7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
An American expatriate in Rome attempts to unmask a serial killer he witnessed in the act of an attempted murder - and is now hunting him and his girlfriend.
Starring: Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto RahoHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 60% |
Mystery | 22% |
Psychological thriller | 12% |
Thriller | 5% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
BDInfo verified. Italian track is (48kHz, 24-bit) also, but no current option to enter it.
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
American fans of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage will most likely already know there have been two previous releases of this iconic film on Blu-ray, one by Blue Underground which is officially out of print and now fetches almost obscene amounts of money, and another, more recent, offering from VCI, which is still evidently available but which some videophiles might stay away from simply based on the fact that it uses the MPEG-2 codec (as VCI releases tend to do). I personally didn’t find a whale of a lot to complain about in terms of VCI’s technical presentation (see my The Bird With the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray review for details), but now with Arrow’s deluxe new release of Dario Argento’s debut as a director, there’s a new competitor in town, this one with a transfer culled from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. As is also typical of Arrow, the release comes handsomely packaged with a glut of special features.
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's booklet contains the following information about the transfer:
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage / L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo was exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with mono sound.For easy comparison of the look of this Arrow release with the other two previous domestic Blu-ray releases, here are links directly to screenshots for both the VCI and Blue Underground versions:
All restoration work was carred out at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The 35mm Techniscope 2-perf original camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan with a wetgate and wa graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. Image stability was also improved. The original Italian and English language soundtracks were transferred from the original 35mm optical sound negatives and have been newly remastered to the highest quality possible. There are many instances in which audio synchronisation will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the soundtracks in both languages were recorded fully in post-production.
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage features mono DTS-HD Master Audio tracks in both English and Italian, and while there's arguably marginally more clarity on both of these tracks (hence my slightly upgraded overall score compared to the VCI release), there's still the same noticeable disparity between the English and Italian tracks that I mentioned in the VCI review. The better highs in the English track are perhaps even more noticeable now, though to be fair, to my ears, the Arrow Italian track had a bit more clarity than the VCI Italian track.
- Italian Trailer (1080p; 3:11)
- International Trailer (1080p; 2:48)
- 2017 Texas Frightmare Trailer (1080p; 00:55)
Those who are concerned about framing differences are encouraged to carefully parse the screenshots accompanying this review as well as our two previous reviews of this film. Others who are perhaps less concerned with such things should have no issues whatsoever with this release, as it offers generally excellent video and audio and comes with Arrow's typically bounteous supply of bonus features. Highly recommended.
L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo
1970
L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo
1970
L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo | Remastered
1970
Limited Edition | L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo
1970
Arte Originale / Limited to 1,500 / L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo
1970
L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo
1970
Profondo rosso
1975
Standard Edition
1982
Il gatto a nove code | Special Edition
1971
Sei donne per l'assassino
1964
Non ho sonno | Standard Edition
2001
Cosa avete fatto a Solange?
1972
1980
Standard Edition
1985
4 mosche di velluto grigio
1971
I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale / Carnal Violence
1973
Limited Edition | La sindrome di Stendhal
1996
Reazione a catena
1971
Le foto di Gioia
1987
Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso
1972
Special Edition | La morte cammina con i tacchi alti
1971
Chi l'ha vista morire?
1972
Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio
1973
Communion / Holy Terror
1976
2018
Featuring The Girl Who Knew Too Much / La ragazza che sapeva troppo
1963