Among horror fans, director Dario Argento’s name stands alongside some of the greatest of the genre. With Argento’s twenty-third feature, Dracula 3D, finally set for a limited North American release on October 4th, it seems a perfect time to introduce new readers to the filmmaker’s near forty year body of work and differentiate between his horror film classics and career missteps.
Dario Argento was born in Rome, Italy. The director’s penchant for filmmaking may have come from his father, a successful movie producer, his mother, who worked as a professional fashion model in Brazil, and his aunt, who used to tell him scary bedtime stories. Acquiring knowledge from his natural surroundings, the future director first worked as a film critic after graduating from high school. After interviewing many film directors, he formed friendships with many within the industry, leading to his employment as story writer on a number of projects (most notably the 1968 Sergio Leone classic, Once Upon a Time in the West). It was soon after that his father, Salvatore Argento, commissioned him to write the screenplay for a loose adaptation of the Fredric Brown book The Screaming Mimi. After finishing it, Argento successfully convinced his father that he would be the ideal director for the project. His career as a movie-maker quickly blossomed.
The final product, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, left the producers and investors cold. In particular, they disliked its frequent attempts to use the camera as a point-of-view, or POV, from the perspective of the killer stalking its victim. This was a very new technique at the time, later to become common and attributed primarily to American films like Halloween and Friday the 13th. Yet at this time, investors worried that it would eliminate suspense and Italian viewers wouldn’t be frightened. However, audiences responded with incredible enthusiasm, resulting in a box office gross in Italy alone that was more than five times its production budget. It was also responsible for creating the “giallo” genre, when hundreds of similarly plotted titles knock-offs were released in the wake of its success. Translated, giallo means “yellow”, the color of paper that pulpy paperback thrillers were printed on.
Fans were most impressed by the filmmaker’s emphasis on lavish photography and unique camera work. This would become a staple of future productions. It would be easy to make the assumption that his unique connection to the fashion industry and photo shoots via his mother may subconsciously have led to his focus on the physical appearance of actors in his films. Even the star of Inferno, Leigh McCloskey, mentions in the liner notes from the film’s Anchor Bay release that the filmmaker always seemed to direct his actors to respond to situations in an unusual manner, abandoning naturalistic performances. Whether it was to make audiences uncomfortable and on edge as McCloskey believes, or simply to make his performers look as attractive as possible, even in the throes of violent death, is up to the viewer to decide. Throw in post-production dubbing and rerecording of dialogue (which is often off-putting to English language viewers) common to many European productions of the era, and the effect is even stranger. Regardless, believable performances and how the actors deliver their dialogue has never been a primary concern of the filmmaker; the beauty and tone created by the image, is. And that’s part of why the debate over the quality of his movies rages on, decade after decade.
As part of this article, I’ve returned to the beginning and re-evaluated his entire career film-by-film to help new fans get a handle on the auteur’s directorial back catalogue. The ratings vary from “Buy It Now” (the best examples of Argento’s filmmaking prowess) and “Recommended, But Rent It First” (other excellent films that should appeal to most horror hounds) to “For Argento Fans Exclusively” (decent but flawed entertainment) and finally, “Run Away Screaming” (the weakest titles in his catalogue).
Part 2 of the Retro can be found HERE and Part 3 is HERE
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
Rating: BUY IT NOW
Argento’s first thriller became the blue print movie for a whole subgenre, combining a great mystery plot with beautiful visuals and a nifty final surprise twist. Sam (Tony Musante), a young writer wandering home late one night, witnesses a brutal, brilliantly staged struggle and murder clearly seen through the large window pane of an art gallery. When the police arrive, he becomes a prime witness in the investigation, though he can’t put all the pieces together to form a complete impression of what he saw. Now stalked by the killer, Musante’s character decides to do some investigating on his own to determine what really happened. Naturally, he soon discovers that what he thought he witnessed wasn’t what he observed at all, a soon-to-be trademark of the young filmmaker. The trail eventually leads to an unlikely villain who gets the upper hand during a tense finale. Director of photography Vitorrio Storaro (who would later win multiple Academy Awards for his cinematography on Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Last Emperor) creates a moody atmosphere with lighting that helps Argento maximize suspense during numerous sequences, including a shocking attack on a foggy street and an exciting chase in darkness through a shadowy bus yard. Another cinematography highlight occurs late in the film when a character falls out of an apartment window. The camera actually plunges several stories down onto the pavement. Fans of the director’s later works might scoff at the restraint shown in the murder sequences, but the panache, camera moves and style displayed more than make up for it. This title would be the first in what is commonly referred to as Argento’s “Animal Trilogy”.
The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971)
Rating: FOR ARGENTO FANS EXCLUSIVELY
Argento’s second directorial effort features a scene stealing Karl Malden as a blind ex-newspaper reporter who assists a journalist (James Franciscus) in solving a murder mystery at a genetic research institute. The loopy concept revolves around a scientific discovery that the chromosomes of a person can be used to determine whether they have homicidal tendencies. Naturally, it becomes clear that the killer responsible might be an employee that wants to hide the results of their own blood work. Malden uses his unique hearing abilities, in particular a strange conversation he heard on the night of the inciting incident, to get himself embroiled in the investigation. Slower than his first film, this nearly two hour effort may be in certain respects a rehash of his first hit, but it does feature one of the most stylized and over-the-top murders devised yet (at least, up until this point early in Argento’s career), in which a victim is pushed onto the tracks at a train station, his body spun and thrown under the wheels. Additionally, it features the first of many great finales in which the villain is dispatched in a manner even more elaborate than the vicious murders he committed. This time, the death sequence involves a character falling down an elevator shaft, grasping helplessly at the wire cables. Wincingly, for audience members, the villain’s palms are horribly singed before crashing on top of an elevator stories below. Despite his role as a blind man, Malden makes for a pro-active and at times intimidating hero who even grapples and smacks harassers around. In future films, the protagonists would be less effective in physically obstructing their pursuers. The final lesson – don’t mess with a blind Karl Malden, or you’ll get the sharp end of a hidden blade on his walking cane!
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
Rating: RECOMMENDED, BUT RENT IT FIRST
Michael Brandon (who looks suspiciously like his director in appearance) stars as Roberto Tobias, a moody, self-obsessed drummer who discovers he is being stalked. He accidentally stabs the strange follower (bit of an overreaction there!), only to be photographed in the act by a mysterious person wearing a pale stage mask with a disturbing grin. Glossies are discovered by Roberto (though he chooses not to frame them) and personal acquaintances of the lead start piling up dead. A paranoid Roberto begins to try to identify his tormentor before he becomes the next victim (and behave irrationally in the process, at one point attacking his very surprised mailman, who no doubt must have changed his route immediately after narrowly escaping death from the “hero”). This hard-to-like character also has a strained relationship with his anxious spouse (Mimsy Farmer). One begins to really understand the basis for the tension after the lead seduces her cousin (Francine Racette) later in the film. This is an entertaining, though fairly routine Argento thriller, beautifully shot with a few exceptional sequences. Some of the flourishes include a nifty shot from inside a guitar during the recording session scenes inter-cut with a live, beating heart. The mentally disturbed killer (it really should be obvious by now to anyone who the “secret” villain is) uses a choking wire as a weapon and there are several disturbing shots of it being tightened around victim’s necks. There’s also an amusing sequence with our lead driving to an office. The action is cut between shots of our hero driving a vehicle and the camera zooming down the office hallway, mimicking the action of the car. Two death scenes are also highlights, including one in which a camera is placed level with a character’s head as he is knocked down a stairway. The last, involving a spectacular slow-motion car crash, is among the best death scenes the director has ever devised. Sadly, the fact that it is very hard to relate to the lead character, some cheesy jokes (it has been reported that Argento was tiring of the giallo format and added a lot more humor), loopy logic (against all scientific logic, the retina retains an image of the last thing that it sees and as such can be photographed and used as evidence) and the presence of some political incorrectness keep this otherwise entertaining effort from reaching classic status. The score by Ennio Morricone, who also composed Argento’s first in the “Animal Trilogy”, would mark the last collaboration between the director and composer for more than twenty years. Amazingly, Paramount Pictures would pick up this small, Italian film for distribution in America.
Door into Darkness – “The Tram” (TV) (1973)
Rating: RECOMMENDED, BUT RENT IT FIRST
After the success of his first three films, Argento had the chance to reach an even wider audience and hone his skills with an hour-long television anthology series Door into Darkness. Lasting a brief four episodes, “The Tram” serves as the highlight to the series. After an unintentionally goofy opening featuring an introduction from Argento, who in turn introduces the lead actor (Enzo Cerusico; who skulks in the unlit studio background, before he amusingly lights a cigarette and poses for the camera), we get to the meat of the story. A young woman is murdered on her way home on a tram full of commuters, but no one remembers seeing it happen. Naturally, it’s up to Cerusico’s detective to create a re-enactment of the night based on witness reports, solve the case and avoid getting killed in the process. It is muted in comparison to the director’s other work, but the segment is suspenseful and clever, features an engaging story (even if it does feel like the plot of an old Murder, She Wrote episode) and a solid performance from its likable lead. In spite of how tame it appears now, many within the industry were worried about the violence contained in this series, which partially resulted in its early demise. Word has it that the script was fleshed out from a murder sequence planned but not filmed for use in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The excellent score is by Giorgio Gaslini.
Door into Darkness – “Eyewitness” (TV) (1973)
Rating: RUN AWAY SCREAMING
Another episode in Argento’s short lived TV series, this one much more straight-forward and predictable than “The Tram”. Marilù Tolo stars as Roberta. When a young lady collapses in front of Roberta’s vehicle, she believes the cause of death to be… murder! Naturally, the panicked witness goes to call for help. Baffled, the police can’t find the victim and the sanity of the increasingly frustrated Roberta comes into question when she suspects that she might also be in danger from the supposedly nonexistent killer. This episode was originally filmed by Roberto Pariante, but after deeming it ineffective, Argento re-shot sections of the film himself. The result is rather bland visually and most viewers will have come to the obvious conclusion long before both the police and heroine manage to put the pieces together. With the exception of the bizarre intro, in which a soundstage-bound Argento casually talks to a “real” detective about the strangest cases the police force has been assigned, this episode feels long, drawn out and not worth the trouble.
The Five Days of Milan (1973)
Rating: RUN AWAY SCREAMING
Having had great success with three giallo films, Argento unwisely decided that there was nothing else he could do with the thriller and attempted something completely different. Set during the Italian Revolution of 1848 (in which Italy was occupied by Austrian forces and the citizens forcefully rebelled), this was not only a period picture, but one that would be accompanied by modern references and a helping of jokes amidst the tragedy. Not a good combination. The episodic story follows a convict (Adriano Celentano), who breaks out of prison, getting himself into a series of situations (many with a buddy, played by Enzo Cerusico) and crossing paths with various oddball characters. While well produced with lavish costumes and sets, it is shot in a decidedly reserved manner, the director doing away with his punchy camerawork. The only notable visual is a lengthy scene depicting a baby’s birth that is under-cranked dramatically, because, as many incorrectly assume, everything is funnier when it’s sped up. There’s a strange sense of humor prevalent to the proceedings, including pranks relating to bodily functions and pot smoking. The odd gag, including an early one featuring a rat, is moderately effective, but most of the hilarity when coupled with dramatic scenes involving rape, chilling murders and death squad shootings comes off as insensitive. Italian critics also complained that Celentano’s performance was stiff and unconvincing. The fact that it was a huge bomb in Italy, told a story specific to that country, and was not shot in English made it a difficult sell worldwide. This film remains difficult to locate outside of its home country. Its failure was more than enough to convince the director to return to his horror roots.