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Category:    Home > Reviews > Sweet Violence (Dolce Violence/Pathfinder)

Sweet Violence (Douce Violence)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C+     Film: C+

 

 

I really get a kick out of Elke Sommer films, no matter how bad, so it happened without notice that we received a second DVD version of her 1962 film Sweet Violence (aka Douce Violence), a black & white CinemaScope production that showed off her sex appeal and was released not too long ago (and reviewed by yours truly on this site) in its “racier” U.S. cut as Sweet Ecstasy (go to http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=752&filter=S for more details) by First Run Features.  This version is virtually the same film, with Sweet Ecstasy being a re-edited version of the film, but the DVDs are a bit different in other ways.

 

For one thing, this new version by Pathfinder Films is anamorphically enhanced and has as accurate an aspect ratio for the CinemaScope frame as its predecessor.  Unfortunately, the difference is not extraordinary, but the Pathfinder version does better justice to cinematographer Marc Fossart’s work, though this version seems a tad darker.  Both versions offer Dolby Digital 2.0 English dub, but the Pathfinder version actually offers the original French mono in the same Dolby compression and configuration.  The subtitles are optional and good.

 

That leaves the extras.  Only 8 stills, including a few lobby cards are offered, versus 15 on the First Run DVD, but the pictures and menus tend to distort because of an odd application of anamorphic enhancement.  Biography text on director Paces and Sommer are offered here only, and are extensive on both careers.  A text essay on the film is also extensive and interesting.  It would be fair to say that this is the version of the film that is not going out of its way to titillate, and the changed version can only be found on the First Run DVD, but if you want more background information, better playback of the film and the original cut, Pathfinder’s DVD is the way to go.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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