Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

And God Said to Cain Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 14, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Vengeance Trails: Four Classic Westerns.

There may be a popular category of film described by the unwashed masses with the term "Spaghetti Westerns", but some of the supplements included in this new Arrow collection prefer the more geographically (and/or gastronomically) diverse "Euro Westerns" as a rubric. The four films aggregated in this collection probably could easily fit into the "Spaghetti Western" mold, since there are in fact Italians by the bucket load involved in the productions, and as is discussed in some of those aforementioned supplements, there's little doubt that the huge success of Sergio Leone's films helped to spark the international craze for such efforts, whatever you want to call them. The films offer production dates ranging from 1966 to 1970 and feature several iconic names associated with the genre, including Franco Nero, George Hilton and Klaus Kinski, and as the back cover of the slipbox mentions, all four have at least a subtext involving revenge to help catapult the dramatic momentum.

In a way, And God Said to Cain may be the most "direct" revenge scenario in the Vengeance Trails set, since the film clearly documents a wronged innocent named Gary Hamilton’s (Klaus Kinski) who has been imprisoned on a chain gang for years, and whose release finally frees him in more than one way. As such, the film doesn't offer any of the putative "twists" that some of the others in this collection do, but that perhaps only makes the final product all the more visceral, especially with an actor like Kinski in the focal role.

As the supplemental featurette on this disc entitled Between Gothic and Western may indicate by that very title, there's a spooky ambience to this film that almost pushes it toward another genre where Kinski would make his mark, horror. When Hamilton returns to his hometown to exact revenge on the nemesis who framed him, Acombar (Peter Carsden), he walks into almost a nightmarish environment where the wind is always blowing, and dust flies through the air, obscuring things and giving a hazy, hallucinatory quality to the visuals.

Interestingly, because the film darts off on a number of soap operatic sidebars, including developing what is almost the vestiges of a former ménage à trois between Hamilton, Acombar, and Acombar's current wife Maria (Marcella Michelangeli), Hamilton himself becomes almost an afterthought, though the film continues to build a palpably creepy air that is aided and abetted by the almost claustrophobic uses of shadow and bad weather.

And God Said to Cain Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

And God Said to Cain is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Arrow's insert booklet separates this film from its three "siblings" to provide the following information:

And God Said to Cain is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 [sic] with Italian and English mono audio. The Italian version of the film was restored by Movietime. Additional work was undertaken by Arrow to restore the English main and end titles and the English mono soundtrack.

While it's maybe a little odd that the insert booklet doesn't overtly reference this having been sourced off of the negative, as is the case with the other three films in this set, the back cover of the actual keepcase does state that this is another 2K restoration from the negative and this another presentation where quality is secure, with detail levels generally very commendable and the palette nicely suffused, especially in the outdoor scenes. While some of the other transfers looked just slightly brown to my eyes, this one has a somewhat jaundiced appearance that seems to have yellow undertones at times, something that can occasionally push reds toward orange territory. A lot of this story plays out in very dark circumstances, which obviously can offer challenges for consistent detail levels to shine through. In that regard, there are some longer sequences late in the film that were either shot day for night or filtered toward blue, and these are arguably the roughest looking moments in the presentation, where detail levels aren't as fulsome and where shadow definition in particular can be minimal. Grain looks naturally and encounters no resolution issues. My score is 4.25.

And God Said to Cain Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

And God Said to Cain features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mixes in Italian and English, and this is the one film in this set where, if I did perceive any amplitude differences between the tracks, they were exceedingly minor. Both tracks offer nicely full bodied delivery of dialogue, effects and score (repeated use of organ cues sound especially powerful), though I have to say lip movements are often almost comically out of step with sounds in either language, which makes me wonder what languages some of the performers (other than Kinski) may have been speaking on set. Optional English subtitles are available.

And God Said to Cain Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Howard Hughes


• Between Gothic and Western (HD; 19:57) is a newly produced piece that aggregates a video interview with film historian Fabio Melelli and an audio interview with actress Marcella Michelangeli. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Of Night and Wind (HD; 12:56) is a new interview with actor Antonio Cantafora. In Italian with English subtitles.


• German Promotional Gallery (HD) features images courtesy of Christian Ostermeier.

Note: Both English and Italian versions of the film are offered, each with appropriate front and end titles.

And God Said to Cain Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

And God Said to Cain may be the most interesting film in this set for some viewers, not necessarily due to the involvement of Klaus Kinski, but more so due to the fact that director Antonio Margheriti, himself no stranger to the horror idiom, is able to invest the film with such a deliberately Gothic atmosphere. The overarching darkness of the settings may not promote the greatest fine detail levels, but technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable. Recommended.