An alcoholic reporter repeatedly sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong in hopes of both tracking down a vicious black-gloved killer and winning back the affections of a former lover. Meanwhile, pretentious yuppies are murdered in moderately grotesque ways.
Although this languid and, by exploitation standards, tame giallo never gets going as a gripping mystery, and doesn’t stand up when compared to the genre classics, it is well worth watching for its aesthetic value alone. Looking back over my notebook, I see the words “shots of resonance and inspiration,” “beautiful,” and “marvelous” peppered on the page, but hardly a mention of plot points or character motivations. A shame, I suppose, that the story should have such little impact. But as is the case with many gialli, a disposable narrative hardly means a valueless film. What matters are the odd camera angles, the rich colors, the enduring set pieces. And whether it’s Franco Nero brooding over a drink and a typewriter in the middle of the night; or the killer chasing a child down an impossibly narrow hallway, the lighting perfectly framing his gloved hands and obscuring his face, The Fifth Cord has more than it’s share of scenes to savor.
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Blue Underground DVD
10 Apr 2008 8:40 PM | Submit Comment