The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is where the giallo really began to take shape as a sub-genre. Mario Bava had already directed the unofficial 'first' giallo with 1960s The Girl Who Knew Too Much (and then began to add the typical elements of the stylised set-pieces and the black-gloved killer with Blood and Black Lace), but Argento really took the giallo and made it his own. His debut feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage shows that Argento was instantly comfortable behind the camera. An adaptation of Frederic Brown's The Screaming Mimi, it concerns a writer who is stalked by a killer after witnessing a murder while trapped in an art gallery (which is one of the film's best and most clever scenes). The Bird with the Crystal Plumage put Argento on the map. Not only was it a critical hit (with those that could be bothered to review it, anyway), but it was a financial one, too. The film did good business in America where it was released with the blunt title of The Gallery Murders and was also well-attended in Argento's native Italy. A stylish and compelling thriller.