Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48031 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-02-24
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Bring in the perverts!"
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is not particularly gory, but it does establish a blueprint for most of Dario Argento's later work, with the crucial misunderstood attempted murder both referencing Antonioni's Blow-Up and prefiguring the killer-in-plain-sight twist of Deep Red. Best of all is Argento's mastery of vivid color and the Scope frame (the gallery window is even designed at an exact 2.35:1 to match the screen ratio). It still lacks the bravura and panache that would distinguish Deep Red, Suspiria and Inferno, and the best that can be said of the performances is that they don't get in the way: Tony Musante's hero and Mario Adorf's cameo as a cat-eating artist pass muster, as does Enrico Maria Salerno, the Italian voice of Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's westerns (the perverse side of my nature thought Eastwood could at least have returned the compliment by dubbing him into English), but Suzy Kendall definitely looks better than she acts and some of the supporting cast pull out most of the stops. Still how can you not love a film with lines like "How many times do I have to tell you, Ursula Andress belongs with the transvestites, not the perverts!"

Blue Underground's new Region 1 NTSC DVD is some 30 seconds longer than the previous VCI issue and boasts superb picture quality and a choice of English or Italian tracks (it was shot in English, as per all of Argento's films). The extras aren't plentiful enough to justify a second disc - some 47 minutes of interviews, including an inadvertently revealing one by Eva Renzi pretty much badmouthing anyone who ever offered her a part for destroying her career - but if you don't have the film it's worth picking up for the remastering alone.

Excellent debut
This is the first Dario Argento film I have seen and chose to see it first because it is his directorial debut. Unlike the films he is best known for, namely horror, this film is more of a suspense thriller. The plot surrounds the murders of three women in Rome and an attempted murder of another women. The attempted murder is witnessed by an American tourist who then becomes involved in the police investigation when they confiscate his passport. The direction is excellent and right up until the final scenes you have no idea who the killer really is. This film may look a bit dated now compared to some of the polished, modern hollywood productions. However the film is still excellently put togehter and well worth seeing before you see other films by Dario Argento.

DONT BUY THE UK VERSION
This film is great it deserves the 4 stars I gave it. It is a wonderful debut from a brilliant film directer. But this UK version is cut. Why? I dont know the BBFC said they would have no problem releasing it uncut. Oh well.

The film is great thought using many of the cinematic techniques and tactics that would be so brilliantly portrayed in his later films. This film shows a talent in the making and at the time a man who even Hitchcock feared would take him down.