The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – The Reviews

[KRW]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

My review is now up at Film 365. Despite the aspect ratio, it really is a terrific disc.

That's a great review, I learned a few things, but a small point of order in that Apocalypse Now is now available in the original aspect ratio on Blu Ray while The Last Emperor is, perversely, available in the original aspect ratio on DVD. It's only where the dastardly Storaro has been involved in the production of a release that it becomes hobbled by his vision.

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by BAKA

From Sam Ashurst's weekly House Of Horror column @ Total Film:



The first line of the next title reviewed (Who Can Kill A Child) seems to take a little pop too: "Eureka, on the other hand, have gone beyond the call of duty for horror fans, rescuing this absolute gem from obscurity". Shame Who Can Kill A Child isn't getting a Blu-ray release

Sam's column is well worth a read every Friday.

I really enjoy that column; it's good that Total Film are catering for cult film fans. It's an interesting review and pretty much the consensus I was expecting. The fact that he says "even the aspect ration seems off" really shows that even if you're not aware of the change it does seem to make itself known when watching the film. I really do feel for Arrow with this release and sincerely hope that the presumably lower sales of this release and the extra expense of reprinting and issuing The Beyond discs hasn't put them in a poor financial place.

[bgart13]

Dvd Savant's review of the disc, posted today:

DVD Savant Blu-ray Review: The Bird With The Crystal Plumage

[robertzombie]

Originally Posted by bgart13

Dvd Savant's review of the disc, posted today:

DVD Savant Blu-ray Review: The Bird With The Crystal Plumage

Very interesting:

Various websites have posted comparisons of the transfers, but this disc's featurette extras include many film clips at the wider original Aspect Ratio, with the warmer color scheme.

How did Arrow manage to get hold of the "proper" version for their featurettes, but not for the whole film?

[Daemonia]

That's an interesting point, RZ. Arrow must have had access at some point to a full ratio transfer to get those scenes for the documentaries. Do they look like they've come from BU's transfer or from an inferior source?

[PaulD]

Surely it's just as straightforward as being that Arrow had access to the film in poorer quality for the extras but the only HD master they could use for the bluray was the 2:1 Univisium version? When you look at their releases of Phenomena/Deep Red etc they never use HD clips in the extras there.

[bgart13]

I'm gonna guess High Rising got the footage from a past dvd version. Which, I think they've done for past extras for other movies.

[Calum]

Originally Posted by bgart13

I'm gonna guess High Rising got the footage from a past dvd version. Which, I think they've done for past extras for other movies.

That's correct. Arrow often don't have their master ready for us when we do the extras so we have to cull the clips from an existing DVD. We finished the stuff on The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Cat O Nine Tails a whole year ago... I can barely even remember it myself!

This is also why the clips in these docs are never in HD!

As an aside, some of our stuff is showing on The Horror Channel just now in the UK so keep an eye out for it!

[Pete]

10,000 Bullets » Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The – Arrow Video (BluRay)