The Fifth Cord

Today we're diving back into the world of the Italian cinema of the 70's. A film recommended to me by a friend called The Fifth Cord (1971).

The Fifth Cord is a Giallo, which is Italian for yellow. The Giallo genre are thrillers, sometimes spilling into horror, and possibly with an erotic slant. The name is derived from post fascist era Italian paperback novels of this genre, which had yellow covers. The classic Giallo has a killer with black leather gloves, stalking and killing a bunch of pretty women. Lurid entertainment in other words.

The Fifth Cord is a murder mystery, pure and simple. Well, not that simple as the plot is actually really good. In hindsight, I should have figured out who the killer was, but I was nowhere close. As a Giallo, it's interesting as some but not all, victims are beautiful women. Some victims are men as well.

Plot wise we have the protagonist, Andrea Bild (Franco Nero), a reporter with a drinking problem who tries to figure out who the killer is. The police suspects that it could be him, but it's pretty obvious that it isn't. That's not a spoiler BTW, it's super obvious. The killer keeps on killing, and leaves a glove with fingers removed as a calling card. Every consecutive murder has one more finger removed than the last, leading the police to believe that there will be five murders in total. This is where the title comes from, by the way. I don't get the cord bit either, but the original title is Giornata nera per l'ariete, which translates to Black day for the ram. Go figure.

The cinematography is exceptional, it really is. I could go on gushing about the composition in certain scenes, but just take my word for it.

The music is by none less than Ennio Morricone himself, so that's another feather in the cap. Though it should be said that the intro music will make your ears bleed. It is absolutely ghastly. Once you get past that, it's a fine film.

Obviously, if you're not a fan of films like these, you wont' like it, but if your cinematic omnivore, or you want something a little bit different, go for it.

As an aside, I just learned that the father of the modern zombie movie, George A. Romero has passed on. There are countless films, shows, comics and games that wouldn't be what they are without his original work. Rest in Piece and all that.

Until we see each other next, have a great week!