The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (In honour of Dario Argento's 77th birthday today)

Today is Dario Argento’s 77^th birthday and I received in the mail, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage that I ordered a week ago! In honor of Dario’s birthday, I will write a review of it.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a giallo film, and it was released in 1970, making it the directorial debut of Argento. It is part of his Animal Trilogy (that also includes Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). The story of Bird with the Crystal Plumage concerns a man named Sam (played by Tony Musante) who is in Italy, trying to get over his writer’s block with his girlfriend (played by Suzi Kendall). He witnesses a murder of a woman (played by Eva Renzi) in an art gallery, and gets sucked into a web of mystery and violence involving the woman and a serial murderer.

Unlike Argento’s later work, this one has very little blood in it; though that does not detract from the use of suspense and terror to keep the story moving. In fact, there is an element of Hitchcock in that you see a lot of the murders through the eyes of the killer or you get this air of anticipation with everywhere that Sam goes, playing detective. The sets are sparse and in many instances dark, which adds to that mood.

The soundtrack is done by Ennio Morricone and it gives it a suspenseful feel however it does seem out of place in a lot of scenes. Luckily, it is used sparingly.

It is an interesting start to Argento’s film career I will say because it conveys so much without having so much gore and really makes you want to know what the hell is going on. It does not confuse like many giallos do (at least for me) and has really great pacing to keep you riveted. Like Sam, you want to solve the murder to with every new clue.

Overall, this is a great Argento film to begin with if you have not seen an Argento film and really showcases where he began and where he will be going with his future films.

Les Mistons (The Mischief Makers)-A François Truffaut Birthday Tribute Review

I watched a movie and it is called Les Mistons, directed by François Truffaut, released in 1957. It stars Gérard Blain, Bernadette Lafont, Michel François to name a few. This is a significant movie because it is Truffaut’s “first short film of any consequence”, according to the director. The story is about these young boys who terrorize (in a boyish fashion, nothing nefarious…) a young woman and her boyfriend in their hometown. It is a simple little movie but it speaks volumes as to where Truffaut would go later in his more famous movie, The 400 Blows. This movie, shot in black and white and funded by Truffaut’s best friend, Robert Lachenay, is a beautiful masterpiece even if the director himself thought it amateurish. For me, you have to start somewhere and Truffaut really begins right on the right foot with this little movie. The children are annoying as hell and you can see how they would be mischief makers. Though I must tell you that it a movie that will explore the theme of being young and losing that youthfulness with harsh reality that makes you grow up. That is one of the themes that is a current in all of Truffuat’s films which markedly is how his life seemed to be as well. The actress Bernadette Lafont is perfectly cast as the young woman whom the mischief makers have an infatuation with because she is extremely beautiful, which is another theme in Truffaut’s films, beautiful leading ladies. There are at least two scenes that stand out to me as part of how this film exists outside the norms of reality but also still exists in the norms of reality.
The girl is riding her bike and she stops at a lake to swim and she leans the bike against a nearby tree. The boys followed her to the lake and they run to her bicycle. They smell the seat (she wasn’t wearing underwear) and the boy sniffing it is in slow motion, almost dream-like. I know that sounds a bit risqué but to see it on screen, it is truly innocent. The other scene is when she is playing tennis with her boyfriend. She isnt too good and her skirt flips up and she is so lively. What makes this scene is how Truffaut seems to making her laugh and have fun and it translates into the scene and takes you out of the movie for the moment and you feel connected to Lafont and how the film got made.

It is all beautiful shots and is a stepping stone to what Truffaut produced many times in his life. I have it on the Antoine Doinel Box set from Criterion. I suggest seeing it. To see where the great master director of French New Wave cinema got his start and how French New Wave got its beginnings as well.