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We’re heading back to Italy! As a follow-up to Peeping Tom, the film that at least Clay believes is the first great forerunner to the genre which would come to be known as Giallo, we’re covering the first film to really turn Giallo into a smash hit, the directorial debut of Dario Argento, 1970’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage!
From Wikipedia:
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italian: L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo) is a 1970 giallo film directed by Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. The film has been credited with popularizing the Italian giallo genre. It is the first installment in the Animal Trilogy, and was followed by The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972).
Written by Argento, the film borrowed liberally from Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi, which had previously been made into a Hollywood film, Screaming Mimi (1958), directed by Gerd Oswald.
The film was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe award for best motion picture in 1971. The film was originally cut by 20 seconds for its US release and received a ‘GP’ rating, though it was later re-classified as ‘PG’. It has since been released in the US uncut. Upon its release the film was a huge box office hit, grossing 1,650,000,000 Italian Lira. The film was also a success outside of Italy, gaining €1,366,884 admissions in Spain.
Join Clay and Amanda as they kick off their own independent investigation on “sex metronomes,” a dinner of raw radishes and cat meat, “cosmic art” and near-death by bedtime cigarettes, and PERVERTS!
So sharpen your knives, get on your best black leather gloves, cook up a big pot of fresh cat stew, and wander aimlessly around Italy with us…if you dare!