Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Four Flies on Grey Velvet.Original Title: 4 mosche di velluto grigio
Directed by: Dario Argento
Italy/France, 1971
Giallo, 102 min
Distributed by: Mya Communication

It’s been said that Dario Argento used to find inspiration for his moves in the books and newspapers he read. The smallest little article could generate a series of thoughts that would finally develop into a full-fledged movie. This may be true, but the newspaper article that laid the basis for the title of Four Flies on Grey Velvet is even for Gialli standards pretty far fetched, although on the other side modern technology – even if pretty imaginative and fabulous – is sometimes quite important to the Gialli and fills it purpose.

Argento’s third movie; Four Flies on Grey Velvet, is somewhat of a curiosity amongst his works, because it is one of his coldest of his movies, focusing on a more distanced voyeurism and almost holding the audience at arms length and never really letting us get involved with the characters... and when we do it’s for the wrong one.

The third and final instalment of what is loosely referred to as the "Animal Trilogy" sees rock musician Robert Tobias [Michael Brandon who later narrated kid’s show Thomas the Tank Engine for several years] being stalked by an odd character. Roberto has had enough and decides to follow the man instead, and his path leads him into an abandoned theatre. Inside the theatre a struggle takes place and Roberto accidentally stabs the man, who falls dead to the ground. A masked figure sitting upon a balcony [played by co-screenwriter and assistant director Luigi Cozzi] photographs the “accident” and starts torturing Robert by mailing pieces of information about the dead mans identify to him as to show that he knows that Robert is a murderer. Robert's wife Nina [Mimsy Farmer] and his friend Godfrey [Carlo Pedersoli under his more common name Bud Spencer] are the only people who he can trust, so he confides in them. But when the taunting continues and his maid is murdered too, Roberto hires private detective Gianni Arrosio [Jean-Pierre Marielle] to help him solve the case and find the blackmailer… Then the murders start piling up, and a piece of sci-fi technology can take photographs of the last image seen by the latest victim which finally tightens the noose round the neck of the killer.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is in every possible way an improvement to the previous Il gatto a nove code (The Cat O’Nine Tails) 1971; the fancy camerawork is back, the pacing is back, the narrative flows forth like clockwork, archetypical Argento characters are back more clearly, and there’s a very clear personal involvement in the quest that makes it more engaging than the previous movie.

But there is one thing that makes Four Flies on Grey Velvet such an enigma within the Argento universe – Roberto Tobias. Roberto isn’t much of a likeable protagonist. He’s a pretty shallow and unlikeable guy. He’s not really interested in busting the mystery, only clearing his name, that’s why he refuses to go to the cops. He is also is unfaithful to his gorgeous wife with her cousin Dalia [Francine Racette] in the same instance that she leaves town which definitely harms his character, and pushes his arc down into the negative realm. It’s an odd approach because it also makes it difficult to indentify or sympathise with the leading man – whom the movie after all is supposed to be about. So instead when the killer’s identity is revealed – in one hell of an impressive performance – it’s easier to take sides with that character instead. Which is kinda confusing, but then again if you know the ending, you will understand why I think that this was intentional of Argento. Having finally presented us with an unfortunate character to empathise with, there’s still the shocking ending to pack a final punch, and a shock ending it is.

Being the bookend of the “trilogy” it’s easy to look upon these three movies as the breeding ground for Dario Argento’s traits. Everything that is good with these first movies is what developed the attributes that would build the magnificent stem and style of Profondo Rosso, the unchallenged masterpiece of Dario Argento’s Gialli. It’s even possible that the progressive rock band that Roberto plays in served as an influence after Morricone and Argento fell out with each other and Argento needed to search elsewhere to score Profondo Rosso. As you probably know Profondo Rosso contains that fabulous score by Italian rockers Goblin and doesn’t have a typical classic score like previous Gialli.

Already in the opening title sequence the style of Argento is hurled back upon the viewer as we see the camera being forced into seemingly impossible locations; inside a guitar, on the neck and so on. The opening sequence also sets up the mysterious bloke, Carlo Marosi [Calisto Calisti] who is stalking Roberto and get’s us right into the mood for what is to follow. As soon as the opening titles are through – with that great beating heart image – the plot kicks in. Roberto follows the man stalking him and in a scene prevailing Terror at the opera, the red velvet curtains leading into the womblike orifice that is scene of the initial crime, and the show is on the go. Much like the two previous films, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is all about interpreting what our senses let us experience. In L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo (Bird with the Crystal Plumage) 1970, its all about what Sam Dalmas thought he saw, in The Cat O’Nine Tails it’s all about what Franco Arno thought he heard and in Four Flies on Grey Velvet, it’s all about what Roberto Tobias though he experienced – because you know there’s a twist in there don’t you.

Just like The Cat O’Nine Tails there’s a very limited use of conventional gloved hands and straight razors. Although there is one shot of a razor just before the killer takes to the park to kill Roberto and Nina’s maid Amelia [Marisa Fabbri], and that leads elegantly up to the scene where it starts to become apparent that in Dario Argento’s world it’s never enough with just a simple murder. There has to be some element of squeamishness in there to get under the skin of the audience too. Even though we never actually see Amelia being killed, we do see a shot of her fingers scraping the concrete wall as the nails burst off all over the place, a very nauseating assault on our senses as most of us hate that sound of nails scraping against rough surfaces. When Dahlia later falls victim to the killer, she’s not only murdered, she’s first slashed across the forehead, then pushed down a flight of stairs, the camera follows as her head bangs into each step with a loud bash, bash, bash. Then the knife goes in. There are no simple deaths in Argento’s movies, and it’s a trait that he started using here in these initial movies and stuck with for many of the movies to follow.

And while I’m on that murder of Dalia, I have to point out that this scene is one of my favourite Argento scenes. I love how he used the silence of the attic, the pending threat of the killer being in the house, and then that aggressive burst of audio as the phone rings. It’s a fantastic little scene that easily makes it into the top ten of best suspense and shock moments in Argento’s movies.

Common for the Gialli are, flashbacks or surreal dreams that are significant for the narrative. There are two such devices used in Four Flies on Grey Velvet, the back-story of the murderer which is explored by both visual flashbacks of an asylum and through audio, as we hear a parent scolding a child for not being what he wanted it to be – and when you know, check out the killer’s clothing. Apparently the killer never quite got over the childhood abuse as it still dresses in the clothing of the gender that the parent wanted it too be. Then there’s the metaphoric execution that reoccurs in the dreams of Roberto. It’s both a symbol of his brewing guilt, and a symbolic prediction of things to come. Crime does not pay, and in the case of extremes one can loose ones head.

The cast - well, I don’t really see the similarity between Michael Brandon and Dario Argento that others seem to find, and it takes more than appearance for me to see what the supposed autobiographical connection is. But I do feel that Brandon kind of sells the part and is a pretty decent leading man, even if he’s a pretty boring and passive one. Which obviously leads to the stunning Mimsy Farmer. Farmer has in my opinion never acted or looked better at any other point in time than in Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet. She’s absolutely gorgeous here, and undoubtedly one of my favourite Dario Argento leading ladies. I also find great sympathy for the fascinating character of Gianni Arrosio. I’d completely forgotten all about the constant recurrent gay characters in Argento’s movies until Ninja Dixon pointed this out on his eminent blog a few weeks back, and sure as said, here’s a gay character once again. But this time the character is not as much of a caricature but more of an authentic and effective character, even though he does manage to have a little flirtatious meeting with another gay bloke during his investigation. Arrosi is a fascinating character that has a great character arc, as he, despite never solving a case, is full of optimism and hope. It’s quite a moving scene when he finally succeeds to figure out whom the killer is but doesn’t live long enough to see the rewards of his actions. Ironically dies in a restroom, pumped full of poison distributed by the killer. As he fades away he congratulates himself on solving the mystery. Keep your eyes open for yet another appearance by Fulvio Mingozzi in the movie, this time as a studio engineer.

As for the technical bits of this flick, well needless to say Franco Di Giacomo’s cinematography is certainly up to Argento standards, and the script by Argento, Cozzi and Mario Foglietti is intriguing, although I’m not convinced that the withheld approach to the leading man was the right way to go. Foglietti would later write and direct one of the best parts for Argento’s TV serial La porta sul buio (Door Into Darkness), with the episode La Bambola (The Doll) 1973. For reasons unknown, Ennio Morricone and Argento  had a falling out during the production which may have affected the score. The lead theme is certainly ferocious and groovy, but the rest – and there’s not much – is mainly varaitons on the theme and never really stands out as their earlier collaborations. But it's still a great score, albeit a weaker one, and it is possible that Argento had to make do with what he had been given.

So summing up the “animal” trilogy, it sees the traits of Dario Argento come into shape. The pacing, the symbolism and the visual style are sternly constructed within these three movies. It’s the last of the Morricone soundtracks, although they would work again twenty-five years later on La syndrome di Stendhal (The Stendhal Syndrome) 1996. It certainly is a suite that establishes the style, traits and atmosphere of the classic Dario Argento Giallo, one that soon would peak with the magnificent Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) 1975, but first Argento was to venture into TV serials La porta sul buio and the historic comedy Le cinque giornate (The Five Days) 1973.

Image:
2.35:1 (16x9 anamorphic)

Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono. English dialogue, although Italian in reinserted scenes where English subtitles are available.

Extras:
Alternative English opening and end credits, Original trailers, poster and photo gallery.

Here's a few American trailers...

Autopsy

Autopsy

Original Title: Macchie solari

Directed by: Armando Crispini

Italy, 1975

Giallo/Thriller, 100min

Distributed by: Blue Underground.

After revisiting this title, I have to confess that I got quite surprised by it. I didn’t remember it as freaky and surreal as it indeed is. I recall seeing it years ago when I was a young lad exploring all the bizarre titles I could lay my grubby little hands on, especially the ones with words like Blood, Death and especially Autopsy in the title. Titles designed to jump out and appeal to a young cineaste on search for his next fix of carnage, which is what lead me into the amazing world of EuroHorror.

Even though Autopsy may not be the most violent or blood drenched little oddity you may think from the title, it is a really entertaining and fascinating movie that works out of the Giallo mould. It’s fair to say that it’s one of those Gialli that expand the boundaries of the genre and treats its audience to a wild ride indeed.

The movie jump starts with a series of violent suicides, nekid' woman slits her wrists, old geezer stuffs head in bag and jumps in river, a father takes a machine gun to the heart after killing his kids, all provoked by the intense heat wave hammering down on Rome. Crash cut to a bunch of American tourists having problems understanding the piazza vendors, a young redhead helps them with the explanation that she too is American. She hails a cab and just as she gets in, a man climbs in with her and bursting into tears she falls into his arms. Right now this little scene is a mere parenthesis, but in good old Gialli style it’s of importance will be revealed before the film is over. The meat wagon driving the corpses elegantly leads us to the morgue where medical student Simona [Mimsy Farmer from Dario Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet 1971, Francesco Barilli’s The Perfume of a Lady in Black 1974, Lucio Fulci’s The Black Cat 1981 to name a few], is currently working.

Following a presentation of Simona’s character through a sequence shot almost in documentary type realism of corpse gutting and intestine removals, the long work and heat causes Simone to start hallucinating while she is working in the morgue. And she sees some amazing stuff, like a corpse winking at her, corpses get up and dance, and even two corpses making, out only to end up shagging on the floor (on a conveniently placed rug of course) – Now there’s one way to work in some gratuitous nudity for your audience if there ever was one.

After a baleful practical joke conducted by her boyfriend Edgar [the always a blast, Ray Lovelock from Jorge Grau’s Let Sleeping Corpses Lie 1974, Umberto Lenzi’s The Oasis of Fear 1971, and Lucio Fulci’s Murder Rock 1984] and Ivo [Ernesto Colli who you get bonus points for if you spot him in Sergio Martino’s Torso 1973] her sleazy colleague, Simone is driven home by the laughing, taunting Edgar who tries his best to get in her pants before she climbs out of the car. But Simone rejects him and says that there will be none of that until she’s finished her thesis.

In the comfort of her flat, decorated with photographs of dead, mutilated bodies all over the place, she starts going over her work, and we learn that Simone’s thesis is a study on the differences between real suicides set against murders staged as suicides, sounds like a bizarre study, but this is Giallo territory and it will all make sense eventually… we hope. There’s a sudden knock on the door in the middle of the night, and in comes Betty [Gaby Wagner] who wants to borrow an envelope (another sub plot plant) and then claims to be renting the flat above Simona's – a flat hat belongs to Simona's father… …a man Nancy says she doesn’t know. After she leaves Nancy takes a walk and is pretty soon pursued by the headlights of a car. The car stops and Nancy, with a sigh of relief says, ”Oh it’s you again” and walks towards the car… Hmmm once again a delicate sub plot is planted, and we are given our first hint at the culprit of the movie. It all makes sense in a while.

The following morning Simone and her colleagues gather round the latest ”suicide corpse” that was found in a deckchair on the beach with a gun in hand, and ponder over the question whom she can be… Simone’s sleazy colleague Ivo obviously cops a feel as he washes the dead female body in preparation for his rebuilding of her disfigured face. Simone goes for a lunch with her father Gianni [Massimo Serato who you may recognize as the evil warden from the recently deceased Rino Di Silvestro’s Women in Cell Block 7 1973, Giulio Berruti’s The Killer Nun 1978 and Antonio Bido’s The Bloodstained Shadow 1978], during their lunch poppa Guilin reveals that he’s met a woman whom he plans to marry, but his girlfriend seems to have missed their appointment. Simone feels faint and leaves the restaurant only to run into Giuliio’s ex, Daniela [Angela Goodwin] an artist preparing her next exhibition in the death museum. Daniela’s red hair gives Simona a premonition of who the dead girl might be and returns to the corpse in the morgue with a red haired wig. Just as Simona solves the mystery girl’s identity Father Lennox [Barry Primus] makes his entrance claiming that the dead woman is his sister, and that there is no way possible that she would have killed herself.

That’s just the first twenty minutes of Armando Crispino’s Autopsy. He’s introduced all the main players, their traits, and solved the initial mystery only to spark further mystery that drives the movie forth from here and introduced a gallery of interesting suspects that might be responsible for the death of Betty, and I’m totally drawn in.

It’s a wonderful little piece that brings a lot to the screen with it, double identities, mysterious books found in flooded libraries, suspicious characters and side winding plots that will throw you off track over and over again, There is quite little of the customary killing sprees of a masked murderer here, most murders take place off screen or with the killer completely out of sight, but never the less, it’s the mystery plot of who’s who that makes this movie such a treat.

There’s also a great sub plot with Simona rejecting her boyfriend Edgar, displaying a cold sexual repression that reminds me of Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion 1965, but at the same time she lusts for and falls in love with Father Lennox, a man she can’t have due to his faith which complicates things. But then at the same time, Father Lennox beats the crap out of Simona’s landlord during one of his nightly stakeouts screaming ”I’ll Kill You, I’ll Fucking Kill You!” so it’s doubtful that this man of the cloth is true to his vows. There’s also a fantastic scene where the killer tries to arrange a dual suicide with Simona and Father Lennox after drugging them and leaving them in a bathroom slowly filling with gas. It’s a very exciting and suspense full little scene, and familiarity with the genre will let you know that you never know who is going to get it next, so the killer has a fair chance of killing off the leading lady.

Eventually there’s a wonderful climax that will have you gasping, as the killer ignorant of his past deeds goes about his regular routines and is finally confronted by the only person who know the truth of what has been going on, and that little scene at the beginning with the redhead and the man in the cab, the envelope that Nancy asks for, the mysterious car driver who Nancy recognizes, there all small details that will make sense. I love it when gaily wrap things up and small bit’s that at first seem incoherent and almost like filler scenes drop into their place in the story and you get that rush of insight. It’s one of the small perks of watching movies in this fantastic genre that make it all worthwhile.

Something that I find recurrent in Gialli, apart from clothing supplied by the major fashion houses, and constant fraternisation with the art world, there’s a recurrent display of the cutting edge technology. Be it enormous seventies computers that take up a whole wall, or gigantic matrix printers technology keeps making itself apparent in the genre. Here there’s a bizarre machine that is supposed to help one of the characters, now totally paralysed, to speak with the police and give them a clue to who the killer may be. It’s an enormous machine, that looks more like an instrument of torture than anything else, but more petite and functioning versions are actually used today by people in paralysis. So even how ridiculous the scene may seem today, there is a fascinating foresight in there. Sort of like when you watch classic Star Trek and see their “future tech” which we all have in our households and everyday life today.

Farmer does what is expected of her, she wanders from scene to scene with a puzzled, almost lost look on her face and gives a grad performance as the confused Simone. Once again Lovelock, get’s to play the chauvinistic, misogynist part that he plays so wonderfully. He’s self centred, filthy rich and truly a disturbing character, all he wants’ is to have fun, shoot his photographs and get his rocks off with Simone. He repeatedly tries to get it on with Simone, to varied results, but it is a primal urge hat he can’t resist. Edgar even gives it a shot when he get’s Simona home and after her colleague tries to rape her, Edgar coldly says – ”Well you can’t blame the guy for trying” and sticks his hand up her dress. Sinister and misogynist to the very end. But also Primus gives a decent performance here, even though he made no more Gialli after this one, but disappeared into US TV serial bit parts. But in Crispino’s Autopsy it’s possible that he was given some great direction, as he makes an impression that many other one off Yankee’s in Italian genre pieces didn’t.

Editor Daniele Alabiso [Ruggero Deodato’s Last Cannibal World 1977, Phantom of Death 1988, and Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City 1980] does a wonderful job with the movie. The timing is impeccable, and right on cue. Also he takes a few wild transitions into play to add to the delicate weave. Just keep an eye out for the sequence when Simona’s father is introduced, as he intercuts Massimo Serato swimming towards something, Ivo is remodelling the face of the female corpse, Serato swimming, the corpse with Simona watching on in puzzlement, Serato swimming up to a pair of female feet, the completed corpse being photographed, Serato revealing that the feet belong to Simona standing by the pool greeting her father – Serato. It’s a wonderful part and there’s that great short thread of mystery spinning off the larger – the unknown female corpse – which soon will be integrated with the shorter thread and lead to the solution of the larger sub plot. Great stuff that has the movie stands out over many other Gialli.

Finally there’s Ennio Morricone’s marvellous score. It’s a fascinating and eclectic score filled with both electronic minimalism, and full-feathered orchestral parts. Gentle flutes, brooding synthesizers mix in a catchy but disturbing blend. The use of the electronic harpsichord played heavily brings an added dimension to the score, as it’s a rather delicate instrument played violently. Also Morricone uses his long time collaborator Edda Dell'Orso on the soundtrack, which makes it even more interesting as she’s something of a female Mike Patton of the sixties and seventies. A tremendously talented singer she also explored alternative vocal performances, styles and ranges (like Patton) in many great Italian genre pieces; Morricone’s great scores for Mario Bava’s Danger Diabolik 1968, Dario Argento’s The Bird With the Crystal Plumage 1970, Aldo Lado’s Who Saw Her Die? 1972 (With those great child quires) and Massimo Dallamano’s What Have you Done To Solange? 1972, to give you a few highlights of her amazing talent. For Autopsy she supplies vocal performances ranging from sensual groaning to heavy breathing to death rattles, which makes the soundtrack one of Morricone’s better dark horror works. Definitely a soundtrack worth picking up if you are into that kind of thing.

Image:

1.85:1 – Anamorphic 16x9

Audio:

English and Italian Dialogue in Dolby Digital Mono

Extras:

Very scarce, but there’s the US theatrical trailer and an international trailer for the movie under the name The Victim.