The Bird With the Crystal Plumage

Rating:
Summary: Broad appeal for Argento's debut feature
Review: Even those who don't care for writer-director Dario Argento's later baroque extravaganzas may warm to his debut feature "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" (L'Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo, 1969), a well-received thriller in which an American writer living in Rome (Tony Musante) witnesses an assault on a woman in an art gallery and is subsequently targeted by the would-be assassin, a crazed psychopath who's been terrorizing the city with a series of brutal murders. Typical of an Argento thriller, the hapless hero's investigation unleashes a cycle of violence which culminates in a climactic unmasking that will take some viewers completely by surprise. Loosely inspired by Fredric Brown's novel 'The Screaming Mimi' (filmed under that title in 1958), Argento's first film is a fairly straightforward thriller with horror asides, anchored by a strong narrative, an increasingly bizarre series of supporting characters, and a strong Everyman hero who slots the puzzle together piece by piece before realizing that the most important clue to the killer's identity was there in front of him all the time. Musante is given excellent support by English actress Suzy Kendall as his girlfriend (the scene in which she's besieged alone in her apartment as the killer hacks through the door with a knife is truly the stuff of nightmares) and Enrico Maria Salerno as the cop charged with finding the killer before he/she strikes again.

Despite Argento's prior screenwriting credits, including significant contributions to the script of Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West" (C'era una Volta il West, 1969), producers were unconvinced of his directorial abilities and wanted to pull him off the picture during the first few weeks of shooting, but Argento persevered under an iron-clad contract and ultimately proved his critics wrong with the finished product, a genuinely engrossing mystery punctuated by scenes of explicit horror. The film puts a late-1960s Italian spin on the kind of movie that Hitchcock had already popularized in America, and is leavened with the same kind of uproarious humor: Salerno gets the best line of dialogue during a police line-up when he despairs: "How many times do I have to tell you? Ursula Andress belongs with the transvestites, not the perverts!" And later, an outrageously camp antiques dealer offers a jaw-dropping description of one of the killer's former victims: "It was said she preferred women. I couldn't care less - I'm no racist, for heaven's sake!" Briskly edited by Franco Fraticelli, and featuring a brief appearance from distinctive character actor Reggie Nalder ("Mark of the Devil", "Salem's Lot") as an assassin-for-hire, "Bird" is arguably Argento's warmest, most humane thriller until "Tenebrae" (Tenebre) in 1982.

VCI's region-free DVD runs 95m 47s (not including the UMC logo at the beginning, which wasn't part of the original film) and restores all of the violence that was cut from the initial US theatrical release. The restored material is derived from a separate source - possibly VHS - and is of lesser quality than the bulk of the film, which offers a bright, colorful rendition of the Cromoscope image, slightly reframed to 2.20:1 (from the original 2.35:1), anamorphically enhanced. VCI were forced to issue a 'corrected' version of the disc when it was discovered that one of the restored sequences - the bedroom murder - had been edited incorrectly. However, both versions offer an unnecessary two-channel stereo 'enhancement' of the mono original which sounds more than a little forced and unnatural, made worse because the dialogue is badly out of sync for the duration of the movie, and while the film relies primarily on Vittorio Storaro's widescreen visuals, the audio blemish provides a hideous distraction during prolonged conversation sequences. Ennio Morricone's lilting, melancholy music score is cut off at the end, just as the last credits disappear from the screen, whereas it continued for almost another minute in the theatrical version. There's a letterboxed trailer and an audio-only soundtrack option, but no captions or subtitles of any kind.

Rating:
Summary: Widescreen????
Review: Ever buy a widescreen movie and wonder if its true ws aspect? Even though it has the black strips at top and bottom something is very amiss with this print. The credits cannot be read as they run off the screen on one side or the other or both. The movie itself deserves four stars but while watching, it is evident thats its not ws ratio. Hopefully someone, perhaps Anchor Bay can give us the real deal.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good DVD of Argento's First Film
Review: Having seen Argento's directorial debut many times on laserdisc, video, film screenings and television broadcasts I have to say that it has never, ever looked this good. The colors are no longer washed out but crisp and vibrant and the anamorphic widescreen is clear, rich in detail and free from digital artifacts. Though the film is presented in its uncut glory, a few seconds of the once edited murder scenes are in noticeably poorer shape than the rest of the transfer. It's not very distracting and shouldn't prevent you from getting this otherwise fine disc. Viva Argento!

Rating:
Summary: Modern Filmmakers Take Note!
Review: Here's a movie with a surprise twist ending that doesn't rely on the ending to carry the whole film (i.e. "Wild Things," etc.) Superb use of shadowy darkness to set the mood (one of the few things that has stuck in my mind since I saw this film when I was 12)--along with the creepy, eerie voice of the killer on the phone--no, "Scream" didn't do it first. A must-see for all horror fans--one of Argento's best.

Rating:
Summary: Dario Gives Us The Bird
Review: Here's Dario Argento's debut as a director, and it's impressive. Naturally it's a giallo, which is Dario's bread and butter. We got Tony Musante(who I've only seen in HBO's Oz other than this) who witnesses an attempted murder in an art gallery(a very well done scene) and launches his own investigation while being pursued by the killer. Not the most original of plots, but Argento's got a way of doing these kinds of films in ways that make them interesting and suspenseful. Dario hasn't found his style completely yet, but there are hints of what we'll all come to identify him with. It's not outrageous in the violent sense, but this is 1969 and it's probably as violent as it could be for the day. Since we've had about eight billion killer on the loose films since 1969 using every plot twist available, it's impressive how good a job Dario does with fooling you with the killer's identity. This is a very good film, much much better than any post-Silence Of The Lambs serial killer flick. And with the low price of the dvd you have no excuse.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Debut From A Great Director!
Review: I am a big fan of Dario Argento's films, and "Bird" is rather different from his later works, but it still packs quite a punch. The story involves an American writer, Sam Dalmas, who witnesses an attack on a woman while he is staying in Rome. Sam thinks there is something that he missed during the attack. If he could just remember he will solve the killer's identity. Sam launches his own investigation, and puts the lives of himself and his girlfriend in danger in the process. Meanwhile the killer conitinues to carve up young women throughout the city. This film is an excellent mystery. The ending took me and everyone I've watched it with completely by surprise. Argento weaves an exciting story. Some scenes were very suspenseful and creepy. The acting was good as well. Especially from the three leads. The DVD is pretty well done. The widescreen transfer looks better I'm sure than it ever has before. The sound was alright, but the volume was a little low in some scenes. Nothing terrible though. Not many special features, but I thought that the seperate soundtrack was a great bonus. Just make sure you get the correct version of the dvd. Supposedly on the original copies the "bedroom murder" was edited incorrectly, and the sound was extremely low. The company,VCI, now makes a corrected version. If you are a fan of Argento, or mystery, or even horror then I definetely reccomend this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Italian Slasher At It'sBest
Review: I don't watch Dario Argento movies for plots that make sense or characters who act logically. I watchArgento movies for extremely tense scenes of suspense and shocking gore. I watch for his ability to move a camera around so in such interesting ways that I have to pause, rewind and watch a scene again. "The Bird with the Crystal Plummage" delivers everyting I love about Argento movies. There is a really cool retro '70's look to the film with a great soundtrack by Ennico Morricone.

Rating:
Summary: Buon giorno, Mr. Hitchcock.
Review: I gave this 3 stars; I would have given it 3.5 if that were possible. I watched the VCI Home Video "uncut widescreen presentation" on DVD; I don't know if that's the same version Amazon is selling. The box describes it as 16x9 format and there are black strips at the top and bottom of the screen, but the edges have been trimmed from the image nonetheless. Still, it works pretty well visually. And visuals are a lot of what Argento's movies are about!

I've heard a lot about this movie over the years and my expectations were fairly high. I was not disappointed; there are some genuinely creepy moments as well as some bizarre humor -- the "mad artist" sequence in particular is quite funny. Plot-wise, things get stretched a bit, but the movie is at least as credible -- and as scary -- as, say, "Fatal Attraction." Morricone's score is mostly effective, in a 1970s kind of way. In places, it reminded me of Ron Grainer's score for "The Omega Man," made in the same era.

This is not a great movie, in the same class as Hitchcock's best, but it's up there with Brian DePalma's work. If you like atmospheric, slightly surreal "slasher" movies, you'll enjoy this "Bird."

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good for a 33 year old movie
Review: I gave this 3 stars; I would have given it 3.5 if that were possible. I watched the VCI Home Video "uncut widescreen presentation" on DVD; I don't know if that's the same version Amazon is selling. The box describes it as 16x9 format and there are black strips at the top and bottom of the screen, but the edges have been trimmed from the image nonetheless. Still, it works pretty well visually. And visuals are a lot of what Argento's movies are about!

I've heard a lot about this movie over the years and my expectations were fairly high. I was not disappointed; there are some genuinely creepy moments as well as some bizarre humor -- the "mad artist" sequence in particular is quite funny. Plot-wise, things get stretched a bit, but the movie is at least as credible -- and as scary -- as, say, "Fatal Attraction." Morricone's score is mostly effective, in a 1970s kind of way. In places, it reminded me of Ron Grainer's score for "The Omega Man," made in the same era.

This is not a great movie, in the same class as Hitchcock's best, but it's up there with Brian DePalma's work. If you like atmospheric, slightly surreal "slasher" movies, you'll enjoy this "Bird."

Rating:
Summary: Alfred Hitchcock he is not.........
Review: I lost a bet and had to watch this movie but I didn't mind becouse I had heard it was one of his better films (Dario Argento). So one Friday morning I pulled this DVD out and watched it. Argento has made worse films but this one is not all that good. Sam Dalmas (Tony Mustane) is an American writer in Italy, he is about to leave when he wittnesses an attempted murder of a women in an art gallery. After chasing the bad guy away he is questioned by the police including Inspector Morosini who allows Dalmas to cunduct his own investigation becouse there is somthing that he can't put his finger on that he saw that will not sit right, we find out at the end..You can tell that Argento tried a more Hitchcock approach to this film and for that he succeeded. It does have it's fair share of suspense and thrills but it is just so unbelivable and slow at times that it loses you. Just the fact that Dalmas would be allowed to interfere with police work is just dumb. The movie really loses you when Dalmas try's to find an artist. This movie could have been much better but for his first movie Argento shows promise, however he delivers from here on out nothing but graphic and gruesome fair.......By the way when we do find out what has been buggung Dalmas you are so dumbfounded that he would have not saw this it takes away from the film. I may have liked the movie better had it not been for that......