New Year’s Eve, a time meant for love and remembering old friendships, is ironically the start point of the 1971 giallo The Fifth Cord (directed by Luigi Bazzoni – The Possessed). Introduced by a disguised voice-over of a murderer planning his next victim, the psychedelic night club, which will introduce a number of main players in the sordid tale, is distortedly shown through a fisheye lens (using a long tracking shot, no less), Ennio Morricone music blaring, alcohol flowing as people strut, snarl, sulk, and stalk.
Not long after people have departed the party, one of the goers, an English language teacher from Australia teaching in Rome, John Lubbock (Maurizio Bonuglia), is brutally attacked in a tunnel on his way home. . . and it seems as though the assailant had murder on his or her mind – while the only clue left behind is a black glove with its thumb removed (according to the police, this suggests that four other victims are likely to be in the would-be killer’s sight).
The story is centred on unreliable narrator Andrea Bild (Franco Nero), a barely functioning alcoholic investigative reporter who is on the rocks – still obsessed with his ex, Helene (Silvia Monti), struggling with his much younger mistress, Lu (Pamela Tiffin), not only is he unpopular at work, but he is also one of the prime suspects of the police – there is no better depiction of his struggles than him driving home from the above mentioned party drinking a forty ouncer of hard liquor. Bazzoni frequently shoots Bild through blinds and windows, symbolic of his increasingly trapped state – struggling with past memories, unable to move on, beholden to the bottle, finding himself closer to truly being behind bars as all of the clues seem to point to him.
When Bild is not shown in this fascinating method, Bazzoni lingers on his establishing shots, showing the man as a tiny, lonely speck in this large stone metropolis (a clear depiction of his isolation). Soon, bodies are piling up, all of which were at the New Year Eve’s shindig. Much like an Agatha Christie novel, the characters are intriguingly connected, from crippled wealthy newspaper mogul, Sofia Bini (Rossella Falk) and her doctor husband, Riccardo (Renato Romano), to John’s best friend (and fellow teacher), Edouard Vermont (Edmund Purdom), who has fallen for Isabel Lancia (Ira von Fürstenberg) – John’s crush; and I must not forget to mention race car driver Walter (Luciano Bartoli) and underage prostitute Giulia (Agostina Belli), for they found the severely injured John. . . and that may not be the end of their involvement – talk about six degrees of separation. Combine all of these characters (including the ones mentioned earlier in the review) with Bild’s flawed memories (“When I drink I forget things. It makes life much easier”) and you’ve got quite the mystery thriller.
A fun, solidly plotted narrative (its characters really are its strength), it is only elevated by the artistic creativity of Bazzoni and master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (a three time Oscar Winner – Apocalypse Now), showing off its stunning locales through off-kilter angles, first-person perspective camera work, sharp editing, establishing shots, and everything in between with chiaroscuro lighting that would fit in perfectly in a classic film noir – silhouettes, psychedelic and barring effects, reflections (in sunglasses, windows, etc.), as well as so much more. The Fifth Cord deserves to find itself at the top tier of gialli when it comes to style and cinematography – a truly inspiring visual flair. Two of the best scenes are the genesis tunnel attack and wheelchair/phone ringing sequence – for in each, we know that something is going to happen, but by way of lighting, angles and editing, the suspense is ratcheted up to the nth degree.
Feeding off of the Dario Argento Bird With the Crystal Plumage craze of 1970, there are definitely some similarities (even the two openings are a bit similar), but The Fifth Cord can stand alone as its own solid piece of entertainment. With its combination of arthouse-leaning director and soon to be Award winning cinematographer, it is a visual splendour for the eyes (and ears, courtesy of Ennio Morricone). So, tune in to learn who the fifth cord is – it may also teach you a thing or two about what a giallo should look like.
Can be watched in either Italian with English subtitles or in dubbed English