Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage aka L’Uccello Dalle Piume De Cristallo (1970). Dir. Dario Argento. While certainly not the first Giallo picture, Argento’s Bird With the Crystal Plumage is one of the most famous entries into the genre. By the by Mario Bava’s La Regazza Che Sapeva Troppo aka The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) is generally considered to be the first Giallo film, if you’re interested in checking out the genre’s origins.

This film serves as a brilliant introduction to anyone who is interested in Italian genre filmmaking, or more specifically in Italian crime/mystery films. To give a quick run-down of the origin of the term Giallo, originally referring to the yellow covers of cheap mystery and detective fiction in Italy (Agatha Christie’s novels are almost always mentioned as some of the most popular Giallo titles). During the ’60s Italian filmmakers were looking for ways to mimic and recreate the tension felt in films like Hitchcock’s acclaimed thrillers with, at times, baroque violence and set design.

Bird was Argento’s first film and is considered one of the best examples of Giallo filmmaking, although fans of the genre sometimes note that it is not nearly as violent or gory as later Gialli. The film is beautifully shot and includes one of the best set-piece scenes ever filmed.

The film follows hapless American writer Sam Dalmas (played by Tony Musante) as he is drawn deeply into the circumstances surrounding a series of murders in Rome. The film begins with the aforementioned set-piece, in which Dalmas sees a woman struggling with a man in dark clothes on the balcony of an art gallery. As he is entering the building the woman is stabbed and Dalmas becomes trapped between two walls of glass as he watches the woman crawl towards him asking for help. She survives the attack, but due to his status as a witness to the crime the police inspector (the oddly laconic Enrico Salerno) in charge of the case confiscates Dalmas’ Passport and requires him to stay in Rome.

I won’t go any further with the synopsis, I’d hate to ruin the twist ending (although it’s not all THAT shocking once one has seen a few Gialli, but for newcomers it might still be a little bit of a shock).

In any case, Argento also set the stage for his Animal Trilogy (Cat O’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972) are the second and third movies respectively). The naming conventions of Gialli is worth a whole article in and of itself, maybe I’ll sit down and do that someday.

While there are a number of flaws with the film like its slightly off pacing and the wooden performances of some of the main characters, and its telegraphed twists, it still stands out as a highly engaging and well-constructed thriller. Highly suggested as a starting point for a prospective Gialli enthusiast, and if you’ve already seen a few Gialli and haven’t seen Bird yet then you’re missing out