A brief introduction to the giallo.

If you are new to the genre or just looking to gain a little bit more background information to where the genre came from then you are in the right place.

What exactly is 'Giallo'?

There is no certain answer to that question, and many scholars and film critics have different opinions on what 'makes' a giallo.  In italy the term giallo refers to murder mysteries (as well as being the masculine singular of the word yellow) regardless of where they originated from, so the stories  of Agatha Christie and the TV show 'Murder she wrote' are giallo, however over here in the English speaking countries (primarily the UK and the USA) we refer to the giallo as almost as of (primarily) Italian origin and a mesh of horror, mystery and suspense, with a nod to eroticism if you wish, and any film in the genre or filone, may have some or all of these elements.

Personally I like Mikel J.Koven's take on it (read his book 'LA DOLCE MORTE) and as a result across this site you will notice the use of the term filone (Italian for ‘in the vein of’) and genre interchangeably as there are many films with elements of the giallo but for one reason or another are not actually classed as such, additionally this is form of cinema that was born from multiple influences and itself has influenced many more and to fully incorporate and appreciate the context it is vital to look at the filone and its branches, which are constantly evolving, as opposed to narrowing down into a defined, Hollywood-esque category.

As a result, and going back to the elements discussed the giallo, films in this genre can take many forms depending on flexible your definition is, from gothic horror (LA LAMA NEL CORPO by Scardimaglia, 1966), to police procedural and the more traditional amateur detective. However, since 2009 the genre has also seen more art-house (AMER) and giallo-influenced movies (BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO) which could also be, but not necesarily, included when discussing the genre either directly or to provide wider context of its influence. With these examples further highlighting the now common use of the word filone as opposed to genre when dealing with gialli and its related offshoots.

History of the giallo - Mondadori books

As stated the term giallo is Italian for yellow (with gialli being the (masculine) plural) and our use of the term as a genre is derived from the Milianese publishing company Mondadori, who from 1929 onwards released numerous crime-mystery novels, such as the works of Agatha Christie, Edgar Wallace and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in yellow sleeve covers.  This stark, and bright colour from then on became synomous to Italians with crime and detective mysteries and grew in popularity until the 1940s wherein Mussolini began to prohibit the publication and importation of North American books fearing its potentially disruptive influence on the masses, something that film itself would battle in Britain during the 1980’s.

However, rather than importing novels or anglicising names to appear less Italian, Italy now embraces the detective tradition with prime examples ranging from Umberto Eco’s Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) to the more contemporary Marco Vichi’s ‘Inspector Bordelli’ series and Andrea Camilleri with the more famous ‘Inspector Montalbano’ being just two prime examples, however anyone familiar with these two will notice a significant differences between the Italian detective novels and what we know as Italian gialli films and that is what we are here for.
               
Neorealism and Precursors to the giallo

After the second World War, the Italian film industry began to not only pick up but arguably hit a golden age (and creative peak) with its neorealism approach, with capital city Rome at the centre of it all, helped in part by Cinecittà which was founded by Mussolini in 1937.

The neorealism movement signified a cultural and arguably paradigm shift in the mind-sets of Italian people as well as just simply filmmakers. However it is the Germans who arguably had a larger influence in the development of the giallo film thanks to the ‘Krimi’ film movement although the significance of this could be somewhat overstated as films such as ROOM 13 aka Zimmer 13 which flashes the almost giallo mandatory razorblade would not be released until 1964, the same year as Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, and so although the Krimi slightly precedes the giallo it also ran parallel with similar influences.

At the very end of the 1950’s this sub-genre can actually be traced back to two key influences; the first, the British crime writer Edgar Wallace who would provide the source material for much of the genre; and secondly the Danish company Rialto film and their 1959 production ‘Der frosch mit der maske’ (otherwise known as THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG) which primarily targeted a German audience and ended up launching a wave of crime movies, much like THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE would do in 1970, although Argento already had a rough cinematic blueprint to follow and did not birth the genre but simply developed it.

Like the giallo, the Krimi films could be characterised by (generally) sharing similar traits including distinct zoom and editing styles, multiple suspects and victims enhanced by a masked villain and a detective or police officer as well as plots centred often around perverse, taboo, financial or revenge reasoning.

Additionally like the giallo these films were also derided by critics but loved by the masses, providing further support for the argument of them being a precursor to Italian gialli. However, there were key differences, such as the use of tounge-in-cheek humour (although Argento would play with humour in films such as DEEP RED and with the homosexual detective in FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET with further differences manifesting themselves in the time period that the films are set in, more pre-war than post, and a more professional approach to mystery solving as the protagonists are police officers or detectives as opposed to an amateur detective or friend.

The sixties - Style and substance

Several films in the Sixties would have also influenced the genre from Michael Powell's (1960) film PEEPING TOM, notable for use of POV camera word and sordid plot to much of Alfred Hitchcock's work including the mystery contained in PSYCHO (1960) but it would be Mario Bava with his 1963 film ‘ La ragazza che sapeva troppo’, (aka THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) that would truly help shape the genre, and his follow up 'Sei donne per l'assisino' aka BLOOD AND BLACK LACE IN 1964 that really would lay the foundations for future films and in particular the brutal acts of a leather clad killer. Although it would be a few more years before the genre really began to gain any sort of momentum.

It is worth noting however that there is a clear divide between the gialli of the Sixties such as Bava's efforts, Guerrieri's THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH and Questi's DEATH LAID AN EGG and the films that would come post-Argento in the Seventies. Most notably in the motives of the killer and level of perversity contained within the plot as childhood trauma and sleaze would become more prevalent in this new time.

Poliziotteschi

Also emerging in the late sixties and co-existing throughout the 70s was the related ‘Poliziotteschi’ films and Euro-Crime. However these films are often quite distinct from the giallo, and have more in common with American and British police thrillers than murder-mystery films. Although many Italian directors and actors appeared unsurprisingly in both genres, while some films also straddled across the two genres such as Dallamano’s 1974 effort ‘La polizia chiede aiuto‘ (renamed internationally as ‘WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS?’).

The early seventies

However the giallo genre would really take off thanks to Dario Argento in the seventies. His debut giallo THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970) widely being seen as the catalyst for the genre, but it is interesting to note that upon original release the film met with relative indifference in its native land and it wouldn't be until international audiences reacted to it that it would gain a second wind in Italy and become the success that it has.

Although the cultural shift in the Seventies would also see a ne strain of giallo, the hallucinatory giallo as we shall term them. Films such as LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN (19701by Fulci and THE STRANGE VICE OF SIGNORA WARDH(1971) by Martino and these thematic offshoots would permeate throughout the genre taking influence from either societal demands or cinematic trends (such as the Occult later in the mid-seventies) proving the genre to be adaptable but also diluted.

From here, the way many of us would think of giallo really took off. For a detailed look into the genre I heartily recommend the following reading:

La Dolce Morte by Mikel J. Koven

So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films; Volume 1 by Troy Howarth.