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DILLON ON FILM
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage: 55 Years On
The lasting influence of Dario Argento’s dazzling giallo horror-thriller
If you’re a horror fan, you never forget your first Argento. The hugely influential Italian horror director first came to my attention during my student years. I’d somehow failed to notice that he co-wrote the story for classic western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) but The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) was the first time I encountered Dario Argento’s work as director. And what an introduction! His style immediately captivated me. Vivid cinematic images of shadows, shining daggers, leather-gloved killers, and opulent bloody death seared themselves into my mind.
The genius at the heart of this undeniably influential film (arguably more a suspense thriller than a horror film), is the way it asks the viewer to question what they’re seeing. One night in Rome, American writer Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante) witnesses the attempted murder of a woman through the sliding glass doors at the front of a sculpture gallery. The attacker escapes, and the woman is left bleeding, desperately trying to get to Sam. But he winds up trapped between two sets of sliding glass panels, unable to reach her or hear her. He’s also unable to hear the police when they arrive outside in the…
