The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a masterpiece!!! There's not much more to say. Great suspense, an exciting and intricate murder mystery filled with twists and turns, and of course, some great music. Hands down, one of the greatest giallo films ever made!!!

Thought this was great. Smooth and stylish, it felt effortless. I loved the quirky side trips Dalmas makes, and the suspense leading up to the final twist was brilliant. Morricone continues to knock it out of the park.

A fantastic directorial debut for Argento. This was so much better than I was expecting. This horror mystery is gripping and visually striking. You can see his vision and trademark in this debut. It's not as silly as I thought it would be but instead it's classy, consistently suspenseful, and has a very compelling mystery that pulls you in from the start, though there's always some mildly hilarious about the characters. It also has the great characteristics of most Gialli, shocking reveal, stylish kills, black gloves, shadowed setting, a light touch of surrealism, off kilter music, and you can definitely sense that feel of classic detective style in this film. Also the title of this and the poster make it so much better! The male lead is incredibly hot as well. This is clearly the best directorial debut in my book.

Impressive debut feature. Some great, unexpected turns help it stand out from the crowd. A crowd, this film actually helped usher in.

Argento starts off his career with this interesting film that is very much giallo. The thriller which does have a bit of horror in it is very entertaining. Even when it slows down it’s still interesting where the film goes and how all of the things we who love Argento are on display for the first time. The story is comes together in the film moments where we follow this crazy journey to get to the end. I wasn’t sure what to expect only seeing two Argento films before this but I did enjoy this more than I expected.

The original title of the film is L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo.

I've seen a few Argento movies and I've either been unimpressed or found them decent/average. This movie was the first I really liked. Sam is a simple character that's played well. He's eager to play detective yet maybe out of his depth. The inspector is a little unorthodox by letting Sam investigate, but that's his style. It may seem illogical but if you accept it becomes part of the character. All the characters fit perfect in the end. There are a few oddball characters and weird moments. The story is basic but its never boring. The driving force is the ongoing mild suspense. The music was good. It looked good. I can now see why Argento is so popular. This mystery thriller slasher felt ahead of it time in some ways. If you're too critical of mystery logic you may not enjoy it.

Dario Argento's first giallo, has to be good, right? Wrong. What a preposterous mess. TBWTCP starts with Sam, an American in Italy, who witnesses an attempted murder: a man in black stabs a woman in the stomach, then runs off, leaving her for dead. The cops arrive, Sam is questioned, and the woman is taken to the hospital. So far, so good, eh? Goes off the rails after this. For some reason Sam decides to play amateur detective after this. Why? Was this normal in the '70s? Right away, Sam barely avoids being decapitated on his walk home, and for unknown reasons, he doesn't report this to the police; there is a repeat of this, just wait.
There are more random murders, more would-be detective work from Sam, and we set up some red herrings.
The worst scene is in the second act: the murderer tracks down Julia, Sam's girlfriend, at home. Immediately she falls to the floor, crying. Keep in mind, the killer is outside! Julia finally moves a desk in front of the front door, yet is still falling over herself, and crying... for reasons. Julia finally gathers enough sense to grab an edge weapon from the kitchen, yet is still crying on the floor - please understand the killer is still outside, the door is locked, and there is a desk barricading it; all they have managed to do is put a quarter-sized hole in the door with a dagger. Who acts like this? I realize this movie was made in 1970, so the cliches were not yet cliche, but damn, it's still bad writing. Sam soon shows up to save the day. Why doesn't the killer stab him then? I'on'ow, reasons. Just like before, this attack is not reported to the police. All is made clear in the third act. Strap in.
[spoiler]Big twist - are you sitting down? Julia was the killer! Turns out she wasn't being attacked at the start of the movie, she was doing the attacking... of her husband. So, wait, did she stab herself? It's later revealed that her husband knew she was a murderer, but was so codependent that he was trying to protect her, even if that meant nearly being stabbed by her. Brilliant.
Seriously, the ending is so sloppy it has to do what all poorly-written movies do and have a character full on explain the killer's motivation - turns out bitch be crazy. The end. But before that happens, there has to be a tete-a-tete between Julia, and Sam, back where the movie started - an art gallery. Naturally, Julia uses a large piece of spiky modern art - obviously one of Delia Deetz's early works - to trap, and nearly crush Sam - all the while I'm thinking "this is my art, and it is dangerous! do you think I want to die like this?!" So, Sam's trapped, Julia is about to stab him. What does he say to her? "Help me." To her... he says that to her. He's actually asking the homicidal maniac for help. Unbelievable. And, of course, in total deus ex machina fashion, the police show up and save him by delivering a judo chop to Julia, Austin Powers style.[/spoiler]
Pretty pathetic. I can understand hardcore giallo fans still wanting to watch this, but it is horrendous.

Boning up on my giallo so I had to witness this journey through the land of Italian perverts as we try to track down THE Italian pervert. As to be expected you get hit with a nice twist in the end.