The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo] **** (1970, Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho) – Movie Review 8150

The ‘Italian Hitchcock’ Dario Argento’s first film as writer-director The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo] (1970) is a dizzy, spinning web of outright shocks, audience manipulation, off-centre film trickery and eccentric cameos.

Tony Musante stars as American writer Sam Dalmas, the visitor to a Rome art gallery, who witnesses an attack on the owner, Monica Ranieri (Eva Renzi) and then finds his lovely English girlfriend Julia (Kendall) is also under threat from a serial killer of three women, who then stalks both Julia and Damas.

Perhaps it is not as effective as Argento’s later Suspiria (1977), but this is still a brilliantly unsettling giallo chiller with startling camerawork in lurid Eastmancolor by Vittorio Storaro and a moody score by Ennio Morricone, two cinema geniuses.

It co-stars Enrico Maria Salerno as Inspector Morosini, who asks Dalmas for help in his investigation, Eva Renzi as Monica Ranieri, and Umberto Raho as Alberto Ranieri.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is the dubbed international version.

It runs 96 minutes, with the cut version at 92 minutes.

Also in the cast are Eva Renzi, Enrico Maria Salerno (even the boys are called Maria in Italy!), Mario Adorf, Werner Peters, Renato Romano (as Raf Valenti), Pino Patti, Rosita Torosh (as Rosa Toros), Karen Valenti and Umberto Raho.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [L’Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo] is directed by Dario Argento, runs 96 minutes, is made by Seda Spettacoli and Central Cinema Company Film (CCC), is released by Titanus (1970) (Italy), Constantin Film (1970) (West Germany), Universal Marion Corporation (UMC) (1970) (US) and Eagle Films (1971) (UK). Arrow Films released it in 2018 in the UK on Blu-ray.

It is the first film in Argento’s giallo Animal Trilogy followed by The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971).

Dario Argento: ‘Horror by definition is the emotion of pure revulsion. Terror of the same standard is that of fearful anticipation.’

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8150

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