With the aid and guidance of a magical fairy, two peasant children set out in search of the elusive "Blue Bird of Happiness".With the aid and guidance of a magical fairy, two peasant children set out in search of the elusive "Blue Bird of Happiness".With the aid and guidance of a magical fairy, two peasant children set out in search of the elusive "Blue Bird of Happiness".
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- TriviaFilmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey--which, at the time, was the center of the American film industry, before it moved west to Hollywood.
- Quotes
Title Card: Tradition whispers that in the sky is a bird, blue as the sky itself, which brings to its finder HAPPINESS. But everyone cannot see it; for mortal eyes are prone to be blinded by the glitter of wealth, fame and position, and deceived by the mocking Will-o'-the-Wisp of empty honors.
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Featured review
Nice Early Version
The Blue Bird (1918)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Poor children Mytyl (Tula Belle) and Tyltyl (Robin Macdougall) are visited by a fairy (Lillian Cook) who takes them on a trip to see what's really important in life. THE BLUE BIRD was directed by Maurice Tourneur, a highly visionary director who actually does a very good job with the look of this film as it's certainly one of the more impressive films visually from this era. This was actually the first version of this story that I've ever seen, which is somewhat shocking considering how many there have actually been. This is basically a fantasy-adventure film as the children and the fairy go searching for the "Bluebird of Happiness" which they are hoping will cure a sick nature. The film really does seem like a darker version of THE WIZARD OF OZ and it's funny because if you've seen any early version of Oz you'll remember that many of the animals were played by humans in costumes and that's the same case here. I've read many reviews that say this makes a film look silly but I'd disagree. I'm going to guess that at the time people were very use to this practice and I'd argue that in today's time it doesn't look silly but instead it adds a surreal effect to the film. Another gimmick is that the kids are able to view the souls of various objects including fire and even bread. The visual effects here aren't ground-breaking and they're not among the best I've ever seen but they are still impressive for the time. I found the performances of the two leads to be very good as was Cook at the fairy who really gives a comforting performance. I think there are some pacing issues in the film and even at just 80-minutes the film is a little slow at times. With that said, it's still an interesting visual film and for that it's worth viewing.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Poor children Mytyl (Tula Belle) and Tyltyl (Robin Macdougall) are visited by a fairy (Lillian Cook) who takes them on a trip to see what's really important in life. THE BLUE BIRD was directed by Maurice Tourneur, a highly visionary director who actually does a very good job with the look of this film as it's certainly one of the more impressive films visually from this era. This was actually the first version of this story that I've ever seen, which is somewhat shocking considering how many there have actually been. This is basically a fantasy-adventure film as the children and the fairy go searching for the "Bluebird of Happiness" which they are hoping will cure a sick nature. The film really does seem like a darker version of THE WIZARD OF OZ and it's funny because if you've seen any early version of Oz you'll remember that many of the animals were played by humans in costumes and that's the same case here. I've read many reviews that say this makes a film look silly but I'd disagree. I'm going to guess that at the time people were very use to this practice and I'd argue that in today's time it doesn't look silly but instead it adds a surreal effect to the film. Another gimmick is that the kids are able to view the souls of various objects including fire and even bread. The visual effects here aren't ground-breaking and they're not among the best I've ever seen but they are still impressive for the time. I found the performances of the two leads to be very good as was Cook at the fairy who really gives a comforting performance. I think there are some pacing issues in the film and even at just 80-minutes the film is a little slow at times. With that said, it's still an interesting visual film and for that it's worth viewing.
helpful•10
- Michael_Elliott
- Mar 14, 2012
Details
- Runtime1 hour 15 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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![Tula Belle and Robin Macdougall in The Blue Bird (1918)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjNlMThmNzItMTZlMS00YzJkLTk1MzktYzIyMzllOGFmZmRlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzE0MjY5ODA@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR4,0,90,133_.jpg)