365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 181 - The Bird With The Crystal plumage

Here is another film I went to see at the Pequa theatre in the early 70's.

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage is Italian director Dario Argento's first film. It's a remarkable film for a first time director and much more restrained than his later works. His reputation as the "Italian Hitchcock" is based, in part on this movie.

Tony Musante stars as Sam Dalmas, an American writer living in Rome. One evening he witnesses a woman being attacked. He manages to prevent the murder but he can not help the victim because he is trapped between two glass walls. The police briefly consider him a suspect and then turn to him for help. There have been three other murder, all by the same killer in the past few weeks.

Dalmas becomes curious and begins his own investigation, not realizing that this puts him and his girlfriend Julia (Suzy Kendall) in danger.

The film draws heavily on Hitchcock, especially in the way it treats the audience as voyeur to the killings. Argento gives the film a stylized look with a distinct European flair. The music is by Ennio Morricone and the camera work by Vittorio Storaro.  The film has intelligence, energy and an intricate plot, that probably suffers a little in the translation and dubbing into English.

At The Movie House rating *** stars