A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Bird with the Crystal Plumage -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Maniac, Deep Red and The Prowler are my most wanted titles from Blue Underground.

 

[Vincent_P]

There's an HD master for DEEP RED that was used for a Windows Media-9 release a couple years ago. The transfer looks pretty darned good, hopefully it will show up on Blu-ray:

Land of Whimsy

Good to know Lustig is reading this thread. I've been very impressed with the visual quality and unmolested film-look of the BU Blu-rays I've bought so far (THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, DEAD & BURRIED, and THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE) and look forward to buying many more.

Vincent

 

[Scott Calvert]

Well I just ordered The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. I find myself getting bored with the new Hollywood product and titles like this just seem interesting to me. To have a film like this on a high-def disc done well is kind of amazing, especially in this economic climate.

If Mr. Lustig is indeed reading this thread, I sure hope you sell enough to justify releasing more Argentos, and maybe even some Hammers (I dunno if you guys still have the rights). Was a big fan of your work at Anchor Bay so I know the quality will be there.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I've heard of this film and been tempted. I may have to order it now, though as I constantly beg of Disney... presenting the original soundtrack LOSSLESSLY in addition to any new remixed (Lossless) mixes is a priority for me.

 

[Paul Arnette]

I haven't seen the other two, but Deep Red is high on my wish list as well.

 

[Blake Comeaux]

I just ordered this and should have it Monday, along with Four Flies on Grey Velvet (which I've haven't seen) on DVD. I hope that Deep Red is their next Argento Blu-ray. Of course, I'd rather they release Suspiria ASAP if they will indeed be losing the license, if they haven't already.

 

[Danny_N]

I've bought everything BU has released so far on BD and was pleased with them all. Each was a significant upgrade to the SD version and well worth it imo. Especially seeing The Bird With The Crystal Plumage in such excellent quality was something special. I hope blu-ray is a success for them because I want many more. If Mr. Lustig is reading this thread I hope he considers some spaghetti westerns and Franco for future releases.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I thought it was too but I believe a certain site posted some upcoming titles that turned out to be false. For my money this is one of the greatest DVDs ever produced so to me nothing new needs to be added. Perhaps the MR. ROBBIE: MANIAC 2 footage but perhaps someone doesn't want it included. The footage was just released on another DVD but another studio.

 

[Cassy_w]

There is no doubt that this release looks amazing. It is vastly superior to the DVD and laserdisc versions. One hopes DEEP RED and SUSPIRIA and TENEBRAE will have such loving treatment.

However, I prefer the PCM mono from the laserdisc to the new remixes and it is a shame that it was not included. The BD had room for it. It would have been cake for them to include the original mono track in PCM on top of all the other useless remixes. The remixes sound rather hollow and shrill at times compared to the original mono. These remixes are OK. They are not disasters like all the Asian remixes by Media Asia and Dragon Dynasty, etc. But it sems more like this is just marketing. "Hey, look! Lossless and DTS and the kitchen sink too!"

One only can hope Blue Underground gets the message with future releases because this is just disrespectful.

 

[RDarrylR]

I watched this last. It looks really good IMO. I'm not sure if it's local to my AV setup but I had a hard time getting the sound synced up on this one. Did anyone else notice that?

 

[Robert Crawford]

This BRD is available from Amazon for $20.42 as a Gold Box Special.







Crawdaddy

 

[Paul Arnette]

It is not in my Gold Box. :frowning:

 

[Mattias_ka]

I totally agree! To me it is almost like releasing a 1.85:1 movie in 2.35:1 just because "people like it better". BU have given us many great transfer but why on earth do they not incl the original soundtrack lossless? Now I must RIP my own BD to the computer and rip my old DVDs to sync it so I can watch it, because I will NOT watch it without the original soundtrack.

This is not acceptable and I will not buy lesser titles from BU that don't have the original soundtrack just because I don't feel it is worth spending a lot of time fixing the sound.

So I do hope Lustig add the original soundtrack lossless in the future releases, because I really like their image transfer.

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Don't worry about it - the regular price is $19.99!!

Amazon.com: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [Blu-ray]: Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Dario Argento: Movies & TV

 

[Paul Arnette]

Thanks. I noticed this a week or two ago and pulled the trigger.

Now I just have to get my HT up and running again after moving to a new house! :frowning:

 

[Paul Arnette]

I am resurrecting this thread to ask a question that I hope hasn't already been covered here. I did a cursory search through the thread beforehand however.

What is the 'correct' way to watch this film? In Italian with English subtitles or in English? I ask because it seems fairly evident to me that the actors are speaking English even though the voices seem dubbed. I watched in English a couple nights ago, but I was still curious nevertheless.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Paul Arnette

I am resurrecting this thread to ask a question that I hope hasn't already been covered here. I did a cursory search through the thread beforehand however.

What is the 'correct' way to watch this film? In Italian with English subtitles or in English? I ask because it seems fairly evident to me that the actors are speaking English even though the voices seem dubbed. I watched in English a couple nights ago, but I was still curious nevertheless.

Don't quote me but I believe that there is no true original language track for most Italian movies of this period. Some of the actors read their lines in English and some read in Italian but they always intended to dub them for whatever country it would be shown in. However I guess since it originates from Italy, you can say that the Italian language track is the correct one.

Once again, someone with more knowledge might be able to clarify or correct points in that.

 

[Paul Arnette]

Originally Posted by TravisR

Don't quote me but I believe that there is no true original language track for most Italian movies of this period. Some of the actors read their lines in English and some read in Italian but they always intended to dub them for whatever country it would be shown in. However I guess since it originates from Italy, you can say that the Italian language track is the correct one.

Once again, someone with more knowledge might be able to clarify or correct points in that.

Thanks, Travis. I'm definitely interested in hearing more if anyone has any additional information, but it sounds like these Italian films have a lot in common with Chinese Kung Fu movies of the time as well.

 

[Scott Calvert]

There is no "original" track. TravisR is correct when he says italian films of this period were overdubbed for different markets. Each actor spoke his native language on set so dubbing is required no matter the market.

 

[Vincent_P]

There most certainly IS an "original track"- or rather, original tracks. The filmmaker- being of Italian origin himself- would likely have supervised the Italian dub track, so the original Italian mix could safely be called an "original track".

By the same token, films like this- as well as most of the "Spaghetti Westerns" and many other Italian genre films- often employed native English-speaking actors in major roles as main characters in their films. Since English was then (and arguably now) considered to be the "International Language", the English-soundtrack- often containing the actual voices of the major English-speaking stars who acted in these films- would obviously also be considered an "original track". In fact, many times the English-language versions of these films would be the export versions, being shown in other countries in English with subtitles.

Vincent