Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 20, 2017
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $29.05
Studio: Arrow Video/MVD

First-time filmmaker Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria) made his indelible mark on Italian cinema right out of the gate with 1970’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a murderously twisted debut which redefined the concept of Italy’s ‘giallo’ genre of murder-mystery thrillers.

Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante, We Own the Night), an American writer living in Rome, inadvertently witnesses a brutal attack on a woman (Eva Renzi, Funeral in Berlin) in a modern art gallery. Powerless to help, he grows increasingly obsessed with the incident. Convinced that something he saw that night holds the key to identifying the maniac terrorizing Rome, he launches his own investigation parallel to that of the police, heedless of the danger to both himself and his girlfriend Giulia (Suzy Kendall, Torso).

Argento’s staggeringly assured debut catapulted him to international stardom as it established the key traits that would define his filmography, including lavish visuals and a flare for wildly inventive, brutal scenes of violence.

Featuring sumptuous cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and a seductive score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in America), The Bird with the Crystal Plumage arrives in its latest digital incarnation from Arrow Video complete with a 4K-restored limited edition and a whole coffin full of bonuses, including the following:

– Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the camera negative in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, produced by Arrow Video exclusively for this release
– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
– Original mono Italian and English soundtracks (lossless on the Blu-ray Disc)
– English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
– New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
– The Power of Perception, a new 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
– New analysis of the film by critic Kat Ellinger
– New interview with writer/director Dario Argento
– New interview with actor Gildo Di Marco (Garullo the pimp)
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp
– Double-sided fold-out poster
– 6 Lobby Card reproductions
– Limited edition 60-page booklet illustrated by Matthew Griffin, featuring an appreciation of the film by Michael Mackenzie, and new writing by Howard Hughes and Jack Seabrook