A split screen treatment would have been more illuminating instead of the alternate frame approach used. The delightful Tippi Hedren screen test is included in the package, with Hitchcock's off-screen instructions to Hedren and actor Martin Balsam adding to the pleasure. Two newsreels promoting The Birds and a droll theatrical trailer featuring an extended Hitchcock introduction make this first rate special edition a core collection selection. The color on this special edition DVD of The Birds is quite simply spectacular. Perfectly stable, with glorious saturation, colorful background details stand out richly against the monochromatic bird treatment.
Flesh tones are outstanding, presenting a realistic range.
Black are rich and lighting atmospheric lighting is preserved. Everything is in sharp focus save for most of the Tippi Hedren close-ups, which appear to have been shot through a softening filter. There is very slight edge enhancement which might exaggerate some of the grainier sequences. The process shots particularly are very grainy, typical of the effects used at the time. Happily, I could not detect any obvious artifacts associated with the furious movement of the birds in the attack sequences.