7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Starring: Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Tippi Hedren, Veronica CartwrightMystery | 100% |
Psychological thriller | 85% |
Horror | 58% |
Romance | 42% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS 2.0 Mono
Spanish: DTS 2.0 Mono
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A man confronts his accuser atop the Statue of Liberty, where one false move will spell death. A wolf in sheep's clothing allows the beast lurking within to bear its teeth. A housemaster slowly, oh so slowly, pieces together the heinous crime perpetrated by two former students. A woman searches for clues in a suspected murderer's apartment just as the man returns home. Four people work to keep the demise of a fellow smalltown resident a secret from a local deputy. An assassin's gun slides out from behind a curtain as an ordinary man races to thwart his plot. An airplane buzzes then roars past as a man dives for cover. The hiss of a shower masks the approach of a madman with a knife in his hand. Countless birds gather on a jungle gym as a woman smokes a cigarette nearby. A husband barges into his new wife's bedroom and has his way with her as she retreats into a near-catatonic state. A physicist discovers killing a man isn't as easy as it might seem, wrestling with his victim right up until the violent end. A purple dress billows out beneath a dying woman like spilled blood. A serial killer retrieves his pin from a woman's grasp, one dead finger at a time. A fake psychic tries to squirm out of a thief's vice-like grip as he pushes a syringe closer and closer. Be it drama, horror or comedy, psychological stunner, monster movie or international spy thriller, is it any mystery that filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense? Is it any wonder his movies still hold hypnotic sway over filmfans all these years later?
A woman is terrorized when thousands of birds attack a small seaside town...
This is a tough one all around. Special effects sequences, of which there are many, haven't aged well at all, and the scrutiny high definition brings only exacerbates the inherent issues and eyesores that litter the bird attack scenes. If that was the only problem, though, this would be an entirely different review; one with a 4.5 video score and nothing but praise for Universal's restoration and 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. Instead, The Birds suffers from many of the same issues as the studio's more problematic catalog presentations: noticeable edge halos, some rather heavy-handed digital tweaks and fixes, brief bouts of invasive noise reduction, occasional crush, at-times soupy grain and other anomalies that aren't derived from the original film elements. To be absolutely clear: there are soft shots. I'm not talking about soft shots. Matte lines and grain discrepancies also pop up throughout the composited special effects sequences. I'm not referring to any of that either. Even if you removed the special effects sequences, the presentation would still be uneven, and the restoration team has left its fingerprints all over the image. All that said, there are a number of striking shots, masterfully preserved scenes, wonderfully detailed closeups and ideal stretches of the film; so much so that I wouldn't dismiss anyone awarding the transfer higher marks. Colors are quite accurate, skintones are generally lifelike and black levels are deep and ominous too, and there isn't any encode-born macroblocking, banding or aliasing, all of which certainly helps. The end result? The Birds is chaotic and unpredictable, sometimes to its detriment.
Fortunately, Universal's faithfully frightening two-channel DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is something of a revelation. Dialogue is clean and clear, without any dropouts, muffled lines or significant noise floor to contend with. Effects are vicious and aggressive, which is a definite plus in a movie like The Birds, and Hitchcock's unconventional avian score and deafening silences, though confined to the front speakers, pierce and punctuate the proceedings, and only enhance the already unnerving soundscape. I have to admit I would have loved to hear an immersive 5.1 remix -- so long as it accompanied rather than replaced the original mono mix -- but the Masterpiece Collection's tenth lossless track is easily one of its best.
The Birds demands multiple viewings, and not because of some contrived twist or third-act surprise. Hitchcock doesn't attempt to do anything other than fire the gun he loads at the outset, it's the mystery, suspense and ambiguity of it all that makes his quote-unquote monster movie the classic thriller it is. Universal's Blu-ray release isn't quite so flawless, though. Its DTS-HD Master Audio mono track is strong and its supplemental package is more than generous, but its hit-or-miss restoration and subsequent video transfer are beset with issues that can't solely be attributed to the original photography and source elements. Does it detract from the film? Not much honestly. It's disappointing but only for a moment or two. Once the movie grabs hold, any flaw or shortcoming is soon forgotten.
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Includes Director's Cut on Standard Blu-ray
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55th Anniversary
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