Comments on: Eye confess!

By: RHS

RHS — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:49:51 +0000

I’m a big defender of Cat O’Nine Tails while being fully aware of the qualities (or deficits, if you will) that put people off of it. It took a few viewings for me to warm to it and to see the things about it that are really interesting… and in that spirit I look forward to catching up with Four Flies… in the near future. But isn’t it funny how certain movies can become something like a foster child to you – unwanted by the rest of the world but suddenly the thing nearest and dearest to you?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:03:35 +0000

I’m more than a little obsessed by Mimsy Farmer in this film. So much so that I always seem to convince myself the movie is better than it is.
I am extremely excited about finally seeing a crystal clear copy of it though and will always prefer it to Cat…although finally I will admit it doesn’t hold a candle to Argento’s best work from the seventies. Morricone’s score is indeed truly out of sight and should be celebrated more.

By: rhsmith

rhsmith — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:51:11 +0000

Seeing one of the better gialli in an optimum setting is like being let loose in a museum… there’s stuff you like, stuff you don’t like so much, stuff you hate… but throughout, a nice sense of being truly lost in something bigger than yourself. Because Argento’s films (particularly the early, funny ones… no, wait a minute, I’m thinking of Woody Allen) are often about perception, it’s really less about what he shows you than what you see or sense for yourself.

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:42:23 +0000

I identify with what you write about the sum of all gialli being greater than their individual parts. For me it’s that in the past 5 or 6 years we finally are able to have an easier lock on the most significant of these films since so many are now available in widescreen on video. It’s become much more of a possibility to appreciate something as part of a whole period or movement in cinema than ever before because of this sort of access, and the result is, just as you describe, that even a lack of real enthusiasm for a title like this probably won’t stand in my way from buying it.

I look forward to revisiting that opening credit sequence, the score, a couple of other small set pieces in this otherwise only marginally interesting movie. DVD’s magic formula of affordability + high standards for quality have ironically made me at once a more knowledgeable viewer — and one now interested in simply appreciating a fragment of something.

Nick

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:01:21 +0000

If nothing else, it's great news because now online discussions of the movie, for better and worse, will be about the movie itself and not its elusive quality. I'm not sure which I'd put over the other in the Four Flies... vs. Cat O'Nine Tails discussion. Cat... is probably "better", but for reasons that are almost contrary to why one watches a giallo. I'll probably rewatch Four Flies... more with both on the shelf. And I have to say, it's the Morricone score I'm most likely to listen to. I've heard people gripe about it, but I think it's almost unbearably groovy!

By: RHS

RHS — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:53:14 +0000

I have the American one-sheet, too (a variation on the insert card at the top of this post). It’s not too thrilling (I prefer the art used on the cover of the German DVD, also above) but I like it.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:40:56 +0000

Glad I can finally ditch my third-gen bootleg VHS copy of this! Even though the whole is less than the sum of its parts, I still enjoy the film in fits and starts.

This post also reminds me that I have that original poster kicking around somewhere, maybe it’s time to give it some wall time.

By: Peter Nellhaus

Peter Nellhaus — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:23:52 +0000

“Four Flies” was the first Argento film I saw. It was Richard Menello (co-writer of “Two Lovers”) who first told me to check out his films. I’m glad I’ve put off buying the German DVD I read about several months ago. By the way, I had read that Argento was originally thinking of casting James Taylor in the part eventually taken by Michael Brandon.

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:41:58 +0000

I’m glad to hear Four Flies will be out on DVD, even though I agree with your assessment that it is the least accomplished of Argento’s 70s output. I like the soundtrack, always enjoy seeing the quirky Mimsy Farmer in anything and especially enjoyed the Arabian beheading sequence that keeps getting repeated and the gay detective. However, Michael Brandon is just so damn BLAND! I understand the character is supposed to be passive agressive, but Brandon underplays it so much that you have to wonder if it was acting choice or Argento’s direction or both. This left a huge hole in the film that no amount of humor, horror or quirkiness could fill. At least Cat O’ Nine Tails had the good acting duo of Karl Malden and James Franciscus. I’ll definitely pick up a copy of Four Flies, but doubt I’ll watch it as much as Profondo Rosso or Bird with the Crystal Plummage.