Written and Directed by Dario Argento
Starring Tony Musante (Sam), Suzy Kendall (Julia), and Eva Renzi (Monica)
The interior of the art gallery stands out as a clean, bright, white box against the dark city outside- an enormous display case fronted by two walls of soundproof glass. The lower level offers strange primitive sculptures. The mezzanine is the site of a struggle: a young woman and a black-clad figure grapple down the stairs. The woman is stabbed- a growing spot of red on her white clothing. The figure in black escapes through a back door.
A passerby has witnessed the scene from the street but is powerless to help. He manages to get through the front door but can’t escape the entryway. The woman beyond the glass has crawled toward him leaving a crimson trail on the stark gallery floor. Together, they make a new exhibit- a grim diorama of a crime.
The wounded woman and her husband own the gallery. The witness is Sam, an American writer. The police fear this may have been the attempted fourth murder of a serial killer. The film is The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The director is Dario Argento.
After years as a successful critic and screenwriter, Argento makes a bold directorial debut with a stylish and idiosyncratic giallo. Although lacking the more extreme flourishes he would become known for, there’s a lot here to love.
Following the usual pattern of hiring American or English actors as fish-out-of-water leads, Tony Musante (not a superstar, but no stranger to Italian producitons) is Sam, and Suzy Kendall plays his British model girlfriend Julia. When the police come up dry, he starts own investigation which leads him into many dangerous confrontations and introduces him to a lot of colorful characters.
And these are the two recurring elements that are the most fun. Between the stalking and killing of his victims, the killer menaces the police and our hero. This leads to many suspenseful sequences and some exciting and unusual pay-offs.
Sam interviews several men to try to find a lead. Every one of them is off-kilter in his own way. From the flirty antique shop owner, to the stuttering pimp, to the reclusive artist, each provides a new color to the proceedings and demonstrates that Argento’s script is as interesting as his direction.
Shot by multiple Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and scored by the legendary Ennio Morricone, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a benchmark in giallo film. It is darkly suspenseful, delightfully sleazy, and, most important of all, strangely fascinating.
Sam is sure he saw something else at the gallery that night- some clue that will crack the case wide open. He plays the events over and over in his mind. And when the movie’s over, you may feel the need to return to that scene yourself.
