fighting a man with a knife. He intervenes to save her, but as the only witness, gets drawn into the search for the killer - putting himself and his girlfriend Julia (Cinedelica favourite Suzy Kendall) in danger.
Aong the way they meet a murderous boxer, a stuttering pimp, a man who 'knows all', a painter who eats cats, that bird with the crystal plumage and several police experts in white coats working in huge 60s-style computers. Sound weird? Well, it isn't. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is as straightforward a thriller as you'll ever see, but a very well made one with barely a second of the 98-minute running time wasted.
And it oozes style. From the lead characters and suspects to the late 60s Rome backdrop and indeed the actually killer, it has an added cool (not to mention a Morricone soundtrack) that shifts a good movie up to excellent. There are plenty of liberties taken with coincidence and you just might second guess the ending well before the halfway point. But you'll not mind sticking around when a movie's so visually appealing.
Don't make my mistake - rent it or get it in your collection.
i noticed. that the main character has a who poster above the phone in his house.
Its a phsychadelic "the who Live at the filmore" poster from 1967.
you never really get good shot of it but i recognized it right away.
Posted by: dave | 03/20/2008 at 08:24 PM