The Fifth Cord
 (aka: Giornata nera per l'ariete) 
(Blue Underground Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(1971)
review by Monkeyman

On New years eve,on his way home from a party after unsuccesfully trying to woo a young girl called Isabelle,Dr John Lubbock is attacked in a subway by an unseen assailant.He is rescued by Isabelle and her new boyfriend Walter.

Another doctor,Richard Bini,is unhappy when a reporter,Andrea Bild(Franco Nero) starts investigating the case and does his best to hamper Bilds investigations.Binis disabled wife is murdered and thrown down a flight of stairs,and Bilds editor at the newspaper suffers from a heart attack after being menaced by a masked man.

This leads to the finger of suspicion being pointed at Bild,and in a desperate race against time he decides that he must uncover the killers identity before he himself is arrested for the crimes.

Isabelle is murdered,as well as a young prostitute who performed live sex shows for Dr Bini and his debauched friends.Bilds efforts are hampered by his descent into alcoholism,as the worst the situation gets the more he hits the bottle.

Bazzoni is a great director,and here he has produced one of the very best giallos ever to come out of Italy.He coaxes a great performance form Franco Nero(who is always excellent),and combined with Vittorio Storraros beautiful cinematography the film is always great to look at. Ennio Morricone provides one of his best ever scores,with haunting male vocals overlaid over his lilting themes.

One murder involving a gruesome attack is still shocking enough to be slightly censored in the Redemption UK video release (now presented in full on this Blue Underground DVD), and the film contains a suitably nasty edge to it throughout.

The murderers motive is as slight as usual,and when it is finally revealed you wonder why he actually bothered to commit all the murders in the first place,and then subject himself to a beating at the hands of Franco Nero!!

This is probably one of the top ten finest giallos ever produced,and is a fine starting point to new fans of the genre who have seen the Argento giallos and now crave more of the same.

Blue Underground presents The Fifth Cord in its uncut form, with a widescreen transfer, Dolby 2.0 English soundtrack, and a short titled Giornata Nera (Black Days) - Interviews with Star Franco Nero and Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

Highly recommended.