Bird with the Crystal Plumage

UPC: 827058700795

Studio: Blue Underground

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children]

Summary: This trend-setting thriller put its director, Dario Argento, on the international map and began a flood of imitative mystery-horror hybrids which dominated Italian genre output in the early 1970s. Tony Musante, best known for the television series Toma, portrays an American who witnesses the murder of a woman at a trendy Rome art gallery. Before long, Musante finds himself targeted by a mysterious killer. Based on a story by Byron Edgar Wallace, Bird and hints at the flamboyance which would become Argento's trademark. This and Argento's subsequent two films Il Gatto a Nove Code and Quattro Mosche di Velluto Grigio were much less horror-oriented than his later work. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Category: Mystery

Features: Audio commentary with journalists Alan Jones and Kim Newman
Out of the Shadows - Interview with co-writer/director Dario Argento
Painting With Darkness - Interview with cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
The Music of Muder - Interview with composer Ennio Morricone
Eva's Talking - Interview with actress Eva Renzi
U.S. trailer
Italian trailer
TV spots

Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 02/24/2009

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD-EX Dolby Digital Surround EX (simulated 6.1)

Runtime: 96 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Bob Mastrangelo

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Dario Argento's directorial debut, is the rare serial killer picture that leaves much to the imagination by staging its murders with a minimum of gore and a reliance on strategic camera work. These scenes often have a claustrophobic feel to them, as they focus on hands, knives, and body parts, and use sound and editing to fill in the rest. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro displays his usual command of the visuals, whether he is showing off by having the camera give a point-of-view shot as a man falls to his death or is taking a more subtle approach when cloaking the protagonist in darkness as he is pursued through the streets by a yellow-jacketed assassin. Among the better scenes are: the opening sequence of Sam watching as Monica is attacked in a gallery while he is trapped behind a glass door and unable to help her; the scene where Julia is trapped in her apartment while the killer tries to carve through the door with a knife; and the surprising conclusion. All of these scenes contain the feeling of helplessness in the face of horror, a sense of being unable to prevent violence from happening to others or to oneself. The Bird With the Crystal Plumage looks very much like a product of its time -- the cosmopolitan atmosphere, the ultra-stylish approach to an old genre, and the sense that it is trying to shock its audience with a use of sex and violence (and, at times, a combination of the two) that was probably pushing the envelope in 1969, but which has considerably tamed over time. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Umberto Raho  Actor 
Reggie Nalder  Actor 
Fulvio Mingozzi  Actor 
Werner Peters  Actor 
Carla Mancini  Actor 
Dario Argento  Actor 
Dario Argento  Director 
Dario Argento  Screenwriter 
Salvatore Argento  Producer 
Ennio Morricone  Composer (Music Score) 
Tony Musante  Actor 
Suzy Kendall  Actor 
Eva Renzi  Actor 
Enrico Maria Salerno  Actor 
Mario Adorf  Actor 
Renato Romano  Actor 

Country: Italy,West Germany