Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) – Film Review

Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle
Certificate: 18

By Sarah Morgan

Flies and velvet are, frankly, the least of Michael Brandon’s worries in this classic entry in the Italian giallo genre.

Written and directed by Dario Argento, the master of the form, it sees the future Dempsey and Makepeace star play Roberto Tobias, a rock band drummer who’s married to the beautiful Nina. Handsome and seemingly successful, his life pretty much falls apart immediately after we’re introduced to him.

Roberto spots a strange man who appears to be tailing him. He turns the tables by following the fellow to a deserted theatre where he accidentally kills the stranger, then realises someone wearing a particularly disturbing mask has captured the incident on camera.

“Persecuting him”

On returning home, it becomes clear that the mystery masked figure is out to make his life a misery, as the people around him – including his live-in housekeeper, the private eye he hires to investigate the situation and the woman he’s having an affair with – all end up dead.

But who is responsible for persecuting him? Well, it all becomes clear, but I’m certainly not going to spoil the twist by explaining it. Needless to say, with a genius like Argento at the helm, it won’t be who you suspect.

Terence Stamp, Michael York and members of The Beatles were considered for the lead role before Brandon was cast. It’s intriguing to imagine what they might have brought to the project, but the rather handsome Brandon makes a decent hero; he certainly isn’t letting anyone down here.

“Wonderful”

He’s supported by Mimsy Farmer and Canadian actress Francine Racette, who is Donald Sutherland’s widow, in the leading female roles, while French actor Jean-Pierre Marielle is eye-catching as the private eye – it’s a shame he isn’t around for longer. Listen out too for Ennio Morricone’s excellent score.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet was the last in Argento’s animal-inspired trilogy, which also includes The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and The Cat o’Nine Tails; it’s not perhaps as impressive as either, but is nevertheless still a wonderful piece of work – and in UHD looks utterly fantastic.

The release also includes various special features, including interviews with Argento and Brandon, as well as a booklet of intriguing essays and a reproduction of the original poster.

Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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