7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
In 1912, the notorious and violent prisoner Robert Franklin Stroud is transferred to the Leavenworth Prison convicted for murdering a man. When a guard cancels the visit of his mother Elizabeth Stroud due to a violation of the internal rules, he stabs and kills the guard and goes to trial three times. He is sentenced to be executed by the gallows, but his mother appeals to President Woodrow Wilson that commutes his sentence to life imprisonment. However, the warden Harvey Shoemaker decides to keep Stroud in the solitary for the rest of his life. One day, Stroud finds a sparrow that has fallen from the nest on the yard and he raises the bird until it is strong enough to fly.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter, Betty Field, Telly SavalasBiography | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
John Frankenheimer's "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The supplemental features on the disc include an original theatrical trailer for the film and new audio commentary by film historian and author Kate Bufford. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The Birdman
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Frankenheimer's Birdman of Alcatraz arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.
The release is sourced from the same MGM master that Twilight Time used for their North American release of the film in 2014. Unfortunately, it is an older master with some pretty obvious inconsistencies and limitations. For example, depth levels frequently fluctuate -- but not because the original cinematography demands that they do -- and there are all sorts of different segments that actually look quite flat. On a larger screen it is also easy to see that grain exposure is not optimal. Tiny white speck and even some small blemishes are also present throughout the entire film, though they are scattered and never become distracting. The good news is that no attempts have been made to resharpen or repolish the film, so while there are obvious source limitations it still has a fairly decent organic appearance. The grading is also good (and in fact this release has proper gamma levels). Image stability is very good. All in all, this is a decent organic presentation, but with a proper contemporary restoration the film should and will look quite a bit better in high-definition. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The audio is stable and well-rounded. There is nice depth and a good range of proper dynamics. If you turn up the volume a lot you, are likely going to notice that in the high-frequencies there is some extremely minor instability -- which is probably where a future remix could introduce some cosmetic improvements -- but the overall quality of the lossless track is indeed very good.
Birdman of Alcatraz is a very odd film. It features a powerful performance by Burt Lancaster, but it is one of those carefully crafted and manipulative Hollywood projects that is absolutely impossible to take seriously. Some years ago, I actually spent quite a bit of time researching Robert Stroud's story, and the more I did, the clearer it became to me that the man that Lancaster plays in John Frankenheimer's film was a fictional character. The real Birdman of Alcatraz was an arrogant, incredibly viscous and vindictive killer who killed twice and was rightfully kept behind bars until he died in 1963. To be honest, however, Thomas Gaddis's popular novel, which inspired Frankenheimer and Lancaster to make the film, is just as flawed and full of bizarre fabrications. Olive Films' new release of Birdman of Alcatraz is sourced from the same MGM master that previously the folks at Twilight Time used to produce their release of the film in the United States. It is a decent master, but if properly restored the film will look quite a bit better in high-definition.
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