Dario Argento's injection of high-style into the murder-mystery created a new genre (giallo) that was hugely successful and influential, inspiring American filmmakers such as Brian de Palma and Quentin Tarantino. Tony Musante stars as an American writer who witnesses a horrific murder, but is unable to glimpse the killer's face. As he becomes a target for the killer he decides to help the police with their investigation; all the time unable to pinpoint something unusual about the night of the murder that he can't recall. Dario Argento was introduced to Brown's novel by his friend Bernardo Bertolucci, who had acquired the rights to Brown's novel and intended to direct a film adaptation himself. [9] Argento wrote the screenplay over several weeks vacationing in Tunisia. Titanus mogul Goffredo Lombardo optioned the script after being impressed by Argento's work on the film Metti, una sera a cena. Once More, with Clarity: You can clearly see that Monica is the one holding the knife if you know what you're looking for, but the scene likely goes by too fast the first time to notice. A co-production of Italy and West Germany, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is the first in what has been called his thematic "Animal Trilogy", along with Argento's next two gialli, The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). [3] Argento's screenplay borrows liberally from Fredric Brown's 1949 novel The Screaming Mimi, [4] which had a previously been made into a 1958 American film.

Take My Hand!: When Sam and Inspector Morosini are attempting to arrest Alberto, he falls out of the open window while fighting them. Sam and Morosini each grab one of his arms, but are not able to hold him and he falls to his death. In 1970, young first-time director Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria) made his indelible mark on Italian cinema with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a film which redefined the 'giallo' genre of murder-mystery thrillers and catapulted him to international stardom.Argento's inexperience as director led him to nearly be fired and replaced by Lombardo mid-production, but thanks to his robust contract he was able to complete the film. [9] The disc then [features] anumber of theatrical trailersfor the film, including the Italian trailer, and international trailer (which I think is the same as the Italian but is missing a narrator) and then a 55-second trailer made for the 2017 Texas Frightmare media event.

I Ate WHAT?!: Sam is horrified when he finds out that Consalvi keeps cats as a food source, and he just tasted some. Ennio Morricone - The Bird With The Crystal Plumage". Light In The Attic Records . Retrieved 4 July 2023. IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE BEING FOLLOWED HOME FROM THE MOVIE, KEEP TELLING YOURSELF IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND...NOW AVAILABLE IN 4K ULTRA HD! Jitter Cam: Possibly the only Argento film that uses this. His later films have much steadier camerawork.

It must be said, however, that whatever misgivings this final rant has, the overall cluster of interviews are well worth the effort. I'd love to have heard from Tony Musante, though. It looks terrific in its HD glory, and thanks to a twist in the final minutes, you may get the urge to watch the whole thing again from a different perspective. Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo (The Bird With the Crystal Plumage) – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 26 September 2022.

Presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio, the film is certainly much more stable than many other versions have been, though there are still odd judders here and there. Damage to the print is only minimal and the image, itself, is quite clean and bright. The grain, you'll be pleased to note, remains intact and there doesn't appear to be any sign of overt or unwelcome noise reduction having taken place. Hand of Death: The murders are shown with close-ups of the killer's gloved hands holding a knife or other weapon. The Power of Perception, a visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexanda Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil's Advocates: Suspiria and The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema, reflecting on the recurring theme of perception and the role of art in Argento's filmography Arrow Video upgrades their 2017 Blu-ray edition for Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumageto 4K UHD, presenting the film in full 2160p/24hz resolution with Dolby Vision in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on a triple-layer UHDdisc. Arrow is reusing their 4K restoration they alsoused for their prior Blu-ray edition, which in turn was sourced from the 35mm 2-perf Techniscopenegative. After initially becoming a suspect himself, Sam is increasingly obsessed with trying to decipher what he saw on that violent night, digging into a string of similar murders. He becomes the audience surrogate, questioning what he saw in the same way that an audience member should question the images up on the screen. What did he miss? What did we miss? In an eventual common trait of the giallo, the hero ends up both a suspect, at least initially, and a target. Giallo is often about average people who are thrust into worlds of violence and Sam Dalmas is a typical genre protagonist, someone whose safety is threatened by what he’s seen even as he can’t quite comprehend exactly what he witnessed. In giallo, plunges into violent worlds are sudden—Sam doesn’t ask to be a crucial part of this case, but he has no choice once he opens that door.In all this looks great, really exceeding my expectations and providing a significant improvement over Arrow's previous high-definition presentation. A little over 50 years ago, this fascinating offering redefined the ‘giallo’ genre of murder-mystery thrillers and catapulted writer/director Dario Argento to international stardom. a b Kanna, Alexia (2017). Deep Red (e-booked.). Columbia University Press. pp.9–10. ISBN 978-0-231-85106-0.