Five Days of Milan

Five Days of Milan

Original Title: Le cinque giornate

Directed by: Dario Argento

Italy, 1973

Drama/Satire, 122min

Perhaps one of, if not the, least accessible of Dario Argento titles, Le cinque giornate (Five Days of Milan), is something of an antithesis of everything one has come to associate his name with. No, you won’t find a single razor wielding leather-gloved maniac here. Nor will you find the gothic horror of his Three Mothers series… Instead you will find a historic comedy about two accidental compadres, Cainazzo [Adriano Celentano – An Italian singer/actor who also starred in three of Lucio Fulci’s early musical dramas) and Romolo Marcelli [Enzo Ceruscio] who find themselves caught up in the midst of the Italian revolution of 1848.

After completing the classic Animal trilogy, Argento wanted to explore other areas as he felt that the Giallo as a genre had peaked. A daring, but kind of odd move as the three previous Gialli had been reasonable successes. So the choice of comedic period piece doesn’t really make sense. Although taking into mind that Argento had previously – and during the time he directed his first three Gialli - written period pieces for other directors, the choice may not be so far fetched. These movies where primarily Second World War, and Spaghetti Westerns – the most famous being his minor part on Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West 1968 – so setting Five Days of Milan in a past time can be understood. But the choice of the comedic elements… well, to be honest, I’m convinced that Argento tried his best to script a satirical piece, and that along the way – perhaps through producer pressure - added certain elements to lighten up the script with some half hearted eroticism, some tame slapstick effects and synthesizer renditions of classical music pieces. Something Kubrick would do a few years later too, but then it was Kubrick and considered innovative and genius. Never the less, Five Days of Milan may be a shambles of a film, but it definitely is a unique one off in the career of Dario Argento.

I really beg you to stop relying on the shoddy reviews that compare Five Days to stuff like the Morricone movies and even The Wild Bunch, because it has fuck all to do with those movies and is nowhere near trying to plagiarize or copy them. In my eye’s they either didn’t see the movie at all, or they simply goggled it up and copied notes from each other. What Argento, with co-writers Luigi Cozzi, and Enzo Ungari did was script a satirical piece that polarizes the characters and events all the way through – and makes a comment on the politics of Italy. Keep in mind that the same political corruption and dissatisfaction that saturated the Poliziotteschi genre was already there and Argento has always had a political undertone to a lot of his early movies. Five Days of Milan, is a satire, nothing else.

Also, there are scenes of children dying, violent killings, executions, gang rape and the shocking death of a lead character - none of them themes for a comedy.

Early on the two “accidental hero’s” help a woman in labour, later they can only stand a look on as the armies muskets shoot down a child and mother – in a scene which obviously is Argento’s "Odessa staircase" moment. The revolutionaries are rewarded with consensus sex, where they later rape and abuse their “Italian women”. A string of accidental chance meetings connect the characters and the narrative – almost like in a Buñuel movie – Caniazzo is freed from his prison, by chance/accident. He becomes drawn into the revolution, by chance/accident. He teams up with Romulo, by chance/accident. They become part of Zampino’s [Glauco Onorato] small army, by chance/accident. Romulo seals his fate by chance/accident. I’m almost provoked by the lack of action taken by the lead characters, they are terribly passive and things just happen by chance. It’s not really satisfying. Life turns to death; freedom becomes captivation, and the cynical last minute twist shows that nothing really changes. A stunning metaphor when looking at Italy of today proves to be terrifyingly accurate.

None of the two lead characters are destined to be heroic characters; instead they are accidental protagonists – and weak protagonists at that. In the same random chance of events that make them our protagonists, the same random chance seals the fate of the two characters. It brings a sad and tragic mood to the movie, which again goes to show that the intention can’t have been to make a comedy.

If I where to pick out a few moments to share I’d first and foremost say that the fast motion chases, and slow motion fist fights kind of offend me as they go against everything that Dario Argento stands for in my book.

Argento regular Fulvio Mingozzi makes a brief appearance and there’s supposed to be a rare Argento cameo in the movie too, but two viewings on and I still haven’t seen it. The bandaged character referred to as Argento on the web is not Dario Argento.Cinematography is stunning - Luigi Kuveiller creates some moments that certainly mimic his best Gialli work and one can see why Argento wanted him to shoot the masterpiece to follow, Profondo Rosso.

I really laughed at the scenes with The Countess [Marilù Tolo] who becomes aroused by the blood which squirts over her breasts as one poor revolutionary is shot dead. Se seduces the soldiers, she's raised above the victorious crowd, who shamelessly grope her buttocks and she steers them towards her apartment where she invites them all to celebrate the victory by shagging her. This entire sequence oozes Fellini/Pasolini, and is amongst one of the few highlights of the movie.

During the same year, 1973, Marilù Tolo starred in the Roberto Pariante episode of the TV Series La porta sul buio (Door into Darkness), Testimone Oculare. Supposedly Argento stepped in and took over the episode and directed parts of it uncredited. Perhaps this dabbling in genre themes and the failure of The Five Days where what made him set his sights on the Giallo genre once again. The next movie to come from the pen and direction of Dario Argento, was the legendary Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) 1975, and despite being a somewhat mid/late entry into the genre, this is the one that most connoisseurs consider to be one of the very best Gialli ever put on film.

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...

Star Crash

Star Crash
Original Title: Scontri stellari oltre la terza dimensione
Directed by: Luigi Cozzi, 1979, USA/Italy
Sci-Fi, 92min
Distibuted by: Neo Publishing


Story: Intergalactic sexpot and space smuggler supreme, Stella Star [Caroline Munroe], finds herself pardoned from a lifetime hard labour sentence on the condition that helps the Emperor [Christopher Plummer] guide his robot Elle [Judd Hamilton] through the stars to the seek out and destroy Count Zarth Arn’s [Joe Spinell] evil planet and bring back the emperors missing son.

Me:
Well considering it’s made on the cheaper side and supposed to cash in on Vadim’s Barbarella 1968 and Lucas’ Star Wars 1977; it works kind of all right. Munroe finds herself in various tight small outfits as she ventures to different planets in the hunt for the Count’s evil planet. The movie is full of hilarious small details, like Elle the black “cowboy” robot who talks with a Texas accent, Stella’s companion Acton [Marjoe Gortner] a future seeing alien who never looses his cool and suddenly pulls out something looking more like a toy light saber than a futuristic weapon, and obviously Simon [David Hasselhoff], the emperors lost son, who you just can’t stop laughing at every time he’s on screen. There’s plenty of way to long cheesy space fights, extreme close-ups of hardly painted spaceship models flying over the screen, quite a fair bit of stop motion animation, which I presume are done as tongue in cheek homage’s to the films of Harryhausen, but with a movie that is rumoured to have had an extravagant thirty thousand dollar special effect bonus, you can’t really complain. There are a few great, but unfortunately underused characters that Stella meets on her adventures, most significantly the Amazon warriors and their Queen Corelia [Nadia Cassini], if Cozzi had lost half an hour of other filler stuff he could have easily evolved this sequence. The biggest flaw that runs throughout the entire movie is the fact that Stella only just gets into trouble and then almost instantly she or one of her companions comes to the rescue, so there is never any real impending doom hanging over her. But the thing that strikes me is the serial cliff-hanger feel to the entire movie, fast transitions between assignments, journeys to new planets, winding up in trouble fast, and the almost immediate rescue just to star the circle all again. This could be an explanation for the structure of the movie. The score by John Barry is probably one of the weakest he has ever composed, and it seems as Cozzi only received three or four tracks because it’s the same damned score all the time. It’s in no way the worst Italian space movie that I’ve ever seen, and I’m sure that Cozzi is quite pleased with the final results. You should know that he supposedly wrote the script before Star Wars was made, but nobody wanted to back him on this one, as sci-fi was out at the time. But anyhow, I’m sure that he definitely made a movie that he would want to see, and you have to admit that there is a strange charm to the movie that keeps it interesting.

Image: Well it’s at least in 16:9, but the image quality is not much to cheer about. Scratch and faded print which is quite annoying. Only French subtitles available, but an English & Italian soundtrack out over the three other French tracks.

Audio: Dolby Digital mono in French, English and Italian, French Dolby Digital 5.1, and even a French dts version. This all sounds promising, but the English soundtrack is atrocious. There are static noise distortions which come in randomly all the time, and almost every new scene is accompanied by the most terrible sound fuzz that it’s almost unbearable to watch.

Extras:
There is a large amount of extras on the second disc, like the inclusion of the entire sequel movie Star Crash 2 1981 [Giochi erotici nella 3a galassia], directed by Bitto Albertini. It cashes in on Cozzi’s original and even uses some of the effects, but there’s less plot and more nudity in this one which still doesn’t even manage to come off as a cheap exploitation movie. It still sucks, and being a French edition, it’s dubbed into French without any subtitles for us who don’t speak it. Most impressive are the two documentaries; Making Star Crash, an 80 minute feature on the making of the movie, but it’s taken from a VHS source so the quality is pretty dodgy, an it’s only in Italian with French subs. There is also 36minute documentary mixing interviews in Italian & English with French subtitles where Cozzi talks about his films and his collaborations with Dario Argento. There’s a photo gallery, the French three minute trailer, filmographies and biographies.

It’s always thrilling when you find one of those great movies that you have fond memories of finally available on DVD, but considering that the old VHS copy that I used to have was a far better print I can’t help but feeling disappointed. This French Neo Publishing two disc Collectors Edition is in quite poor shape, with the dodgy sound and the poor image quality, but on the other hand if you can manage Italian then the bonus features on disc two actually make up for some of the errors on the main title.