CO went Blu early in 2014 with their release of The Killer Reserved Nine Seats, but since I wasn't able to get my hands on a copy of that film, we're going to be looking at their subsequent two releases. Toward the end of 2014 Camera Obscura released a pair of relatively obscure Italian genre films. The first is Un Bianco Vestito Per Mariale (Spirits of Death), a giallo with a supernatural slant, and the second is Come Cani Arrabbiati (Like Rabid Dogs), a brutal Eurocrime deep cut that had also been largely forgotten.
How will Camera Obscura's attention to detail translate when there is six times as much information contained on the disc? Pretty damned well, if I do say so myself.
Un Bianco Vestito Per Mariale (literally A White Dress For Mariale) is an early seventies giallo that traces the death of the free love generation in gruesome detail. When a group of friends show up for an impromptu sleepover at the remote villa of Mariale and her husband, the overbearing Paolo, things start off pretty amazingly, but soon horror descends upon the crowd. First one dies, then another; how many will be left by the time the sun rises?
Un Bianco Vestito Per Mariale is one of the hundreds of giallo films that Italian studios were quick to produce in the early to mid-70s. Like a single songbird among the din, the film was quickly lost to time as it became overpowered by bigger, flashier, gorier films being made by more famous directors. However, there is a quiet elegance to the film that allows it to hold its head up high even as time passes.
Director Scavolini, who made the infamous Nightmare in a Damaged Brain, tests the yellow waters with this film before diving headlong into the insane brutality of his later, more recognizable film. The filmmaker came from the school of documentary filmmaking, but you'd never know that based upon the elements of style that drench Mariale.
The film is a deliberate clash of cultures and attitudes. Paolo, the film's apparent villain, is a stodgy old man who keeps Mariale doped up in her castle in an attempt to help her forget her tragic past. However, Mariale manages to send out these invitations to her friends to gather and remind her that a happy world exists outside of her only stone walls. The result is like an epilogue of the hippie generation, watching these 20-something free spirits cavort about the castle, breaking into psychedelic freak-out dances and dinnertime orgies. All symbols of a culture that has no possible alternative fate but to eat itself. As her friends fall away, one-by-one, Mariale and Paolo stand nearly alone until the conclusion, as elected witnesses for the death of these friends and the values they represent.
Scavolini was a filmmaker not unfamiliar with this generation. He spent much of his time prior to the film in Vietnam and other war-torn regions as a photographer and documentarian. He saw what happened, and decided to make a comment on it.
His film is remarkably artful, and stylistically diverse. The gothic castle element is reminiscent of the Hammer films of the late '50s, and the introduction of these modern kids into the ancient setting is similar to contemporary films of Jean Rollin, like Shiver of the Vampire, though I doubt there was too much crossover there. All in all, it's an interesting mix that gives the viewer a bird's eye view of this particualr culture clash.
The Disc:
Camera Obscura's Blu-ray is incredible, as anyone familiar with their output would expect. The image quality, from a two perf Techniscope reversal film original, is impeccable. The film's visual style is all over the place as Scavolini mixes the classical gothic shadows with the psychedelic tie-dyed party sequences, and manages to do it beautifully. Because of the limitations of Techniscope (required low film speeds because of reduced space on the film), Scavolini did magic with the lighting in the darker sequences, managing to capture plenty of detail in what would otherwise be a murky, dark mess. Overall the image is stupendous. The sound is similarly great. A DTS-HD mono track captures all of the dialogue with adequate clarity and the soundtrack is nice and crisp. No particular audio pyrotechnics to deal with, though, so great is good enough.
In terms of extras Camera Obscura has grabbed experts Christian Kessler and Marcus Stiglegger for a feature commentary, which I sampled, and it is quite good. However, the hero of this disc is the extended interview "Esoteric & Cryptic" with director Romano Scavolini. Scavolini talks a lot about his career, which is fascinating, and this film and the technical challenges it provided. The talk is quite good and expansive, definitely a plus in my book. Last among the supplements is a booklet, in both German and English, from Kai Neumann in which he dissects the film in an easily digestable and competent manner. I'm a huge fan of printed content, so any label who is still making it gets a thumbs up in my book.
Un Bianco Vestito Per Mariale isn't exactly a classic, but it's well worth checking out. If you're interested at all, this is the only way to go, don't wait for some dodgy DVD, get the real thing!
Un Bianco Vestito Per Mariale is locked to Region B, please be sure your Blu-ray player is capable of playing these discs before purchasing.
One of the nastier Eurocrime films, Come Cani Arrabbiati (LIke Rabid Dogs) slipped into obscurity thanks to a lack of home video availability over the last 30 years. Eurocrime is not a genre known for its warm and fuzzy side, with films like Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man, Young & Dangerous, and Meet Him and Die, the genre certainly has an reputation for being outlandish and violent. However, from what I've seen, few have the abject nihilistic bent of this film. Again, a film about a clash of cultures takes the form of a popular genre picture and rips the preconceived notions to shreds. Sometimes there are no happy endings.
A robbery at a soccer game ends with a dead security guard. A robbery at a notary ends with a hostage being taken and another life lost. A prostitute on the stroll meets and unfortunate end at the hands of a trio of bored young adults, desperate for thrills. This is the life of the affluent but insatiable Tony Ardenghi and his friends.
As the Ardenghi crew tears a bloody swath through town, the only one with any clue as to their identity is police commissario Muzi. WHen he determines that the perpetrators are led by the untouchable Ardenghi whose father is one of Italy's wealthiest men, he must find a way to circumvent the letter of the law, at which point it becomes less certain who the titular Rabid Dogs really are.
Director Mario Imperoli takes this Eurocrimer to the very limits of what people were willing to endure on screen. The film is brutal in its portrayal of the class war that raged inside the mind of Tony Ardenghi, a young man who resented his family's power and influence and wanted to accomplish something for himself, no matter what the cost may be to others. Much like the clash in Spirits of Death, and in fact the class struggle in Pasquale Festa Campanile's The Slave, Tony feels trapped by his own family and seeks a way to differentiate himself. In a world which held no challenges that couldn't be bested with a well-greased palm, Tony's desires grew more and more bestial, and his partners' willingness to follow blindly created a perfect excuse to exorcise those demons upon the heads of the unwitting populace.
Rape. Murder. Robbery. Emasculation. Nothing scratched Tony's itch, and the further he went, the further he needed to go. He was a thrill killer with an addiction to violence whose tolerance was getting the best of him. Far from being preachy, these elements are well ensconced in a film that takes the tropes of the Eurocrime action film and utilizes them in such a way that a statement could be made, even if it fell upon deaf ears.
Come Cani Arrabbiati held up a mirror to mid-70s Italy, and perhaps they didn't like what was looking back at them. It is a stellar film, a nihilistic film, and a film that deserves a second look.
The Disc:
Once again, Camera Obscura takes this techniscope feature and does wonders with the image. Apart from a slight bit of flickering from teh sprocket holes early in the film, there are no major signs of damage and the image is wonderfully rich with grain. The colors don't pop like they do in Spirits of Death, but they don't need to. Come Cani Arrabbiati is a different film which went for a more naturalistic tone and hit it right on the mark. A beautiful image. The audio experience is similarly solid, though, again with a mono DTS-HD Italian track, there's not a lot of flash to deal with.
Kessler and Stiglegger return for another commentary track that properly contextualizes the film in a way that helps to bring the viewer into the time as well as providing scene specifc anecdotes and information to help pace the film. Featurettes include the final interview with the late cinmatographer Romano Albani, some contextualization from historian Fabio Melelli, and an extended interview with assistant director Claudio Bernabei. These talks are concentrated into two featurettes lasting a total of about 90 minutes, which is far more than one would ever expect for an obscure little film like this.
It is worth noting that both Albani and Bernabei mentioned not enjoying the final product very much simply because it was so violent. In addition to their concerns, Camera Obscura notes that the several of the surviving lead cast were contacted to give interviews and all of them refused to grant them. Perhaps this is a film that lives in infamy even in the hearts of those who were there when it was made. Definitely an interesting twist to the back story.
Of the two dozen or so Eurocrime films I've been able to view, Come Cani Arrabbiati is one of the finest examples of the quality that was possible in the genre. No major performers, none of the names we'd expect to see on one of these productions, and yet the film comes out wonderfully. Perhaps its standard is set so high because no one involved was trapped in the Eurocrime rut. Whatever the case, the film is forcefully engaging and wonderfully exciting. Come Cani Arribbiati is highly recommended.
Come Cani Arrabbiati is locked to Region B, please be sure your Blu-ray player is capable of playing these discs before purchasing