Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

4 mosche di velluto grigio

When the flies start to crawl, so will your flesh...

Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders.

Date of release
1971-12-17
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (444)
Runtime
1h 44m
Genres
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Director
Dario Argento

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Rome, Europa, and Milan

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is a 1971 giallo film co-written and directed by Dario Argento, and starring Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Francine Racette and Bud Spencer. The film concerns musician Roberto Tobias (Brandon), who accidentally kills a man and is then tormented by someone who witnessed the event.

Production

Some of the earlier cast considerations for the main role Roberto were Terence Stamp, Michael York and even some members of the Beatles. York was even signed to a contract, but dropped out at the last minute after shooting on Zeppelin went over-schedule. Argento cast Michael Brandon after seeing his performance in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970).

Bud Spencer appeared in the film for free, as a favor to his friend Argento, in exchange for his likeness not being used in the film's marketing. The character of Diomede/Godfrey was based on a character in the novel The Screaming Mimi, which had previously been the basis for Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970).

The film was shot on location in Rome (the EUR district, Ponte Marconi and Piazza dei Quiriti), Turin (Piazza Castello, the Auditorium RAI, the Galleria Umberto I, the Turin Conservatory, the Galleria Subalpina and the Caffè Mulassano), Milan (the Milan Metro), Tivoli (the Villa d'Este) and Spoleto (Teatro Nuovo). The mosque featured in Roberto's nightmares is the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia.

Argento did not want to use the "image caught in the retina" plot device since it was too fantastic, but changed his mind after special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi showed him how the effect would appear on film.

The film features an early use of a "bullet time" slow-motion effect, used in the climax when Roberto is shot by his wife. Argento later used similar effects in Opera and The Stendhal Syndrome.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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