The Blue Bird (1976) ** (out of 4) George Cukor directed this USSR/USA co-production of the classic story about two children who set out to find the Blue Bird of Happiness. The all-star cast includes Elizabeth Taylor in four roles including the Mother, Witch and Queen of Light, Jane Fonda as The Night, Cicely Tyson as Tylette and Ava Gardner as Luxery. THE BLUE BIRD has been filmed countless times over the years and this one here has the reputation as being one of the worst. It's strange to see all the talent that is wasted here but at the same time I think fans of the weird and surreal will probably want to check this out and they might get a few kicks out of it. This version here is completely weird from the opening scene to the last but I think this here is what keeps it entertaining. For the most part the performances range from poor to average but with a cast like this you expect much better. Taylor seems out of place in all four of her roles but I will admit that I got a kick out of her playing the witch. Fonda seems like she's caught up in a bad dream as she never feels in place. Gardner is wasted in her small role as is Robert Morley. Poor Tyson comes off the worst with a rather embarrassing performance. I'd say that the majority of the visuals are quite nice and we're given some good cinematography but all of this is pretty much wasted since the story never fully takes off. The dance sequences really don't add anything either and in the end this here is just a strange mix of fantasy and drama.

I thought I had seen bad movies but this is the WORST movie ever laid down on film. If the film used to make this movie had been simply used for toilet paper, wound around a film reel then threaded and shown through a movie projector, it would have been a much better movie and a plot might even have been evident.Please don't waste even 1 second of your life watching this movie. The only good thing that I received from this movie was the encouragement that a book I started writing (but quit because I thought it stunk) might be worth finishing, since ANY work of writing turned into a movie would be better than this one - even the directions on a frozen dinner would have been better than this movie, if made into a film.However, I must say that if you love the sappiest 70's flute riffs ever made, you will LOVE this movie.I see Elizabeth Taylor, standing at the gates of pearl, apologizing profusely and long for ever even CONSIDERING starring in a movie such as this.......and poor TylTyl, having to go back to his earth-bound 6th grade class and suffer the laughter, derision, and persecution from his school mates after the movie came out..........I....I...I'm sorry, the tears are flooding my keyboard such that I cannot continue...save yourselves and don't watch this movie!! rp

I remember hearing the horrendous reviews when this film was originally released. Thirty-three years later, I finally managed to actually see it on YouTube. My, oh, my. Considering the budget and talent involved, it is indeed one of the worst films ever made. Most often, it comes across as a filmed stage play - one with incredibly bad performances. The technical aspects are well below par. The whole naive "political" background actually makes the film even more annoying...did these people actually think that they were performing some sort of noble gesture, bringing the world's superpowers together? If you haven't seen this, really, I suggest that you skip it. It might play as "good bad," if you've had a few drinks with friends. But watching this sober, is just plain tedious.

I love this film and it is my favourite film of all time. I think the cast, costumes and music are all original and brilliant. I cannot fault this film.It was introduced to me as a young child by my grandmother and I'm now 25 and i still enjoy watching it.This film makes me happy, i am an artist and have been so inspired by this movie. My grandmother prefers the b&w version - with Shirley Temple. I love this version, it contains some of the worlds most beautiful women: Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardener.It's true that this film is a little quirky and has some surreal scenes, but this only adds to the genius of it. I only wish that i had created this film, it's totally artistic and creative. A beautiful masterpiece.