Thema: Der "Dario Argento"-Thread

[Lionel]

Sleepless hab ich erst vor kurzem wieder gesehen...und fand ihn richtig geil! Bei Deep Red hingegen, den ich früher vergöttert hab, hab ich mich sogar etwas gelangweilt (find ihn nach wie vor aber hervorragend).

[Max_Cherry]

Vielleicht bin ich einfach falsch an den Film herangegangen. Ich werde ihn mir aber sicher bald nochmal ansehen und ihm eine weitere Chance einzuräumen mich etwas mehr zu begeistern, als er es schon visuell getan hat.

Unterm Strich vergebe ich 7-7,5/10 und damit fand ich ihn leicht besser als Inferno, kann aber durchaus noch steigen.

Danach nochmal "SUSPIRIA". Ok ok, beim 2. Mal hat mich der Film nun doch ganz überzeugt. Die erste Stunde ist sogar extrem klasse, danach lässt die Handlung etwas nach und das Ende kommt mir etwas zu plötzlich. Abgesehen von diesen Kleinigkeiten und den 2 nachwievor überflüssigen Nahaufnahmen von Gewaltszenen (Herz und Hals), konnte mich Suspiria beim 2. Mal voll überzeugen und klettert in meiner Argento-Liste auf den 2. Rang mit 8/10 hinter Phenomena. Gerade dieser stieg bei mir bei dreimaligem Sehen von 7 auf 8,5/10.

[nemesis]

Wurde vielleicht schon mal irgendwo erwähnt, aber ich hab keine Ahnung, wo. Wenn überhaupt.

Das UK-Label Arrow Video hat ja bereits im September eine BD von Inferno veröffentlicht:

(ein anderes Label, Nouveaux Films, bereits im Januar Suspiria).

Für 2011 stehen angeblich noch bis zu 5 Argentos in der Pipeline, von denen zumindest schon einmal Tenebre, Phenomena und Die neunschwänzige Katze bestätigt sind.







Wie bei Arrow üblich, ist das jeweils nur eines von insgesamt 4 zur Auswahl stehenden Covermotiven.

Also gerade bei Argentos Optik bin ich schwer am überlegen, da mal upzugraden...

[Elena Marcos]

Ich hab schon gehört, dass die Inferno BD ein sehr gutes Bild hat ...

[Lionel]

Shit, die Argento Filme sind wie gemacht für BD - werd ich alle upgraden MÜSSEN - Geldbeutel ade..:neutral:

[Sing-Lung]

Joa, die Arrow Video der Argentos werden wohl auch ran müssen...

So viel ich weiss hat Patrick davon bereits welche!?

[nemesis]

Joa, die Arrow Video der Argentos werden wohl auch ran müssen...

So viel ich weiss hat Patrick davon bereits welche!?

Zumindest Suspiria von Nouveaux Films hat er afair.

[nemesis]

Am 30. Januar 2012 erscheint im UK endlich - und hoffentlich auch in brauchbarer Qualität - Argentos vernachlässigtes Frühwerk Vier Fliegen auf grauem Samt:



Das Cover finde ich gelinde gesagt... gewöhnungsbedürftig. Die Ausstattung klingt allerdings sehr gut:

DVD DETAILS
Special Features:
- Introduction to the film by Luigi Cozzi.
- New, exclusive and extensive recent interview on the making of Four Flies On Grey Velvet with writer and assistant director Luigi Cozzi.
- Original English audio remastered in HD exclusively for this Shameless release from the original magnetic soundtrack and available for the first time since the film’s original theatrical opening in the 1970s.
- Shameless re-build edit of the complete version of the film including four inserts of previously missing footage known amongst Argento fans as the legendary “missing forty seconds” (the inserts are in Standard-Definition quality). The Blu-ray will allow for seamless branching of the four inserts giving viewers two versions of the film: one all HD without the re-inserted scenes and one longer version including the inserts.
- Restoration of all individual damaged frames, most notably with respect to the removal of the black diagonal frame line (caused by the film jumping the high speed camera gate) in the final car crash sequence.
- Optional Italian audio version in HD with English subtitles.
- Italian and English trailers.
- Alternate English opening and closing credits.
- Shameless Trailer Park (Blu-ray only).

[nemesis]

Und ein Review zu der BD:

BLU-RAY REVIEW: FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET



by J Hurtado, February 14, 2012 10:45 PM
   

Dario Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet is a film with a strange hold over horror film fans built mainly upon the fact that for a very long time it has been very difficult to get a hold of. It wasn't until the last two or three years that the film finally arrived on DVD, and even then, it was not in the greatest condition. Recently, whatever legal entanglements that have hamstrung this film's journey to home video have begun to clear and both the UK's Shameless Screen Entertainment and Germany's Koch Media have announced Blu-ray editions of the film to hit the European market. First out of the gate is Shameless with their 40th anniversary Blu-ray edition, and I must say, it is pretty impressive for a film with such a long and complicated history.

This missing integral piece of Dario Argento's canon has long been sought out by collectors who've never seen a decent home video release. The film has been cut and mangled by various nefarious forces for the last forty years, so whenever it did turn up on VHS or DVD, it was invariably missing some footage, at least 40 seconds, and at most, who knows how much. Four Flies on Grey Velvet is the third piece of Dario Argento's Animal Trilogy, which consists of the masterful The Bird with Crystal Plumage and the solid Cat 'O Nine Tails, and leads into what may be his most celebrated giallo offering, Deep Red. In all of the conversations about the availability of the film and the missing footage and other Four Flies minutiae, rarely is the question asked, is it really any good? The answer is probably not what you would hope.

The film opens on an ecstatic montage of rock music scored by Ennio Morricone showing a rock band layin' down some sweet tracks. The cutting during the opening credits sequence really gets the juices flowing and indicates that we'll be in for quite a ride, unfortunately, this is really as good as it gets, and the momentum only drops from here on out. Drummer Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) leaves the recording session only to be followed by a creepy old man who he accidentally kills during a confrontation in a seemingly abandoned theatre.  However, he soon realizes that he's been caught in the act by a masked man, who then proceeds to blackmail him with photos and evidence from the murder.  Who is this masked man and why does he have it out for Roberto? We spend the next ninety minutes trying to figure that out.

This seems pretty reminiscent of several of Argento's other plots, which would be fine if it was well executed, but it isn't. Roberto is given no real background, the characters around him are all very one dimensional, he is shown as a philanderer, and Argento seems to have used up all of his creative visual juice in that opening sequence.  With his other '70s gialli, Argento's leads are well-rounded, they are given flaws and foibles, they have humorous, human moments that helps the audience to relate, but Four Flies on Grey Velvet seems content to drop this unknown and unknowable character into the middle of a tragic situation and expect the audience to react as though they care.  Thankfully, this is not a scenario Argento went back to for future works, as it really doesn't grab you.

That being said, the film isn't a complete waste.  The actors aren't given much to work with, but it is the characters on the periphery that really earn their pay. Roberto Tobias' is really sort of an anti-hero, but not in the cool tough guy way, but more in the borign unsympathetic way.  His wife, Nina (Mimsy Farmer), is a much more electric character who gets a few chances to shine, and she takes advantage.  Farmer's genre performances are delightfully subdued when required, but she can get crazy with the best of them, and I always love seeing her in films. There are some great kills, there are a couple of sexy sex scenes, and there is one very memorable sequence during the film's climax.  The sad thing is that there is an awful lot of aimless piddling that goes on between the fantastic opening and closing sequences.  The slow motion euphoria of the climax is breathtaking and holds up well against any Argento reveal.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is probably the weakest of Argento's '70s output, though I haven't seen The Five Days, so my assessment is somewhat incomplete. The film lacks the emotional involvement with the characters that forms part of the strength of his other giallo works of the decade. I'm glad I've seen and now own Four Flies, but if I'm in the mood for top shelf giallo, I've got a stack of other films I'm going to reach for first.

The Disc:

The good news is that after the disappointment of Shameless' Cannibal Holocaust disc, they come back strong with a remarkably good Blu-ray of Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Where Cannibal Holocaust lacked detail, Four Flies is bursting at the seams, there are solid strong colors throughout and natural grain when appropriate.  Considering the condition of the archival materials, the HD restoration is nothing less than a revelation. The missing forty seconds are included on this disc, making it the most complete home video version ever made available for purchase. These forty seconds are presented in SD, seamlessly branched into the main feature. The quality of these inserts is pretty terrible, but it at least matches the proper aspect ratio, and you have the option of viewing the film with or without these brief snippets, though the editing without them is awfully choppy.

Another fantastic "get" for Shameless is the newly remastered original English dub, which sounds fantastic and significantly stronger than the Italian dub. As I've mentioned before, Italian films up though the '80s were all post synced, and so there is typically no "original" audio track, which makes one dub as valid as another in my opinion. In this case, the combination of the English speaking star, Michael Brandon, and the strong dubbing, makes the English the easy choice.

There is only one extra on this disc, and that is a roughly twenty minute interview with frequent Argento collaborator Luigi Cozzi. Cozzi appears on nearly every recently released Argento Blu-ray, as he seems more eager to talk about his involvement than Dario, himself. This is another good peek behind the curtains of an Argento film, though hearing Dario talk about this film, of which he's not terribly fond, would have been interesting. 

All in all, Four Flies on Grey Velvet on Blu-ray is very good. Argento completists out there, and we are legion, will want to have this in their collection. Recommended.


DVD DETAILS
Special Features:
- Introduction to the film by Luigi Cozzi.
- New, exclusive and extensive recent interview on the making of Four Flies On Grey Velvet with writer and assistant director Luigi Cozzi.
- Original English audio remastered in HD exclusively for this Shameless release from the original magnetic soundtrack and available for the first time since the film’s original theatrical opening in the 1970s.
- Shameless re-build edit of the complete version of the film including four inserts of previously missing footage known amongst Argento fans as the legendary “missing forty seconds” (the inserts are in Standard-Definition quality). The Blu-ray will allow for seamless branching of the four inserts giving viewers two versions of the film: one all HD without the re-inserted scenes and one longer version including the inserts.
- Restoration of all individual damaged frames, most notably with respect to the removal of the black diagonal frame line (caused by the film jumping the high speed camera gate) in the final car crash sequence.
- Optional Italian audio version in HD with English subtitles.
- Italian and English trailers.
- Alternate English opening and closing credits.
- Shameless Trailer Park (Blu-ray only)

[Elena Marcos]

Eine deutsch BD ist wohl ebenfalls schon in Planung (von Koch Media???). Wir auch Zeit, angesichts der horrenden Preise für die "schlechte" DVD.

[Havoc]

Die dt. Soll wohl von Koch kommen. Da bin ich auch ganz gespannt drauf.

[skfreak]

Sleepless hab ich erst vor kurzem wieder gesehen...und fand ihn richtig geil!

Oh Mann Wie gerne würde ich mit dir über den Streifen fachsimpeln - den ich fand Ihn auch sehr geil!!
Vielen Dank dafür, mein Freund

[Elena Marcos]

Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Handschuhe

Argentos Erstling funktioniert noch immer. Ich hatte am Schluss die Auflösung zwar anderes interpretiert ... aber wer fragt nach Logik. Mir viel nur auf, das in manchen Szenen der Rhythmus wirklich nach Hitchcock aussahen. Immer noch ein toller Thriller mit genialem Bildaufbau!

[Ed]

Interessant, dass es der gute Dario sogar in den THR schafft:

Dario Argento and Iggy Pop Team Up for 'The Sandman' Crowdfunding Project

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dario-argento-iggy-pop-team-739507?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_international&utm_campaign=THR%20International_now_2014-10-10%2009%3A02%3A32_HLewis

[Elena Marcos]

Das klingt sehr gut (aber ich bin ja ohnehin nicht objektiv) - Opa Iggy sieht auch ohne Make-up ziemlich fertig aus ...

[nemesis]

"Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Handschuhe" kommt im August von Koch als 3-Disc Mediabook.

Nach der bisherigen VÖ, die gekürzt und zudem im falschen Bildformat ist, wäre das wohl ne Maßnahme...

[Elena Marcos]

Endlich ... es wurde auch mal Zeit dafür.

[nemesis]

Reminder:



In einer Woche.

[Havoc]

Hm.... den Argento habe ich noch nicht doppelt.

[Crash_Kid_One]

Reminder:



In einer Woche.

Kann mir jemand was über die Limiterung sagen?

[Sing-Lung]

Arrow ist einfach schon ein SEHR geiles Label!



3-Disc-Bluray Set mit Original Kinofassung und internationaler Fassung in 4K remastered auf je einer Scheibe, der OST von Goblin, Postkarten, Poster und Collector's Booklet.

[Elena Marcos]

So wünscht man sich auch deutsche V.Ö. ... nicht wahr?

[Havoc]

*shhhhh*
.....schon sehr geil.......allerdings habe ich davon auch schon Anchor Bay und Dragon.....

[Sing-Lung]

*shhhhh*
.....schon sehr geil.......allerdings habe ich davon auch schon Anchor Bay und Dragon.....

Dito, aber bei nur knapp 15£ für das HD-Upgrade ist die Versuchung schon gross!

[JasonXtreme]

Argento brauch ich ja eh nix, aber im Zuge dessen habe ich mir grade mal die Cover aller Arrow VÖs angeschaut, die würde ich mir allein schon deswegen ins Regal stellen! Wieso kommt in Deutschland nicht mal irgendeiner drauf, Cover hübsch aussehen zu lassen