THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE
D: Dario Argento (1970) ¢ ¢ ¢
Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall,
Eva Renzi, Enrico Maria Salerno
An American writer living in Italy witnesses an attempted murder and gets caught up in the police investigation. Early Argento, a playfully twisted thriller that echoes Hitchcock and prefigures the Italian director's more explicit and ghoulish later work. Highlights: the opening murder sequence, with the writer trapped in the glassed-in entryway of a high-end art gallery, unable to do anything about the crime except watch it occur, and a cat-and-mouse chase through a cavernous bus barn that ends in a room filled with convention delegates, all wearing identical yellow jackets. Cat lovers might want to skip the part with the eccentric artist living in the boarded-up house.
Tony Musante
(1936-2013)
