Code
46 (2003/United
Artists/MGM/Olive Blu-ray)/La
Bambola Di Satana (1969
aka The Devil
Doll/Twilight Time
Limited Edition Blu-ray)/L'Inhumaine
(1924/Lobster/Flicker Alley Blu-ray)/A
Lizard In A Woman's Skin
(1971 aka Schizoid/Mondo
Macabro Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B/C+/B/B- Extras: C-/B-/C/B- Films: B-/C+/B/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Devil Doll
Blu-ray is now only available from is now only available from our
friends at Twilight Time, is limited to only 3,000 copies, can be
ordered while supplies last and can be ordered from the links below.
The
following films are all interesting, you should see each at least
once, they all take you to other worlds, are otherworldly and happen
to have a unique woman at the center of each...
Michael
Winterbottom's Code
46
(2003) is a pretty underrated, mature, adult science fiction film
about a world on the totalitarian side with increasing environmental
damage that has aged too well for our own good in its uncanny
accuracy about bad things that have unwound in the unlucky 13 years
since its first release. United Artists issued it those 13 years ago
and then, we reviewed the DVD version at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1729/Code+46
MGM
could have issued this in a number of ways, but have decided to go
with a surprisingly high quality issue from Olive Blu-ray, sending
them a solid HD master that really shows how good this film is. Tim
Robbins is the official following a mysterious but beautiful Samantha
Morton, an underrated actress we see way too little of. She may have
violated the title law, which is so screwed up and wrong, that the
extended detail of what it is is as Orwellian as anything in the film
and law itself. As disturbing as what goes on in the film and what
the film rightly implies is how few such smart dystopian films have
been made since (Mad Max:
Fury Road would be a
recent, all-too-rare exception) as a video game mentality and too
many digital visual effects have actually produced a subgenre
unidentified that essentially implies how much 'fun' being in a
police state (like the goofy Hunger
Games films) can 'be' to
be in. That's outright awful and irresponsible.
Thus,
Code 46 never got rediscovered as I had hoped, but this is
such a good Blu-ray of it, I'll raise my hopes again and recommend
you see it, especially because it has held up so very, very well, it
is nice to be vindicated about how solid a piece of fine filmmaking
it is. It may be Winterbottom's best narrative film still to this
day.
La
Bambola Di Satana
(1969 aka The
Devil Doll)
is such a strange film with a strange production history, an actress
is miscast, the person credited as the director did not direct it and
it was a film that was lost for the most part. With enough mystery
violence to qualify it as a Giallo Horror film, this Italian thriller
has all kinds of other odd things involved in it, throws in
everything and the kitchen sink armed with grant money to make the
film. We then get plenty of slow British Agatha Christie-style
scenes that don't always fit, a few visist to a soda shop with a
jukebox that somehow fits more, murders in between and even a Roger
Moore/Saint style car chase/fist fight towards the end that really
comes out of nowhere.
Even
though this never adds up and is not as purely a Giallo as what Lucio
Fulci or Dario Argento might deliver, those parts are done so well
and look so good, it is hard not to watch proving the adage that even
the lesser productions of decades ago tend to hold up better than the
many bad blockbusters of today that are so sloppy and silly with
their badly done visual effects, violence that wallows in itself and
are just so badly acted, written, acted and directed. At least the
people here, mostly unknowns, are at least trying. Nice to finally
see this in its entirety and widescreen!
Marcel
L'Herbier's L'Inhumaine
(1924 aka The
Inhuman Woman)
is a classic that helped establish Art Deco, Avant Garde art and
tries to many different things that you can add Surrealism to its
achievements. Starting out as a simple film about a singer (the
title character, played by Georgette Leblanc), adored by all kinds of
men who meet her in her big, wildly designed home. We meet her at a
party with servants who all have the same face (they are bizarre
smiley masks) and this would usually be just fantasy territory, but
the screenplay and amazing set designs have much more to offer (this
influenced Lang's Metropolis
(reviewed elsewhere on this site on Blu-ray) certainly only a few
years later) as she drives one man so crazy, he drives to his death!
But
it turns out to be not that simple and a grand drama with dreamlike
surrealism suddenly becomes a science fiction film on top of every
other single thing being done here. That happens midway through the
film, but I don't want to reveal too much more about the film as not
to ruin it for you. However, just to give you an idea of how wild,
bold, clever, groundbreaking and innovative the film and its themes
get, this is the film that introduced and invented the concept we now
know as television! In less than a century, even they would have
been stunned that it became a wild reality, High Definition, Ultra
High Definition and all.
All
serious film fans should see this all-time masterwork, the acting
cast is more than up to the challenges around them and some scenes
and designs remains unbelievably stunning; especially saved and
restored in a 4K HD upgrade. Incredible! Don't miss it!!!
Lucio
Fulci's A
Lizard In A Woman's Skin
(1971) had
been issued as Schizoid
in the U.S. to capitalize on all things Hitchcock and Psycho
(with some Diabolique
for good measure) and offers an interesting discourse for its
director and for the female lead (Florinda
Bolkan) split between sexual desire, oppression and being part safe
part of high society in the face of the counterculture as a killer
happens to be on the loose. You can read more about the film in our
import DVD review at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9591/Perversion+Story+(1969)+++A+Lizard+In+A+Wom
The
film is even clearer, richer and more involving in this new transfer
and benefitting from an Ennio Morricone score that holds up very,
very well. This film proves how great Fulci was as a director at his
best and with this new edition, it can be appreciated better than
ever. Especially if you have never seen this film or if you are a
fan, you have to see this new release to really experience how good
it is and can be. Nice upgrade!
All
four Blu-ray offer excellent, consistent playback quality with even
reference-quality shots in the four different formats offered. The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Code
is varied, but this was
on purpose by the director and co-cinematographers Alwin Kuchler,
B.S.C., and Marcel Zyskind. Versus the older DVD, there are some
incredible jumps in visual quality throughout that will surprise the
viewer and a couple of shots that simply stun. Among the better
Olive transfers I've seen over the years, this is their best Blu-ray
release to date visually and does this gem justice.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer on L'Inhumaine looks amazing from a film its age that
is 92 (!!!) years old and counting. The print materials found were
apparently in amazing shape to begin with, then they carefully fixed
everything frame-by-frame, created a new 4K transfer and restored the
dye colors intended. Like the Metropolis restoration, it is
stunning and will shock those not used to seeing how great silent
films (like Criterion's recent Speedy, both films reviewed
elsewhere on this site) can look. 35mm film and film in general
proves its greatness once again.
Then
we have the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Satana that can sometimes show the age of the materials used a
bit, but the film has a superior use of color, shot on Eastmancolor
35mm film stocks and processed by the Italian Telecolor lab, which
furthers its unique and sometimes otherworldly look. Besides being a
solid Telecolor reference-quality demo, the color is up there with
the best Giallo color transfers on Blu-ray anywhere. Nice!
Last
but not least is the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image
transfer on Lizard
that comes from the original 35mm camera negative, but had the luxury
of being issued in 35mm dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor
prints. You could see the quality of that to some extent on the
import DVD, but here, much more often the kind of superior color
intended that is also able to convey mental perceptions, the
counterculture and outright Giallo horror of its own that makes the
DVD obsolete. Director
of Photography Luigi Kuveiller (Avanti!,
Deep
Red,
Camelot,
The
New York Ripper,
Flesh
For Frankenstein,
Blood
For Dracula)
had an amazing knack for shooting in color and for shooting suspense
and that never fails here down to the superior, smart use of split
screen throughout. This may a more modest widescreen frame used
here, but it is to a fuller extent than it might first seem. Thanks
to Blu-ray, the
impact increases all around.
Of
the four films here, L'Inhumaine
was a silent film, but it has two solid, lossless PCM 2.0 Stereo
scores that serve the film well (the more tradition Alloy Orchestra
and the more challenging Aidje
Tafial music score),
though it is also impressive cold silent. Satana
and Lizard
were theatrical monophonic releases, but have been cleaned up pretty
effectively here without ruining the original sound, both here as
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Italian Mono lossless mixes that would
have been unthinkable only a decade ago. Yes, there is
post-production dubbing on both, but it is not awful and when you add
how incredible both look, the impact makes both two of the best back
catalog releases of the year, especially in their same genre.
That
leaves the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix on Code
just ahead of the all-music Stereo on L'Inhumaine
and is encoded in Dolby Pro Logic (the analog tracks would have been
encoded in their advance SR (Spectral Recording) noise reduction
technology at that point) as it had in analog playback versus the
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD. Though that was more
discrete, this is actually a warmer, richer and a better presentation
and I wish it were 5.1, but its just fine as it stands, especially as
well recorded and often dialogue-based as it could be.
Extras
include Original Theatrical Trailers on Code
and Lizard,
illustrated booklet on the films including informative texts for
Satana
and L'Inhumaine,
which also adds a Making Of featurette and another featurette about
the alternate Aidje Tafial music score, Satana
also offers an Isolated Music Score and Sound Effects track and
feature
length audio commentary track by film scholars David Del Valle &
Derek Botelho, leaving Lizard
additionally adding its own commentary by Kris Gavin, Radio Spots,
separate on camera interviews with Actor Tony Adams & Writer
Stephen Thrower, Shedding
The Skin
documentary on the film and Antonietta De Lillo's short film Dr.
Lucio Fulci's Day For Night,
all big upgrades from the import DVD that had zero extras!
To
order The
Devil Doll
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and more great exclusives while
supplies last at these links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
