THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970) (Arrow Video 4K UHD Review)

THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970)

Limited Edition 4K UHD 

Label: Arrow Video
Region: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 98 Minutes
Video: 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Italian and English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 with optional English Subtitles
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) was Dario Argento's first film, and also the first of his Animal Trilogy (Cat O' Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet). In it we have an American writer named Sam (Tony Musante, We Own the Night) living abroad in Rome with his lovely Brit girlfriend Julia (Suzy Kendall, In The Devil's Garden). One night while strolling down the street alone he witnesses the stabbing of Monica (Eva Renzi, Funeral In Berlin) inside her art gallery by a mysterious black gloved stranger in a trench coat. Sam attempts to enter the gallery to assist the woman in peril but finds himself hopelessly trapped between two mechanical glass doors, and can only watch as the assailant escapes while the victim collapses. Sam stares on as the wounded woman crawls towards the glass doors but is completely helpless to do anything about it. Eventually he manages to get the attention of a passerby who alerts the police to the situation and woman survives. While not a suspect in the knifing Sam's passport is confiscated by the police who want to keep their only material witness from returning to the U.S. as he might prove valuable during their attempt to catch what turns out to be a vicious serial killer.

Sam is haunted by the notion that he witnessed something important that night at the gallery but it does not present itself to him right away. The idea of a clue seen but not quite remembered is a trope that Argento would revisit with Deep Red (1975) a few years later, a story wherein a composer witness a murder and is haunted by the notion that there is something he saw but cannot recall that is integral to the mystery.

Several other Argento trademarks emerge as the film plays out in a Hitchcockian sort of way, with Sam (the everyman caught up in something bigger than himself) being drawn deeper and deeper into the dark labyrinth of murder as he begins to sleuth the crime, endangering both himself and his girlfriend. The threats begins with creepy whispered phone calls and ends with what would become another Argento trademark, the deeply twisted shocker finale, and this is one that holds up remarkably well even after seeing this particular film at least a dozen times.

Argento was already a successful screenwriter (Sergio Leon'e Once Upon a Time in the West) at the time he directed his first feature film and he sprinted right from the gate with the skill of a director steeped in cinema from birth! Watching this you never think to yourself this guy is a newbie, and to this day it is still one of the more remarkable film debuts that I've seen from this era. This psycho-shocker has some eye-popping visuals thanks to Argento's keen eye for stylistic horror, borrowing the killer's signature attire straight out of Mario Bava's early giallo entry Blood and Black Lace (1964), throwing in some Hitchcockian lensing over a seductive murder mystery that went on to establish the giallo as a world wide phenomena in the 70s. Adding to the film's visual appeal is cinematographer Vittoro Storaro's fluid camerawork, he would later go onto lens Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), Ladyhawke (1985) and Spielberg's The Last Emperor (1987), but this was an early entry and like Argento, he already had a keen eye for visuals and atmospheric lighting. With the visual pieces in place there's also a tasty score with plenty of muted trumpet from the late-legend Ennio Morricone (The Thing) laid over the top, making this a wonderful whodunit cocktail of suspenseful visuals and sound.

Audio/Video: Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage gets the definitive Arrow Video 4K UHD treatment with a what is touted as a "new 4K restoration from the original negative" framed in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Grain is well-managed and pleasingly organic in nature, the fine detail and textures are excellent, and the colors are more natural and vibrant than ever before thanks to the expanded palette of the Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grading. It's very tasteful and the colorists have not gone overboard with the HDR. The backs are also very deep, as deep as the source limitations allow anyway. 

As with Cat O' Nine tails we do not get the Dolby Atmos bump, but we get DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 audio in both English and Italian with Optional English subtitles. The mix is crisp and fluid, with the outstanding Ennio Morricone sounds great. 

There are no new exclusive extras for the UHD, but Arrow do carry-over the extras from the previous Blu-ray, beginning with the audio commentary with writer Troy Howarth, the author of giallo book So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films - it's a great listen and loaded with info. We also get a 32-minute analysis of the film by critic Kat Ellinger, a 21-minute visual essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a 32-minute interview with writer/director Dario Argento, a 22-minute interview with actor Gildo Di Marco, plus an 11-minute interview the late Eva Renzi. The disc is buttoned-up with a selection of trailers for the film. 

For the sake of this review we were only sent a "check" disc by Arrow Video for review without the benefit of any packaging, artwork or booklet, but if you purchase it the retail copies include a limited edition 40-page booklet illustrated by Matthew Griffin, featuring an appreciation of the film by Michael Mackenzie, and new writing by Howard Hughes and Jack Seabrook, a fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative, six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards, and limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative”

Special Features:
– New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films

– 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)

– Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks

– English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack

– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack

- Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
- Black Gloves and Screaming Mimis: Analysis of the film by critic Kat Ellinger (32 min) HD
- The Power of Perception, a visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil s Advocates: Suspiria and Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (21 min) HD
- Crystal Nightmare: Interview with writer/director Dario Argento (32 min) HD
- An Argento Icon: Interview with actor Gildo Di Marco (Garullo the pimp)(22 min) HD
- Eva's Talking: Archival Discussion with the late Eva Renzi, originally recorded in 2005 (11 min)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp
- Limited edition 40-page booklet illustrated by Matthew Griffin, featuring an appreciation of the film by Michael Mackenzie, and new writing by Howard Hughes and Jack Seabrook
- Italian Trailer (3 min) HD
- International Trailer (3 min) HD
- 2017 Texas frightmare Trailer (1 min) HD

- Image Galleries: Posters, Italian Lobby Cards, French Lobby Cards, Spanish Lobby Cards, German Promotional Materials, U.S. Publicity Stills

- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Howard Hughes and Jack Seabrook, and a new essay by Rachael Nisbet

 -Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative

- Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards

- Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring originally and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative

Arrow's 4K UltraHD release of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is the best the stylish whodunit has ever, and will probably ever, look on home video. A definite recommend if you're looking to upgrade this golden-era Argento classic, but as there's no new bonus content there's no need to upgrade if you're not already UHD-ready, but these Argento UHD's might be a good reason to upgrade your home video set-up, if you haven't done so already.