Nightbirds DVD+Blu-ray
Availability
In Stock - should be despatched within 24 hours. Despatched from the UK. Delivery timesUsually 2-3 days to reach UK addresses. Europe takes around 2 days longer and International destinations take 1-2 weeks
Delivery
FREE to UK addresses.
Costs to other countriesUK: Free
Western Europe: £2.50
Rest of the world: £3.75
Returns Policy
If you are unhappy with your purchase, you can return it to us within 14 days. More details
Related Special Offers
- A feast of Erotica Sale
- BFI Bonanza Sale - Over 100 DVDs and Blu-rays
- BFI Flipside DVD & Blu-ray Sale
Film Details
Directed by Andy Milligan
Produced in 1970
Main Language - English
Countries & Regions - British Film
Cast
Berwick Kaler, Julie Shaw
Genres
Contemporary Drama • Contemporary British Film • Contemporary Blu-rays • Erotica / Blu-ray • Contemporary Erotica • Contemporary British Film • British Film Blu-rays
Film Description
Nightbirds is: 'a chronicle of today's permissive youth ... for young adults who don't mind having their faces slapped ... a study of moral masturbation, everyone's demon come alive ... the ultimate trip'.
While living rough on the streets of London’s East End, a young man, Dink (Berwick Kaler), encounters the beautiful and mysterious Dee (Julie Shaw). Concerned for Dink’s welfare, she invites him to stay with her. The two soon develop a curious relationship which oscillates, often without warning, between sexual intimacy and raging jealousy. As tenderness gives way to cruelty, they become consumed by darkness and their relationship spirals out of control.
Previously seen by no more than a handful of people in a print shorn of five minutes’ worth of footage, Nightbirds was shot on location in the Spitalfields area of East London in 1968 and never given a significant release anywhere in the world.
Milligan aficionados have long considered Nightbirds to be a lost film, and the preparation involved in this release has been subject to a number of problems and adventures involving tracking down rare and unique film materials. Fascinated by Milligan’s work since he was young, Nicolas Winding Refn has spent years buying up any Milligan-related items on eBay. When he found that Milligan biographer Jimmy McDonough was selling his collection of the director’s own film prints he bought the lot and, as a long-time fan of BFI Flipside titles, approached the BFI to suggest that Nightbirds and The Body Beneath be included on the label. With Milligan’s own print materials missing some scenes, the BFI has been on a journey much like an archaeological dig to find other elements from which to assemble the most complete and authentic presentations possible.
Nicolas Winding Refn comments: '...when you watch an Andy Milligan movie you’re in no doubt whose film you’re watching. It’s a special quality to have a unique personal style. He was sort of a Douglas Sirk figure: there’s so much subtext in his movies, what you’re seeing is not all that’s going on. First time perception is one thing, but when you get into them, and read more, you begin to realise that these films were made by someone who was very tormented, and also very intelligent, a sensitive man who used film as an art form to express his views on life.'
DVD+Blu-ray Details
Certificate: 15
Publisher: BFI
Length: 72 mins
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Region: 2
Cat No: BFIB1133
Format: DVD+Blu-ray B&W
DVD+Blu-ray Extras
- 2 discs
- Presented both in High Definition and Standard Definition
- Newly mastered from original 16mm camera elements and surviving 35mm prints under the supervision of filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn
- Audio commentary with Berwick Kaler (2011): The stalwart of British stage and screen looks back at Nightbirds, and his other four Andy Milligan roles, with film expert Stephen Thrower
- The Body Beneath (Andy Milligan, 1970, 82 mins): Milligan’s second British-shot feature is a ghoulish horror in which a young woman comes to visit her distant relative, the Reverend Algernon Ford, only to discover that she is descended from a long line of vampires
- Optional dialogue-only soundtrack presentations for both Nightbirds and The Body Beneath
- Original trailers for Nightbirds and The Body Beneath
- Extensive illustrated booklet with newly-commissioned essays by filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, Milligan biographer Jimmy McDonough and film experts Stephen Thrower and Tim Lucas.
