Classic Movie Review: 'Bird with the Crystal Plumage'

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

Directed by Dario Argento

Written by Dario Argento

Starring Tony Musante, Suzi Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno

Release Date June 24th, 1970

Published February 3rd, 2024

I find the simple tools of visual filmmaking to be incredibly moving. When used in the right way something as simple as a good edit can excite my love of film. Case in point a very early, very simple, edit in Dario Argento's 1970 thriller Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The film is a thriller about a serial murderer in Italy. The simplicity of this moment, mere minutes into the film, demonstrates that you do not have to have the biggest budget or the showiest of modern camera technology to make a great movie. Sometimes, you just have to show the audience a pair of images next to one another to tell them all that they need to know.

In this case, we've seen a man make a note to pick someone up and follow them to a particular location. Cut to a woman walking alone along a busy street. A light, airy soundtrack, she's oblivious to everything but her attendant location. She's unaware that anyone is following her. Cut to, a darkened room. Hands covered in black leather gloves, a person in a black coat. A striking red handkerchief is lifted to reveal a set of knives of different shapes and sizes, displayed in a red velvet case. The implication is clear yet subtle, these knives hold a specific purpose. The gloved hands select one, examine it, and the scene changes.

The visual link from the woman walking down the street, unaware that she is being watched and photographed and the man with the dangerous looking set of knives is made simply by the edit. Unconsciously, from this simple visual link, you know that this unnamed woman is in grave danger. The man with the knives has ill intent and the next steps in this story may or may not include her being attacked and possibly killed using this chosen implement of death, a long, lovingly caressed steel blade. The simplicity of this visual filmmaking is its secret genius. Great directors like Dario Argento understand this kind of simplicity.

It's a shame that the rest of Bird with the Crystal Plumage isn't quite as strong as the opening moments. The biggest flaw is the fact that this is murder mystery in which a witness and potential victim is given all the tools to investigate the murder that he witnessed. Tony Musante stars in Bird with Crystal Plumage as Sam Dalmas, an American writer who is finishing up his time in Italy. Or, at least, he was finishing up. When Sam witnesses a woman being attacked in an art gallery, and nearly watches her die after he becomes trapped between two glass walls, Sam is first a suspect and then, through convoluted means, becomes the lead investigator.

Sam first becomes interested in clearing himself so he can recover his passport from a suspicious detective. But soon, he becomes obsessed with the case, even as he is nearly killed while heading home from an early investigation. Strangely, the actual lead detective, Morosini (Enrico Maria Salerno), encourages Sam's investigating, even helping him with access to a victim and a currently jailed potential witness. Sam even locates a piece of evidence about one of the first murders in this killer's series that the cops failed to find.

There is never an element of plausibility in this scenario. The actual detective is an entirely ineffectual character. The way he seems to stop investigating a legit series of murders linked to one killer in order to make way for some random American to do his job, feels like a failed attempt at parody. It's as if Argento saw a bunch of American media in which the heroes did the work of police and thought that's just how all Americans react to murder, by becoming an immediate detective and vigilante avenger. He's not wrong about that, American media likely did originate this as a trope, but it doesn't really land as satire or darkly comic observation in Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

All of that out of the way, I do admire a good deal of Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Argento undoubtedly has a style all his own, even in this very early part of his career. He has a vision that is distinct and artful. Other than the outlandish and unbelievable premise, the big suspense scenes are filled with skill and the tension is airtight in the right moments. He's a director beyond his years in Bird with the Crystal Plumage with a strong hint of Hitchcock and, of course, the definitive elements of Giallo that will become his brand as he grows as a director.

Dario Argento is the subject of the next I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast. We are talking about Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Opera as our twin classics on the episode and, the new Shudder documentary Panico is brand new as well. Panico is all about Dario Argento's career, his life before the movies, and who Argento is today via the many directors he's influenced over the years. Listen to the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast, wherever you listen to Podcasts.

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