My copy of this came yesterday. As ever I loved the special features. Always good to see more of that Argento interview session and the Sergio Martino interview was great too. Had a flick through the film and to be honest, the cropping doesn't come across as too distracting, although I'm obviously glad I still have the Blue Underground disc (although the bit where you only see the viewfinder bars on the right side only really is a joke). Thought the PQ was spot on too.


Minor niggle (and only because of personal preference) but I wish the poster was the "Remember Psycho" one as I'm in the process of getting some of these framed and that choice was by far my favourite.

In summary: a much better release than I was anticipating (although a lot of the sting of the cropping issue has been removed through already owning the BU version too)

Has anyone watched this with the commentary on? If so, were you able to do so with the subtitles on? I can't seem to select the commentary using the 'audio' button on my remote and instead have to do it from the main menu which then means I can't select subtitles for some reason (also seems odd that when you select the commentary from the menu it goes straight to playing the film instead of giving you an 'ON/OFF' option). Bit of a pain as I always watch commentaries with subtitles on to keep track of the film. Could be a firmware issue I guess, hence me asking on here

I really need to replace my old dvd version of the The Bird with the Crystal Plumage so a blu-ray buy is a must

My experience with commentaries is the same as yours, PaulD. They have to be selected from the menu screen and there isn't an option to watch them with subtitles.

Perhaps the idea is for you to concentrate on the commentary and not be distracted by the film!

Thanks for the confirmation. I wonder if all Arrow blurays/dvds are like that? I seem to remember watching Tenebrae with the comentary and film subs on although I might be mistaken. Its slightly annoying as I love audio commentaries
but will only usually bother with them if I can also follow the film with subtitles.


Anyway veering back on topic, I have to admit that aspect ratio issues aside this is a great release of what's quickly becoming one of my all-time favourite Argento movies. It's such a shame that Stotaro's meddling has tainted what is an otherwise fine release (although that's a seperate discussion which, to be fair, has been done to death :))

May it rest in peace! :lol:

Greetings!

And so it will, as long as people don't start thinking that's Storaro's tampering is okay and acceptable. It's not. I will never accept this revised framing as being acceptable. ;)

Question guys.. I notice some of you have BUs release, and Arrows. Having both, do you think it was a wise buy? I'm just curious. I want to get this, but I already have BUs. I hear its the better release film wise... Also, extras on the BR, 1080p/24p?

Thanks

I haven't seen the BU version for comparison, but having watched Arrow's disc last night, all I can say is ( framing issues aside ) I thought it looked terrific. Much better than I was expecting. If anyone is waivering and / or doesn't want to pay stupid prices for the BU edition I'd say go for the Arrow BD :)

Blue undergrounds is best, being in the correct ratio and all. Arrows disc is fine quality and the extras are supurb, and considering Blu's release is the only version I've seen in the correct ratio out of all the uk and us editions previously released the arrow version is honestly servicable for anyone not a hardcore fan of the movie.