{"id":26869,"date":"2021-08-05T15:37:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T22:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=26869"},"modified":"2021-08-05T15:38:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T22:38:37","slug":"review-bird-crystal-plumage-4k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2021\/08\/review-bird-crystal-plumage-4k\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 4K Ultra HD Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"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>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Suspense, Horror<\/span>
\nArrow Video | NR \u2013 98 min. \u2013 $59.95 | July 27, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 08\/05\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\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<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Commentary, Interviews, Theatrical Trailers
\nSlip Cover: <\/strong>Yes (slip case)
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>No
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>4K Ultra HD
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (PCM 1.0), Italian (PCM 1.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>2160p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, English
\nCodec: <\/strong>HEVC \/ H.265
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/span><\/p>\n
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Arrow Films provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe opinions I share are my own.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\nNote:\u00a0<\/strong>Portions of this was copied over from my Blu-ray review.<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE \u2014 3\u00be\/5<\/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, it still managed to keep my attention until the well orchestrated finale.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4\u00be\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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This single-disc comes housed in a black HD keep case, and tucked inside are lobby cards, which side slides into a sturdy outer box. In the box are a 60-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)<\/u><\/strong> \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)<\/u><\/strong> \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)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Recorded in 2017, writer\/director Dario Argento talks about the film and his early career.<\/li>\n
  • An Argento Icon (22:05)<\/u><\/strong> \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)<\/u><\/strong> is an old interview with actress Eva Renzi recorded back in 2005.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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

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

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      VIDEO \u2013 4\u00be\/5, AUDIO \u2013 4\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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      Arrow Video releases The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em><\/strong> onto 4K Ultra HD where its presented in the original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and 2160p high-definition transfer. The picture was restored from original 35mm 2-perf Techniscope negative, scanned and restored in 4K resolution. I presume this is the same restoration work done for the Blu-ray only upgraded to 4K. But even so, the transfer looks solid, detail is very sharp and well defined while colors appear nicely balanced without appearing blown out, while the film grain and noise is still present giving it a fairly theatrical feel to it, and would imagine might look better than the original film print shown in theaters.<\/p>\n

      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. (copied from my Blu-ray review)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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      OVERALL \u2014 4\/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.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      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":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4581,970],"tags":[3920],"class_list":["post-26869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4k-uhd-reviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-arrow-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26869","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=26869"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26871,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26869\/revisions\/26871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}