Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Starring: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Bud Spencer, Jean-Pierre Marielle

Synopsis:

For over a week, rock drummer Roberto Tobias (Brandon) has been noticing a man shadowing him. Eventually, Roberto corners the man at an abandoned theatre and demands to know why he is being followed. A struggle ensues, and the mystery man is stabbed, falling to his death in the orchestra pit. The whole incident was photographed by another mystery man wearing a bizarre mask. Soon the troubled Roberto is being blackmailed/terrorised and anybody close to him is soon in mortal danger...but why?

Four Flies on Grey Velvet, one of Argento’s most rare films, showcases an auteur in experimental mode. Not all of these experiments work.

Once more, as with just about all of Argento’s films, we have an artistic protagonist (for those keeping track, we’ve had a crossword puzzle writer (Cat o’nine tails), a couple of authors (Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Tenebrae), a pianist (Deep Red), a ballet dancer (Suspiria), a poetess and her music student brother (Inferno), and an opera singer (Opera). This time, we have a rock drummer, who is served well by Ennio Morricone’s score. However, instead of bearing witness to a crime, this time our protagonist is the unwitting killer, whilst another killer is targeting him specifically.

More than any other of Argento’s films, Four Flies on Grey Velvet has a feeling of being intrusively hip, trying to hook into the contemporary youth vibe of the time. This is expressed not only in the score, the fact that our hero is part of a 70’s era rock band and attends the sort of parties attended by other artists and intellectuals, but also the furnishings and fashions.

Adding to this feel is the editing style. There are some very strange staccato cuts in the way scenes are put together. An example of this is when Roberto’s maid goes to meet the blackmailer in a children’s park (the scariest children’s park ever, as it turns out). When she arrives, the park is busy with children playing and parents watching, but after a while the maid notices that the place is suddenly deserted. As she looks around, we’re given a brief shot of the kids playing on the swings suddenly cutting to the swings being empty. Now you see them, now you don’t...it’s a strange style and not entirely successful.

The most jarring thing about this film is Argento’s attempts at humour. Roberto turns to a private detective for help, and the audience is meant to find Roberto’s discomfort with the detective’s homosexuality more humorous than the fact that he’d never solved a case before.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is unfortunately one of Argento’s most bloodless films. The tense showdown with the maid in the park for instance builds and builds to a damp squib, and she dies off-screen. Gore-hounds are going to be rather disappointed. Fans of Argento’s other skills, such as framing, artistic direction and elaborate tracking shots will however find much to enjoy. At times it goes overboard (one of the first scenes includes a POV from inside a guitar as its being played – very silly), but the fluid tracking shots and POVs that Argento is help lift the enjoyment of the film no end. There are a couple of interesting slow motion shots too, including a recurring dream about a man being beheaded and a lurid car-crash.

The cast is pretty good. Michael Brandon (Dempsey and Makepeace) has the right air about him, a 70’s Mick Jagger coolness. Mimsy Farmer is interesting as Roberto’s icy blonde wife, and fans of Italian cinema will be interested to see Bud Spencer (who made countless comedy action movies alongside Terrence Hill), as Roberto’s friend, “God”.

As usual, the motive is incredibly convoluted and silly. There are plenty of red-herrings thrown at us throughout the film as to the identity of the killer but the ending will probably surprise you. And then you’ll think about it and realise it just doesn’t make any sense. But that is par for the course for any Giallo.

Verdict:

It’s interesting to see Argento experimenting with his style so early (IMDB lists this as coming after Cat O’Nine Tails, which is a more successful if more conventional film). Not everything works, but there is much to enjoy regardless.

6 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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