User Reviews

Dario Argento's popularity was sealed in Italy when he was tapped to create a series for Italian television. The four episode series which mimicked "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" had Dario himself introduced each episode. The second episode "Il Tram" or "The Train" stars Enzo Cerusico (The Five Days of Milan) as a recently promoted detective on his first big murder case. When a 27-year-old woman is murdered on the tram and stuffed under a set as she returns from work in the dead of night. After recreating the incident using witnesses he believes he found his killer. Or had he?

Dario Argento directs (taking over for his former assistant director, scheduled to direct} "The Tram". Since this is made for Italian TV there is none of his trademark gore or violence but that doesn't stop him from turning in an interesting murder-mystery. A lot of his trademark moves are on display here and he even managed to put together a solid stalking sequence toward the end. Cerusico does a nice job with making his character an interesting one. Little nuances like his devil-may-care attitude toward a nut claiming the murder for his own and the snapping of his fingers make for an interesting character. The re-staging scene was quite nicely put together and the whole piece had a kind of dark humor through it. I was however non-plussed by the music score. It did nothing for the atmosphere or the action on screen. "The Tram" is a pretty decent giallo.

The Tram is the second entry of Dario Argento's made for Italian television 'Door into Darkness' series, and the first entry to be directed by the man himself. The plot is typical Argento, and follows a murder. Unlike his Giallo films, however, there's just one murder here; and the way that Argento goes about it is a little different to what most of his fans are used to. We pick up the story after the murder has taken place, and the film features no actual bloodshed or gore. The fact that it's made for television accounts for this, but I'm pleased to say that the Italian Hitchcock has managed to make best of it regardless. The plot follows the investigation into the crime and we see how the police discover the murderer by way of re-enactment. It has to be said that the plot moves slowly, but Argento packs the film with intriguing scenes and some, such as the re-enactment itself, really get the imagination going. Typically for seventies Italian cinema, not everything here makes sense; and a lot of the plot is illogical. It's not a big problem, though, as everything in the short film is easy to buy into and I've got to say that if you like Argento; The Tram is bound to delight. Sure, it's not the best thing Argento ever made; but for a fifty minute, made for TV short film; you could do a lot worse than this.

Il Tram/The Tram(1973) is a bloodless but well filmed episode of a TV show called Doors to Darkness. The cinematography is absolutely colorful and Argento uses different techniques in an artful way. This was based on a scene that was cut from the original script in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(1969). The scene where all the suspects are put in the spot of the tram where they were located when a murder occurred as an reenactment is suspenseful. Dario Argento's next assignment as Film Director would be his first Great Masterpiece, Profondo Rosso/Deep Red(1975).

Now this is an interesting film. It is part of an Italian television show that put out 4 episodes. Each episode has the length to be considered a feature. Since this appears on Letterboxd as a movie, I figured I would watch it. What also makes this intriguing is that each one is a gialli. The show was made with Dario Argento. I watched this one since he wrote and directed. I'm doing this for Italian horror month for a Traverse through the Threes double feature from this master of horror.

Synopsis: a young woman is murdered on a crowded tram without anyone else noticing the crime. Inspector Giordani (Enzo Cerusico) decides to recreate the incident to find out the killer's identity.

This starts with a door opening and then we get an introduction from Argento. This reminded me of things like The Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. What he says about this story is that the kill happens on a tram while people are riding it. He wants you to pay attention to the people that are there to figure out who the killer is. That's when we see this tram being cleaned and the woman dead. Her name is Monica Rini.

The mystery is intriguing here. She was stabbed in the chest, but no one saw it. Inspector Giordani oversees the investigation. He first interviews the cleaning guy, the driver and the person who sold the ticket. What is interesting there, the ticket seller rides the bus near the back in a makeshift cage. The case is baffling.

Giordani reaches out for witnesses and gets a few to come forward. There is Robert Magli (Pierluigi Aprà), an older woman and another is Marco Roviti (Emilio Marchesini). He is a person of interest as he worked with the victim. The inspector's plan is then to simulate the ride, when witnesses got on and got off to try to piece together who killed this woman as well as when.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an ambitious gialli. Argento in his intro puts out the scenario so that got me thinking as we jump right into it. This also has a good length. I'm not sure there is much more that you could flesh out here without doing more killings. This is a tight little story about a nearly impossible murder. How could someone do this on a tram with other riders around and get away with it. I love the premise. It is even more interesting that this was originally going to be part of Argento's film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, but it was removed and made into this.

Now I do want to shift over to a negative. My problem is that I feel like I missed something. It is a good idea to have all the witnesses that they can find ride the tram together to do a reenactment. I'm not sure they would be allowed to do it, but I'm not going to harp on that. My problem is that I don't know how Giordani figured it out. We see him interviewing witnesses, he watches everyone and records who gets on as well as off the tram and when. He then sees these hook things that I believe are used to keep your balance if you're standing. It is from there that he figures it out. It just felt like a leap in logic after discovering what was used.

Since there isn't much to the story, let me then take this to the acting. Cerusico carries this movie. He seems in control from the moment that he shows up. Another aspect to that is that everyone seems to get nervous around. Not the witnesses, but the people that might be looked at as suspects. I get that feeling around police officers. Even when you are innocent, you're still on edge. Paola Tedesco is solid here in her role, even though I feel like it is limited. Aprà, Gildo Di Marco, Tom Felleghy, Marchesini and the rest of the cast are good as witnesses as well as red herrings. I will say one of them is also the killer. We also have a cameo by Fulvio Mingozzi as a police officer who is great in his smaller role.

All that is left then is the filmmaking. The cinematography is good. I do come to expect that with an Argento film though. The framing did seem a bit cheesy here for one shot where it focuses on something that feels a bit beneath him, but that doesn't ruin anything. The effects are limited. The blood that we do get looked good. I wasn't a fan of the soundtrack though. There was one song that took me out of what we were doing here. That shocked me knowing that Argento usually has great scores accompanying things. A smaller budget could be part of that. Doesn't ruin this, but I wanted more.

In conclusion, this is a solid little giallo. We have a scenario that is focal. A woman is murdered on a tram with passengers around. Inspector Giordani needs to solve the case with what he's given. I thought that this was made well enough. The premise is the major part here, but the acting is good to bring the characters to life. This is solid for the budget that they're working with. The cinematography would be the bright spot there as were the limited effects. The soundtrack could have been better. Overall, it is worth a watch for gialli or Argento fans.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.

Another dull entry, but better than THE NEIGHBOR. This involved a murder on a tram. The police are such idiots, they have to recreate the tram ride twice, because they never ask such basic questions as how many people were on the tram when you got off? Moreover, they don't check into the criminal background of the suspects until AFTER the trial and conviction of the accused innocent. Written but not directed by Argento, this at least has his trademark closeup of the killer's black gloved hand and some POV stalking sequences.

This is definitely one of Argento's lesser works. While there is some suspense and mystery here, it lacks the punch that his greater works have. There's nothing here that hasn't been done better somewhere else.

I left this short feeling mostly underwhelmed. Give it a watch if you're a super fan. But most people can safely skip this one.

Door Into Darkness: The Tram (1973)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The second of four films in the Italian series "Door Into Darkness" has Dario Argento sitting in the director's chair. The film tells the story of a young woman who is mysteriously murdered on a tram and the detective (Enzo Cerusico) who tries to figure out the killer. The detective decides to bring everyone together who was on the tram in hopes that they can recreate the events and bring the killer out. This is a pretty good little giallo even though it doesn't look too much like an Argento movie. This was produced for TV so the director doesn't get to use his normal 2.35:1 ratio to really bring his style in so fans will want to keep that in mind. The entire visual flair is pretty tame here as is the violence but this isn't the type of giallo that needs gory violence. The story itself is a pretty good one, although I must admit that I figured out who the killer was early on. I enjoyed the fact that the screenplay offered up quite a bit of black humor with the best sequence in the film being the one where a man walks into the police station and confesses to the crime, although he can't get any of the facts correct. This scene plays out for quite a few laughs as does a couple other scenes where Cerusico begins to question everyone on the tram. Cerusico delivers a fine performance as he manages to bring both laughs and believability to the role. The one negative thing, outside the lack of any visual style, is the final ten minutes, which don't contain any suspense. This entire sequence also seems to drag on, which was a shame considering everything leading up to it was pretty good. If you've never seen a giallo then I wouldn't recommend you starting here but fans of Argento will certainly want to check this out.

Il Tram/The Tram is a wonderful mystery that begins with the discovery of a dead woman in a Tram. This was one of two episodes directed by Dario Argento for the television series Doors to Darkness. One of the film's best sequence is when the police re enact the events that lead to the woman's murder with the passengers in the same spot they were seated in. This episode is expanded from a sequence originally to be used in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(1969). What little gore it has it makes up with great camera movement and loads of style. Il Tram would provide a great warm up for his next film, the brilliant Profondo Rosso(1975). The murder in the Tram seems to be the blueprint for the opening scene of Argento's newest film, No Ho Sonno/I Can't Sleep(2001)(takes place on a train) coming out next year.