“We can’t rule out the possibility that he is a pervert.”
-Quote from “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage.”
Morricone’s score for Dario Argento’s debut picture, 1970’s Rome-set thriller “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage,” is the first of three scores the Maestro composed for Argento’s so-called “Animal Trilogy” (followed swiftly by “The Cat O’ Nine Tails,” and “Four Flies On Grey Velvet“).
Morricone would later compose the music for Argento’s “The Stendhal Syndrome,” and “The Phantom Of The Opera,” bringing the total of Argento-directed films with Morricone scores to 5.
Of course, Argento was already an established screenwriter of note before making his directorial debut on “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage.” Argento penned the screenplays for the Morricone-scored pictures “Comandamenti Per Un Gangster,” “Once Upon a Time In The West,” “Metti Una Sera A Cena,” “Un Esercito Di 5 Uomini,” and “La Stagione Dei Sensei,” making it a 10 film-collaboration over four-decades.
The “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” score begins with a light touch, very much in the vein of Morricone’s more melodic lounge compositions, but things quickly get weird, with strange vocalizations, moans, and heavy breathing over sparse, jagged, anxiety-inducing discordant themes.
The effect is that Morricone’s score lulls you into a dreamy state before it strikes with dissonance and unnerving sounds meant to put you on a razor’s edge, only appropriate given the nature of the film to which this music belongs.
Although it wasn’t the first (credit Mario Bava‘s “The Girl Who Knew Too Much” with that honour) Argento’s oft-imitated suspense picture set the benchmark for the giallo genre.
Literally translated as “yellow” from Italian, gialli are Italian thrillers that take their name from “Il Giallo Mondadori,” a series of popular Italian murder mysteries originally published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, with their iconic yellow jackets.
Argento was the best of the best in the giallo business, and has become synonymous with the genre, but there are many other classics to seek out, from Lucio Fulci’s “Don’t Torture a Duckling,” to one of my personal favourites, Luigi Bazzoni’s “The Fifth Cord” (also scored by Morricone).
After you check out the soundtrack, don’t forget to see the film! And on the subject of gialli, Arrow Video has been releasing a number of significant giallo pictures both on blu-ray and on their Arrow Player streaming app.
Visit the giallo section of Arrow Video’s website here:
Along with Spaghetti Westerns (Italian westerns) and Poliziotteschi (Italian cop thrillers), the giallo sub-genre shows what a rich period the 1960s and ’70s were for Italian cinema. For more on everything giallo, check out the documentary “All The Colors of Giallo,” which is a fun deep-dive for fans of the genre and newcomers alike.
Watch the complete documentary “All The Colors of Giallo” here:
And for more on poliziotteschi and why the ’60s and ’70s were the heyday for Italian genre cinema, check out the trailer for “Eurocrime: The Italian Cop & Gangster Films That Ruled The 70s” here:
Expect future posts on my favourite gialli and poliziotteschi pictures soon. So long!
Listen to the complete “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” score here:
Watch the trailer for “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” here:
Watch the Arrow Video Story on “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” here:
Watch a clip from “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” here:
Watch “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” on The Criterion Channel here:
Watch “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” for free on YouTube here:
See Dario Argento introduce the film at the Lincoln Center here:
Watch the Film at Lincoln Center screening Q&A here:
Find a copy of Morricone’s “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” on Discogs here:
If you are in the Toronto area, say hi to my Filmography podcast co-host Bjorn, and rent or purchase “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage” by visiting the last great video store, Bay Street Video, in store or with the link below:
If you’re not in Toronto, you can find the blu-ray on Amazon here:
Watch the Arrow Video Story for the prototypical giallo picture, Mario Bava’s “The Girl Who Knew Too Much,” here:
Watch the trailer for Lucio Fulci’s giallo classic “Don’t Torture A Duckling” here:
Watch the trailer for Luigi Bazzoni’s giallo classic “The Fifth Cord” here:
Listen to Morricone’s score for “The Fifth Cord” (aka “Giornata Nera Per L’Ariete) here:
