# Four Flies on Grey Velvet
**Four Flies on Grey Velvet** (Italian: *4 mosche di velluto grigio*) is a 1971 giallo (Italian genre of stylized murder-mystery thrillers) thriller directed by [Dario Argento](https://www.edgepedia.org/dario-argento), a co-production of Italy and France with a running time of 104 minutes.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414685/) It is the final entry in Argento's "Animal" trilogy, following his directorial debut *The Bird with the Crystal Plumage* (1970) and *[The Cat o' Nine Tails](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cat-o-nine-tails)* (1971).[2](https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/5795/5/Colette%20Jane%20Balmain%202004%20-%20redacted.pdf) The plot follows Roberto Tobias, a rock drummer stalked and blackmailed by an unknown figure after he believes he accidentally killed his stalker, but the apparent killing was staged and the man, Carlo Marosi, is alive.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414685/) • [8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *4 mosche di velluto grigio*; also released as *Quatre mouches de velours gris* and *Vier Fliegen auf grauem Samt*[3](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097) |
| Director / year | Dario Argento, 1971, Italy/France, 104 minutes[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414685/) |
| Trilogy position | Third and final film of the "Animal" trilogy, after *The Bird with the Crystal Plumage* (1970) and *The Cat o' Nine Tails* (1971)[2](https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/5795/5/Colette%20Jane%20Balmain%202004%20-%20redacted.pdf) |
| Lead cast | Michael Brandon (Roberto Tobias), Mimsy Farmer (Nina Tobias), Jean-Pierre Marielle (Gianni Arrosio), Bud Spencer (Diomede)[3](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097) |
| Music | Ennio Morricone; cinematography by Franco Di Giacomo; editing by Françoise Bonnot[3](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097) |
| Italian release | 17 December 1971; UK release 11 February 1973; France 21 June 1973[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414685/) |
| Critical standing | 67% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 9 reviews; 60% Popcornmeter from 1,000+ audience ratings[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1206848-four_flies_on_grey_velvet) |
| Restoration | 4K restoration by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna with Surf Film, from the original Techniscope camera negative[5](https://www.avforums.com/reviews/four-flies-grey-velvet-2025-4k-blu-ray-review.22649/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and title
Roberto Tobias, a drummer in a rock band, discovers he is being followed by a mysterious man in dark glasses. He confronts the stalker in an abandoned theater, and during the ensuing struggle Roberto apparently kills him, though the death has been staged.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/) A masked figure photographs the scene and uses the pictures to blackmail Roberto, though no demand for money follows; instead, photographs of the staged killing turn up in his record collection, the "dead" man's identity card arrives in the post, and a masked intruder wakes him at night with vague threats.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414685/) • [2](https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/5795/5/Colette%20Jane%20Balmain%202004%20-%20redacted.pdf) After the murder of Nina's cousin Dalia (Francine Racette), Roberto enlists the private investigator Gianni Arrosio (Jean-Pierre Marielle) and his friend Diomede, known as God ([Bud Spencer](https://www.edgepedia.org/bud-spencer)), to identify the blackmailer.[6](https://www.longtake.it/it/film/quattro-mosche-di-velluto-grigio) • [7](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100004520/)
The title refers to an abstract image resembling four flies on gray velvet, supposedly extracted from the dead Dalia's eye. This invokes optography, the debunked idea that the retina retains a final image at death, a theory popularized in the 19th century by the German physiologist Wilhelm Kühne.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/) • [9](https://warped-perspective.com/2025/05/whos-going-to-help-you-four-flies-on-grey-velvet-1971/)
## Production and style
Argento wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with Luigi Cozzi and Mario Foglietti, and produced the film through Seda Spettacoli with Universal Productions France, with his father Salvatore Argento as producer.[3](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097) During production he described the film as a work of unease and "the terror of the unknown," distinct from the nightmare logic of his first film and the violence-centered second, and said he would use every expressive possibility of the camera.[3](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097) To shoot the slow-motion climax he obtained a camera capable of 1,000 frames per second, at a time when the normal rate was 24; he stated this was the first use of such slow motion in [Italian cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinema-of-italy) and that he had to travel to East Germany to find the camera.[3](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097)
The film was shot in Techniscope and [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor), with exteriors in Turin, Milan, Spoleto, and Rome and interiors at the Incir De Paolis studios in Rome.[10](https://www.torinocittadelcinema.it/schedafilm.php?area=2&categoria_id=2&film_id=148&iniziale=%25&ordine=desc&pag=1&stile=small) Ennio Morricone, who had scored Argento's first two films, composed the score; a falling out during production meant the two did not work together again until *The Stendhal Syndrome* in 1996.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/)
**Reception and standing.** Critics have generally ranked the film below Argento's masterpieces, citing its plot development, less tension than the other Animal films, and comic interludes that many find unconvincing.[11](https://en.debaser.it/dario-argento/quattro-mosche-di-velluto-grigio/review) Roger Ebert gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars, finding the retina-image gimmick unbelievable and the conclusion arbitrary.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1206848-four_flies_on_grey_velvet) Other critics praise its set pieces, including the stalking of the housekeeper Amelia through tight alleyways, a slow-motion bullet shot that predates similar scenes in *Opera* (1987) and *The Matrix* (1999), and the final slow-motion car crash scored by Morricone.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/) The film is also studied for its queer subtext and for its treatment of sexuality and gender identity, which amplifies themes present in the two earlier trilogy films.[12](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/four-flies-grey-velvet) • [13](https://theses.gla.ac.uk/4730/1/2013Mackenziephd.pdf)
## Place in Argento's career
After *Four Flies on Grey Velvet*, Argento deliberately left the giallo genre, saying that too many Italian directors were imitating his thrillers. He made *The Five Days of Milan* (*Le cinque giornate*, 1973), a historical comedy-drama that flopped in Italy, and then returned to the thriller with *Deep Red* (1975), which reworked some of this film's character and narrative material.[14](https://s1.thcdn.com/design-assets/documents/arrowfilms/46599_4_DEEP_RED_60PP_BOOKLET_CROPPED_WEB.pdf) • [5](https://www.avforums.com/reviews/four-flies-grey-velvet-2025-4k-blu-ray-review.22649/) Retrospective accounts treat the film as a stepping stone between the more realistic early gialli and the increasingly fantastical films that followed.[8](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/)
## Home video and restoration
The film long had a reputation as Argento's hardest to find, the result of distribution problems over the years and very few television screenings; before a [Sky Cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/sky-cinema) broadcast on 26 June 2009, its previous Italian television airing dated to 22 February 1991 on Rete 4.[15](https://www.scheletri.com/cinema/film0444.htm) Severin Films issued a limited 4K UHD edition in 2022, including both the uncut version and a slightly abbreviated English-language cut; the restoration was carried out by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna with Surf Film, starting from the original Techniscope camera negative.[16](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/four-flies-on-grey-velvet-2022-uhd) • [5](https://www.avforums.com/reviews/four-flies-grey-velvet-2025-4k-blu-ray-review.22649/) In 2025 Shameless released separate UHD and Blu-ray editions from the same restoration.[17](https://mondo-digital.net/fourflies)
## References
1. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/414685/)
2. [Colette Balmain (2004), Chapter Five: The Powers of The False, University of Greenwich](https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/5795/5/Colette%20Jane%20Balmain%202004%20-%20redacted.pdf)
3. [4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971), Archivio del Cinema Italiano](https://www.archiviodelcinemaitaliano.it/index.php/scheda.html?codice=AG3097)
4. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1206848-four_flies_on_grey_velvet)
5. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet 4K Blu-ray Review, AVForums](https://www.avforums.com/reviews/four-flies-grey-velvet-2025-4k-blu-ray-review.22649/)
6. [4 mosche di velluto grigio, longtake.it](https://www.longtake.it/it/film/quattro-mosche-di-velluto-grigio)
7. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet, AFI Silver Theatre](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100004520/)
8. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet, BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/dario%20argento%3Cbr%3Edoors%20into%20darkness/2023/05/03/four-flies-on-grey-velvet/)
9. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971), Warped Perspective](https://warped-perspective.com/2025/05/whos-going-to-help-you-four-flies-on-grey-velvet-1971/)
10. [Quattro mosche di velluto grigio, Enciclopedia del cinema in Piemonte](https://www.torinocittadelcinema.it/schedafilm.php?area=2&categoria_id=2&film_id=148&iniziale=%25&ordine=desc&pag=1&stile=small)
11. [Dario Argento's Four Flies: A Morally Complex Giallo, Debaser](https://en.debaser.it/dario-argento/quattro-mosche-di-velluto-grigio/review)
12. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Gene Siskel Film Center](https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/four-flies-grey-velvet)
13. [Mackenzie PhD thesis, University of Glasgow](https://theses.gla.ac.uk/4730/1/2013Mackenziephd.pdf)
14. [Deep Red booklet, Arrow Films](https://s1.thcdn.com/design-assets/documents/arrowfilms/46599_4_DEEP_RED_60PP_BOOKLET_CROPPED_WEB.pdf)
15. [Quattro mosche di velluto grigio, Scheletri](https://www.scheletri.com/cinema/film0444.htm)
16. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet: Limited Edition (4K UHD Review), The Digital Bits](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/four-flies-on-grey-velvet-2022-uhd)
17. [Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Mondo Digital](https://mondo-digital.net/fourflies)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Horror thriller films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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