6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An Ottawa police captain searches for the person who poisoned his sister, who was attending the university in Montreal. So desperate is he for revenge that he begin to use his own brutal methods to find the killer. Soon he discovers that not everything is what he thought it was.
Starring: Stuart Whitman, John Saxon, Martin Landau, Tisa Farrow, Gayle HunnicuttForeign | 100% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Alberto De Martino's "Blazing Magnum" a.k.a. "Strange Shadows in an Empty Room" (1976) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the release include arhcival program with Alberto De Martino; new program with critic Kim Newman; and vintage trailer. In English or Italian, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Blazing Magnum arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.
The release introduces a recent restoration of the film. Unfortunately, the restoration and the technical presentation of it are quite disappointing. (For what it's worth, the out of print North American release introduced a different restoration). The overall quality of the visuals is average at best, but it is difficult to tell why there are massive fluctuations in terms of delineation, clarity, and depth. Yes, in many areas it is obvious that encoding is weak and plenty of detail is lost because of it. However, there are many other areas where it almost looks like there is content coming from an inferior source. So, is the restoration also a reconstruction? I am unsure. However, if it is not a reconstruction, then time must have impacted various sections of the film in different ways. Color balance is unconvincing as well. For example, often the visuals become too green/yellowish, so reds and blues can appear in some pretty strange variations. On top of this, there is color instability. Image stability is good. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. However, the weak encoding introduces anomalies that resemble filtering work. In a lot of darker areas, the grain also collapses into noisy mush. I did not see any large cuts, debris, or marks. However, I spotted a few small stains. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and Italian LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles (for the English track) and English subtitles (for the Italian track) are provided.
The English track should be considered the original track for the film because the leads are English speakers that utter their lines in English. However, this track, like the Italian track, has overdubbing. Also, the English track reveals signs of aging, such as light hiss and thinning, so in some areas it has a bit of a grindhouse quality. Still, I would say that none of its limitations are distracting.
Any other European or American director would have delivered an instantly forgettable crime thriller in which Captain Tony Saitta and his partner Ned Matthews simply connect the dots and at the right time nab the killer. But under Alberto De Martino's direction the two become participants in a wild exploitative rodeo of the kind that only an Italian would have found logical, which is why Blazing Magnum is an unpredictable and very entertaining genre film. Unfortunately, this recent release from StudioCanal offers a very shaky presentation of an underwhelming restoration of Blazing Magnum. Hopefully, Kino Lorber will reissue the previous restoration of the film in North America in a Special Edition with some good bonus features.
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