Since I've been watching a lot of Italian genre films, it stands to reason to write a little more about them. I could even do an alphabet of sorts, as I've already covered B for Bava. In this case, then A should definitely go to Dario Argento, and his first three films, that are often called The Animal Trilogy, as each of them has an animal of sorts in the title. These are mostly just poetic animals, even if the films themseves may allude to them in passing.
Bird with the Crystal Plumage
(L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo, 1970)
Though not the first giallo film, Argento's premiere shot at the fumetti-style thriller movie was very popular and influental for its time. It managed to create a boom for the next five years, not unlike Sergio Leone did six years before with A Fistful of Dollars and managed to stay somewhat afloat for the entire decade.
Compared to Bava and other pioneers, Argento didn't have much use for gothic stylings and classic horror environments. He was more interested in modern art, architecture and photography. He would develop a more timeless style over time, but the first three movies are obviously of their time. That's not to say they don't have plenty top offer for the modern viewer, too.
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| Nice sense of architecture. |
But Argento does borrow a lot from Bava, too. Blood and Black Lace premiered the black-clad serial killer and The Girl Who Knew Too Much, released tback in 1963, had a similar premise where an american ex-pat in Rome gets tangled in a wave of murders after having witnessed something they shouldn't have. His Hitchcock-inspired way of shooting film was quite unavoidable in Italian genre cinema at the time.
Compared to how delirious Argento's films did get, there's noticeably a lot more thought put into the inner workings of the mystery plot and less violence. Though what there is, is still shocking after all these years, such as the razor-blade cleaving elevator kill. But suprisingly lot of his later tropes, such as the threatening phone calls and reminiscing previous scenes to unvcover new clues come into play as early as here. Mario Adorf has a memorable cameo as a hermit-like weirdo who gets cross-examined in the course of this, giving a hint that the film could be also have a subtext of the darker side of the hippie culture. After all, the Manson murders were done only the previous year to this film.
★★★★
The Cat O' Nine Tales
(Il gatto a nove code, 1971)
Argento proved again he was not a one-trick pony with this film which has a blind central character. who gets tangled within a web of mysteries and murders. He hears shady characters discussing plans concerning a pharmaceutical company and enlists the help of an investigative journalist to find out if there is a plot behind it. But soon, bodies begin to pile up as people attached to the case and to the company begin to get offed by a mysterious killer.
Sadly, the film doesn't quite fulfill its intriguing premise, even though it has a strong sense of visuals, architecture and athmosphere. I feel like more could have been done with the use of other senses and less of an ableistic vibe the film gives here. Argento does define the genre, as there is a literally "yellow" murder scene when a photographer gets offed in a photo lab darkroom.
The film has a colorful cast of characters, some of which could have been lifted straight from poliziottesci movies (like the informer Gigi the Loser). Like many earlier giallos, it has its scenes that are reminsicent of Hitchcock, like the finale of running on the roofs which brings to mind the first scene of Vertigo. But it has also been hugely influental in its own right, like in the grisly train murder that has been copied to the likes of House of Cards tv series.
★★★ 1/2
Four Flies on a Grey Velvet
(Quattro mische di velveto grigio, 1972)
The first few films showed promise, but Argento really got lose in the following film, which connects the director's interests in jazz, rock, theatre and opera. Not to mention the familiar realms of dreams, photography and the modern art. Not all of these elements connect especially well (the rock music on the soundtrack is not Goblin to say the least), but Argento is one for good and dramatic scenes rather than a coherent whole, and here he's still experimenting and feeling the vibes.
As in plenty of Hitchcock's films, here the premise is again one of the wrong man being accused. A drummer gets mysterious phone calls, and one night, when following his persecutor, is witness to a grisly murder done by a killer in a baby mask. But the drummer is photographed at the scene of a crime and told that its only the beginning of a cat and mouse game between them. Sure enough, the killer kills again.
The film has a small role for comedy strongman Bud Spencer, who has a talking parrot. Argento is usually one that manages to balance the goofier comedy with his dramatic and deadly serious horror better than any other giallo director. Here, though, Spencer feels a bit extra. There's also scenes of a sort of new age guru making women laugh which are a bit bizarre, but at least somehow reflect the time when this was made. Argento's later works are almost always happening in indeterminable time periods.
The film also has some of the worse aspects of the Italian film culture, with closeted homosexuals being hounded and the ending which has a serious misogynistic vibe, and moreover, is reminisent of the end from Bird with the Crystal Plumage. But though there may be a few missteps, it is still a wonderfully colorful and exciting giallo, which has beenwrongly left in the shadow of some of Argento's better known works.
★★★★
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