Arrow Video has announced that Dario Argento’s 1970 directorial debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is set for a limited edition 4K Ultra HD release this June; check out the cover artwork, contents and special features below…
In 1970, young first-time director Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria) made his indelible mark on Italian cinema with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a film which redefined the ‘giallo’ genre of murder-mystery thrillers and catapulted him to international stardom.
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, Spasmo)…
A staggeringly assured debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage establishes the key traits that would define Argento’s filmography, including lavish visuals and a flare for wildly inventive, brutal scenes of violence. With sumptuous cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and a seductive score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in the West), this landmark film has never looked or sounded better in this brand new 4K Ultra HD presentation from Arrow Video!
SEE ALSO: Garish Colour, Prog Rock, Masked Killers and a Glass Fetish: Dario Argento’s Glory Years
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- 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, an interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger exploring the film’s themes and its relationship to both the giallo and Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi
- The Power of Perception, a visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexanda Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil’s Advocates: Suspiria and The Giallo Canvas: Art, Excess and Horror Cinema, reflecting on the recurring theme of perception and the role of art in Argento’s filmography
- Crystal Nightmare, an interview with writer/director Dario Argento
- An Argento Icon, an interview with actor Gildo Di Marco
- Eva’s Talking, an archival interview with actor Eva Renzi
- Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
- 2017 Texas Frightmare trailer
- Image galleries
- 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 two original pieces of poster artwork
- Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards
- Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring two original pieces of poster artwork
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Originally published April 13, 2021. Updated May 16, 2022.
