Customer Reviews

The Blue Bird / Sinyaya Ptitsa

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hey Folks,
This is one of the best family movies I have ever seen! It was 20 years ago, in the "old" country, and I am not Russian - so there is no patriotism here.
The story is fantasic, the cast is at their best, and the Russian cinematogrpahy in adapting fairy tales has a long and excellent tradition.
This is a movie about values in life, about searching for happiness and the meaning of life, and I am extatic it is now available on DVD.

This is one of the memorable movies in my life. I watched it as a kid and loved it.
So thrilled that it's on DVD now. I want my child to see it now and hopefully enjoy as much as I did when I was a kid.
A light humor, a great fairy-tale story and awesome actors- all in 1 movie!

This is the 3rd film version of this story, and my favourite. I watched it because i LOVE Elizabeth Taylor in just about anything. After watching it online i was desperate to find it on dvd, and i was happy i did. When i received it i immediately watched it again.
The story is so sweet, the child actors are adorable, especially the little boy he is so heart warming! Ava Gardner and Jane Fonda has 1 scene each, they both fit in the movie and great!
Elizabeth Taylor is definitely carrying the movie, playing 4 roles in it!!! First we see her as the mother which she plays with such heart, she really is the mother natural and heart warming! Then the witch, in which she is unrecognizable, she is having such fun with it! Then the light! She looks really beautiful, in parts ( like when the children return from the grandparents and Elizabeth is singing in the field ) she is simply mesmerizing!!! She has such screen presence that not many people have nowadays! Then her last role which is really short is Maternal Love in which she is still wonderful but she looks a bit tired there. But thats just an interlude before she comes back as light and then the mother again in the end of the movie!
She has made such great movies ( and some bad ones, but she even shines in those ) she is truly an actress who just radiates on screen!
The movie itself is such a sweet, heartwarming story with the performances and its so beautifully filmed, i do not understand how could it be a failure when it came out.
The dvd is okay, its a russian product, but you can watch it in original english. The picture quality is average, a bit grainy in parts, but acceptable. I wish they would release a crisp, sharp version of it, the movie itself so beautifully filmed a great wide relase might make this a successful one.
It is truly recommended to see!

I had the apportunity of sharing this film with a group of children of various ages from 5 to 14 years old. This film captures the innosence lost or trap in us as we get more involved in society and tend to look up to others espectations and forget who we are and who we can be. Great film.

Sincerely,
A Friend

The first coproduction between Rusia and Usa couldn't be more succesful. The Leningrad Kirov ballet Company, The Leningrad Choreographical Miniatures, and the unusual presence of legendary actresses such as Elzabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Ava Gardner two lovable children (sons of a humble woodcutter) and Miss Light, Miss Sugar, Miss Water, Mr. Bread, Mr. Fire, Mr. Dog and Miss Cat will aid them to find the Blue Bird in order to make happy a sick girl.

A familiar entertainment that follows the steps of Wizard of Oz but that doesn't mean anything.

Watch it. You'll love it!

First time I saw that movie I was 6 years old, so it was great so see it again,25 years later, because it was one of my favorite movies. I even named my cat Tylette back then. I wish they would reproduce this movie today, with all the special effects in movies, it would be great, because the story is fantastic and very magical!

George Cukor's THE BLUE BIRD was a monumental dud on its initial release, grossing less than $900,000. For the 28 years since it was first shown, the only way to see the film was most likely through pain-in-the-neck special arrangement with 20th Century Fox, who probably liked to think the film was never made. But now, it is available on DVD from the great RUSCICO, and last night I watched the first 3 chapters of the DVD.

And let me say this-it is one of a kind.

Liz Taylor sends her kids to bed early because the ran across a bridge, and then they fall asleep in 30 seconds (in broad daylight, no less) and they don't get to eat the cole slaw mush Mommy brings for them. Mommy then turns into a stoned witch and hobbles round whining about a Blue Bird.

You know what you're in for by now. But it's hard to let go of the amazingly weird movie.

This film was not a hit when it was released and after viewing it, it is easy to understand why. The film is more of a curiousity. Its curious to see top film stars Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Jane Fonda in a lackluster film like this and one is left wondering why. Save your money and buy the Shirley Temple version on VHS instead. Unlike the Shirley Temple version, the motivation for the children to seek the Bluebird isn't there. They don't seem particularly unhappy with their present life, so why look for the Bluebird. The costumes, particularly Tylo the dog's, look cheap and the film lacks the overall lush production values of the earlier Shirley Temple version. There is no emotional depth to the direction. This is particularly evident when you compare how the separation of the young lovers in the Land of the Future was handled in each version. Tylo, the dog and Tylette, the cat are weak counterparts to their earlier predecessors. The additional characters of Bread, Water, Fire, Milk & Sugar are fairly disposable, as they lend nothing to the story. Cicely Tyson's Tylette lacks the true sinisterness of the same character portrayed by Gale Sondergaard in the earlier version. Elizabeth Taylor seems totally out of place as the children's mother and as Light. Ava Gardner in the Land of Luxury appears to be reprising her role in the British "horror" film Tam Lin, i.e. peculiar parallels in that in both films her character spirits away young men, while ignoring and even resenting the female character attached to the men. As I said before, the film is peculiar. Its hard to comprehend why it was made and what attracted these stars to it.