{"id":15478,"date":"2017-06-21T13:03:38","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T20:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=15478"},"modified":"2021-08-03T12:49:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T19:49:06","slug":"review-birdwiththecrystalplumage-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2017\/06\/review-birdwiththecrystalplumage-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em><\/strong> to me isn\u2019t a great giallo<\/em> movie but is notable being Dario Argento\u2019s feature debut and has great style to it even when character actions aren\u2019t entirely believable. Still, any Argento or giallo<\/em> fans will get a kick out of this film.<\/p>\n

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The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/span>
\n(1970)<\/span>
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Genre(s): <\/strong>Suspense, Horror
\nArrow Video | NR \u2013 98 min. \u2013 $49.95 | June 20, 2017<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 06\/21\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n

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MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Dario Argento
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Dario Argento (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Commentary, Interviews, Theatrical Trailers
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray, DVD
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (PCM 1.0), Italian (PCM 1.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, English
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>45.1 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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Plot Synopsis: <\/strong>Sam Dalmas (TONY MUSANTE), an American writer living in Rome, inadvertently witnesses a brutal attack on a woman (EVA RENZI) in a modern art gallery. Initially a suspect by the chief inspector (ENRICO MARIA SALERNO), Dalmas turns to amateur sleuth, even gaining cooperation from the Italian police, as he investigates the murders of numerous women with scant clues to the killer\u2019s identity. Soon, though, he\u2019s in the crosshairs of the killer himself and the life of his girlfriend, Julia (SUZY KENDALL), is also placed in danger.<\/p>\n

Quick Hit Review: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em><\/strong> is horror master Dario Argento\u2019s feature film debut and while it certainly has its moments of questionable storytelling, mainly that of an American doing his own investigation with nearly full assistance of an Italian police inspector, does enter the realm of suspension of disbelief. Still, there are some wonderful scenes in the giallo<\/em> form where even when the movie meanders a bit, it still managed to keep my attention until the well orchestrated finale.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This two-disc release (BD, DVD) comes housed in Arrow\u2019s standard clear HD Keep Case, and tucked inside are lobby cards, which side slides into a sturdy outer box. In the box are a 38-page booklet<\/strong> and a foldout poster<\/strong>. The cover artwork is reversible revealing the film\u2019s original poster, which I frankly prefer.<\/p>\n

Audio Commentary<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo<\/em>, talking about Argento in his directorial debut and on the giallo<\/em> sub-genre. It\u2019s a lively enough track that\u2019s more on the academic side but still entertaining.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • Black Gloves and Screaming Mimis (31:54; HD) \u2013 Critic Kat Ellinger explores the film\u2019s themes and its relationship to both the giallo<\/em> and Frederic Brown\u2019s novel, The Screaming Mimi<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  • The Power of Perception (20:57; HD) \u2013 Author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas reflects the recurring theme of perception and the role of art in Dario Argento\u2019s filmography.<\/li>\n
  • Crystal Nightmare (31:24; HD) \u2013 Recorded in 2017, writer\/director Dario Argento talks about the film and his early career.<\/li>\n
  • An Argento Icon (22:05; HD) \u2013 Actor Gildo Di Marco discusses his role as \u201cGarullo the pimp\u201d and working under Dario Argento.<\/li>\n
  • Eva\u2019s Talking (11:19; HD) is an old interview with actress Eva Renzi recorded back in 2005.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Trailers:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

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    • Italian trailer (3:11; HD)<\/li>\n
    • International trailer (2:48; HD)<\/li>\n
    • 2017 Texas Frightmare trailer (0:55; HD)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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      VIDEO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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      The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em><\/strong> comes to Blu-ray through Arrow Video and has been given a new transfer culled from the film\u2019s original camera negative and scanned at 4K resolution; after instances of dirt, dust marks and other imperfections were removed.\u00a0 Arrow rarely slouches with these releases and this picture quality looks fantastic, colors are bright without appearing blown out, detail is sharp and as mentioned, rather clean.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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      AUDIO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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      The disc comes with the choice of either English or Italian PCM Mono tracks and although I did view with the default English language, I did switch over a time or two to the Italian. Both options are perfectly fine with dialogue coming through the center channel with clarity and while depth, even by 1.0 channel standards, could\u2019ve been better, this is as good as it\u2019ll ever get.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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      OVERALL \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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      Overall, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em><\/strong> to me isn\u2019t a great giallo<\/em> movie but is notable being Dario Argento\u2019s feature debut and has great style to it even when character actions aren\u2019t entirely believable. Still, any Argento or giallo<\/em> fans will get a kick out of this film. The Blu-ray released by Arrow Video offers great video and audio transfers and some in-depth bonus material.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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      The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to me isn\u2019t a great giallo movie but is notable being Dario Argento\u2019s feature debut and has great style to it even when character actions aren\u2019t entirely believable. Still, any Argento or giallo fans will get a kick out of this film.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[3920,5371],"class_list":["post-15478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-arrow-video","tag-dario-argento"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15478"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26861,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15478\/revisions\/26861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}