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The Bird With the Crystal Plumage | Year: 1970 Classification: Horror Directed: - Dario Argento Actors/Actresses: - Tony Musante - Suzy Kendall Broad appeal for Argento's debut feature Even those who don't care for writer-director Dario Argento's later baroque extravaganzas may warm to his debut feature "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" (L'Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo, 1969), a well-received thriller in which an American writer living in Rome (Tony Musante) witnesses an assault on a woman in an art gallery and is subsequently targeted by the would-be assassin, a crazed psychopath who's been terrorizing the city with a series of brutal murders. Typical of an Argento thriller, the hapless hero's investigation unleashes a cycle of violence which culminates in a climactic unmasking that will take some viewers completely by surprise. Loosely inspired by Fredric Brown's novel 'The Screaming Mimi' (filmed under that title in 1958), Argento's first film is a fairly straightforward thriller with horror asides, anchored by a strong narrative, an increasingly bizarre series of supporting characters, and a strong Everyman hero who slots the puzzle together piece by piece before realizing that the most important clue to the killer's identity was there in front of him all the time. Musante is given excellent support by English actress Suzy Kendall as his girlfriend (the scene in which she's besieged alone in her apartment as the killer hacks through the door with a knife is truly the stuff of nightmares) and Enrico Maria Salerno as the cop charged with finding the killer before he/she strikes again. Despite Argento's prior screenwriting credits, including significant contributions to the script of Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West" (C'era una Volta il West, 1969), producers were unconvinced of his directorial abilities and wanted to pull him off the picture during the first few weeks of shooting, but Argento persevered under an iron-clad contract and ultimately proved his critics wrong with the finished product, a genuinely engrossing mystery punctuated by scenes of explicit horror. The film puts a late-1960s Italian spin on the kind of movie that Hitchcock had already popularized in America, and is leavened with the same kind of uproarious humor: Salerno gets the best line of dialogue during a police line-up when he despairs: "How many times do I have to tell you? Ursula Andress belongs with the transvestites, not the perverts!" And later, an outrageously camp antiques dealer offers a jaw-dropping description of one of the killer's former victims: "It was said she preferred women. I couldn't care less - I'm no racist, for heaven's sake!" Briskly edited by Franco Fraticelli, and featuring a brief appearance from distinctive character actor Reggie Nalder ("Mark of the Devil", "Salem's Lot") as an assassin-for-hire, "Bird" is arguably Argento's warmest, most humane thriller until "Tenebrae" (Tenebre) in 1982. VCI's region-free DVD runs 95m 47s (not including the UMC logo at the beginning, which wasn't part of the original film) and restores all of the violence that was cut from the initial US theatrical release. The A Great Debut From A Great Director! I am a big fan of Dario Argento's films, and "Bird" is rather different from his later works, but it still packs quite a punch. The story involves an American writer, Sam Dalmas, who witnesses an attack on a woman while he is staying in Rome. Sam thinks there is something that he missed during the attack. If he could just remember he will solve the killer's identity. Sam launches his own investigation, and puts the lives of himself and his girlfriend in danger in the process. Meanwhile the killer conitinues to carve up young women throughout the city. This film is an excellent mystery. The ending took me and everyone I've watched it with completely by surprise. Argento weaves an exciting story. Some scenes were very suspenseful and creepy. The acting was good as well. Especially from the three leads. The DVD is pretty well done. The widescreen transfer looks better I'm sure than it ever has before. The sound was alright, but the volume was a little low in some scenes. Nothing terrible though. Not many special features, but I thought that the seperate soundtrack was a great bonus. Just make sure you get the correct version of the dvd. Supposedly on the original copies the "bedroom murder" was edited incorrectly, and the sound was extremely low. The company,VCI, now makes a corrected version. If you are a fan of Argento, or mystery, or even horror then I definetely reccomend this DVD. A brillant debut!!! I saw this movie after seeing many other films from the master of horror Dario Argento and I was a little scared about this one but surprisingly I found it very interesting for a first picture from a new director. The cold colors, the calculating plot and suspense keep you into a nail bitting tension from the start to the end. The only bad thing from the movie is probably the english traduction but this is very often from foreign motion pictures. It`s a must for the fans of Dario but also a great thriller for the others. Buy The Bird With The Crystal Plumage at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  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