Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray Movie Review

Is three the charm?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 20, 2017

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.

For my thoughts on the film, please see my The Bird With the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray review of the VCI version.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

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.

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:

VCI Screenshots

Blue Underground Screenshots

Note also that my The Bird With the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray review of the VCI version contains three screenshots from the Blue Underground version as well. As I've always tended to do when I review releases that have had previous releases, I've attempted to duplicate at least a few of the screenshots from the first two reviews so that those interested can do side by side (by side) comparisons, as I find those to be more instructive than my faltering attempts at description.

So, how does everything actually look? As a cursory comparison of screenshots will hopefully show, the Arrow release is a good deal darker than the VCI, though as I noted in the review of the VCI release, that (VCI) release was quite a bit brighter than the Blue Underground. While the brightness of the VCI release didn't cause me that much concern, when it's trotted out directly against the Arrow release, it seems artificially brightened and in fact some of the color timing seems less pleasing now, with some reds tipping toward orange. Detail levels on the Arrow version are noticeably improved, as is general palette saturation, especially in some of the close-ups Argento employs (see screenshots 4, 9, 14 and 15 of this review). The palette looks more pleasing to my eyes overall not just in terms of saturation but in general temperature, with some really stunning reds and blues, but with a good accounting of any number of tones, both primary and secondary. There are still very minor grain resolution hurdles, mostly in the many dark sequences, but other resolution hurdles, as with the fog sequence that showed passing artifacts in the VCI release, look problem free here. Both the opening and closing moments of the film still show things like occasional scratches, some fairly pronounced if fleeting, though the bulk of the film has had any really egregious damage ameliorated if not totally removed. Those many aforementioned dark scenes also have passing issues with crush, especially with regard to the black clad assailant working in extremely shadowy environments. There has been quite a bit of commentary on our forum about perceived framing differences on this release when compared to the previous releases, but I have to honestly say nothing struck me as problematic (i.e, no crew members in evidence, no edges of sets on display, etc.), which some may ascribe to my stupidity (get in line, please), but which others who have seen a number of similar controversies in the past at this point may take as a sign that (for them, anyway) this is another tempest in a teapot.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Troy Howarth features the author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films, who provides a wealth of background information on the cast and crew as well as some the stylistic tendencies on display.


• The Power of Perception (1080p; 20:57) is an interesting visual essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas which examines Argento's love of offering data that isn't always exactly what it seems to be (as in the famous early scene in this film in the art gallery). As with several other supplements on this disc, this comes with a spoiler warning (in this case for several Argento films), so forewarned is forearmed.


• Black Gloves and Screaming Mimis (1080p; 31:54) offers some analysis of the film by Kat Ellinger. I personally find Ellinger's thick accent a little hard to decipher at times. As with several other supplements on this disc, this comes with a spoiler warning, so forewarned is forearmed.


• Crystal Nightmare (1080p; 31:24) is a 2017 interview with Dario Argento, who offers some thoughts on what sparked the film, along with his memories of both this shoot and other aspects of his career.


• An Argento Icon (1080p; 22:05) is a 2017 interview with actor Gildo Di Marco.


• Eva's Talking (1080i; 11:19) is an archival interview with Eva Renzi from 2005. This also includes a spoiler warning.


• Trailers

  Italian Trailer (1080p; 3:11)

  International Trailer (1080p; 2:48)

  2017 Texas Frightmare Trailer (1080p; 00:55)

This is another extremely handsome release from Arrow, housed in a nice sturdy chipboard slipbox that contains the Blu-ray keepcase, a typically well appointed booklet with good essays and lots of photos, and a (folded) poster. Additionally, the Blu-ray keepcase has reproductions of lobby cards tucked inside.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.