The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970)

This film is Italian director Dario Argento's first effort, and is regarded by his fans (myself included), to be one of his best. An American writer staying in Italy becomes an eyewitness to an attempted murder in an art museum as he is walking on the street at night. This scene, in which the character of Mark is trapped between two sliding glass doors, utterly helpless to assist the would be victim, yet forced to watch her suffering all the while, is classic Argento, and it allows one to grasp a sense of what would come from him in future films. Our eyewitness and his girlfriend are forced to stay in Italy, since the local police have confiscated his passport, which is no main bother to Mark, since he is now obsessed with tracking down the killer himself. As with most Argento films the cinematography is gorgeous, though nothing like that which is prevalent in future works like "Deep Red" or "Suspiria". Frequent collaborator Ennio Morricone provides a top notch soundtrack, I loved the lullaby whisperings that were used throughout the film, giving the viewer sort of an unsettled feeling. The violence is fairly restrained, yet still pretty brutal if that makes any sense. Just listen to the sound of that straight razor cutting up the second victim...ouch! All in all, a damn fine debut from one of the true masters of the genre. This would also probably be a great film to introduce someone to Argento, as it actually has a coherent storyline for a change, and the dubbing is actually done quite nicely (most of the actors spoke English in this one anyway). Highly recommended.