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Bird of Paradise [Blu-ray]
(King Vidor, 1932)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: RKO Radio Pictures Video: Kino International
Disc: Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:22:34.439 Disc Size: 22,312,323,680 bytes Feature Size: 20,668,842,624 bytes Video Bitrate: 20.55 Mbps Chapters: 10 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: May 1st, 2012
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: None
Extras: • Trailers
Bitrate:
Description: Joel McCrea (The Most Dangerous Game) stars as a handsome South Seas soldier of fortune who falls in love with Dolores Del Rio (Flying Down to Rio), the daughter of a Polynesian native chieftain. Alas, their idyllic romance is destined to come to a sudden and violent end: tribal custom decrees that Del Rio is to be sacrificed to the local volcano. After initial resistance, the heroine nobly resigns herself to her fate, realizing that there is no place for her in her white lover's civilization. From the legendary Academy Award nominated director King Vidor (War & Peace, The Champ) and producer David O. Selznick (Gone With The Wind, King Kong). This is the ONLY authorized edition of this classic film from the estate of David O. Selznick, restored and remastered in high definition from the George Eastman House. ***
From legendary Oscar®-winning director King Vidor (The
Crowd,
Duel in the Sun) comes an exotic tale of romance set
in gorgeous Polynesia:
Bird of Paradise.
The Film: Out of Richard Walton Tully's highly successful old play, "The Bird of Paradise," King Vidor has produced a languid film with many beautifully photographed scenes. This story in its modernized form is frequently unconsciously humorous and even though much is made of the volcano on a South Sea isle exacting its annual human toll, there is here hardly anything akin to suspense. Excerpt from the NY Times located HEREVidor had hoped to work with a small crew and shoot verite style, as he had on Hallelujah!, but that was not Selznick's way. In his autobiography, A Tree Is a Tree (1953), Vidor lamented the damage to the landscape inflicted by the studio's trucks, equipment and crews. That wasn't the only problem he encountered. Weeks of bad weather left him with very little usable footage and crews waiting idly for a break in the storms. There were compensations. While in Hawaii Vidor, whose marriage to actress Eleanor Boardman was rocky, fell in love with the script girl, Elizabeth Hill. They would marry later that year after his divorce from Boardman. Finally, Vidor and his crew gave up and went back to California, completing their location work on Catalina Island, and in a native village set that had been built at the studio in their absence (it was also used the following year for King Kong, 1933) Excerpt from TCM located HEREImage : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Bird of Paradise on Blu-ray from Kino appears to be a massive improvement over the Roan Group DVD that came out in 1999 - reviewed HERE (and compared below). That SD sepia transfer was interlaced, cropped, picture-boxed and weak by any standards. This is single-layered and still contains plenty of damage but none of it is unforgivable and the resulting image is very impressive for an 80-year old film. Grain is not overwhelming but there is some texture. There are some jump cuts and it can run a bit clunky in scenes but overall - this is a dramatically superior presentation than I was anticipating. By modern standards this won't be a demo representation for any system but for those keen on the Pre-Code era - Kino have delivered with this Blu-ray.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Roan Group - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
Roan Group - Region 0 -
NTSC
TOP vs. Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
Roan Group - Region 0 -
NTSC
TOP vs. Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
One reason Bird of Paradise garnered its PRE-CODE appeal status...
Roan Group - Region 0 - NTSC TOP vs. Kino - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM
More Blu-ray Captures
Audio :We get a linear PCM 2.0 channel track at 2304 kbps. I suspect that audio will always be a weak point for Bird of Paradise but I feel confident that this lossless transfer makes the best of a originally weak source. There are some audio flaws for sure - and no subtitles. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.NOTE: Rick tells us in email: "Gary ... regarding Kino’s new blu-ray of BIRD OF PARADISE, if you compare the audio with the old Roan disc, you’ll discover that the Roan audio is actually much better. It would appear that the Kino disc boosted the audio level to the point of distortion. True, it was probably not all that great to begin with ... originating from a nitrate optical source ... but the Kino disc adds a lot of distortion, which is particularly unfortunate since this is one of Max Steiner’s pioneering film scores, and much of it is tarnished by over-zealous and detrimental boosting of audio levels. The only saving grace is that the left track audio seems to be slightly less distorted than the right, so if you can set your home equipment to pick up only the left track, you will have slightly better sound. Unfortunately, if people just attribute the problem to the age of the film, Kino will probably not go to the trouble to correct the problem, though the disc should really be recalled. I have written to them about it, but have not yet heard back from them."
Extras : Nothing but some trailers of Kino Blu-ray vintage films. It would be very appreciated if one day some distributor would do some real investigation, analysis and discussion of the Pre-Code era. But it ain't gonna be on this disc.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze April 24th, 2012
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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