Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Blue Panther Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 18, 2021

Claude Chabrol's "Blue Panther" (1965) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only supplemental feature on the disc is an exclusive new audio commentary recorded by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I don't understand who you are. Tell me your story.

Even American collectors with large libraries of European films most likely have not seen Claude Chabrol’s Blue Panther. There are many European film collectors that are unfamiliar with it as well. There are a couple of reasons why Blue Panther has remained in the shadows of Chabrol’s ‘bigger’ films.

The first has to do with its undeserved reputation of a casual second-rate project that was part of an effort by Chabrol and a few producers he worked with in the early 1960s to take advantage of the Eurospy craze. There was money to be made, so Chabrol agreed to do a few of these films with carefully assembled international casts. In addition to Blue Panther, Chabrol directed the two Tiger films with Roger Hanin, Code Name: Tiger and An Orchid for the Tiger, which utilized the same blueprint that worked for Ken Clark’s Agent 077 films. This blueprint was of course modeled after the original blueprint for the early James Bond films, which basically meant that all of the entertainment was centered around having a handsome male character facing plenty of exotic troubles. However, Chabrol shot his films in French, so they were quite difficult to promote outside of France. (For the exact same reason, the various OSS 117 films did not do particularly well outside of France as well).

The other reason why Blue Panther remained awfully difficult to see outside of France was the nature of its story, which replaced the handsome male character with a beautiful female outsider and introduced quite a bit of wordplay. While certainly not impossible to translate in English, the wordplay is quite simply not as effective as it is in French. So, Blue Panther had a bit of an arty personality as well.

The female character that fuels all the exotic drama and action in Blue Panther is played by Marie Laforet. While on a train bound for Switzerland, Marie-Chantal is approached by a secret agent (Hanin) and asked to help him hide an enormously valuable jewel in the shape of a blue panther. Soon after, Marie-Chantal becomes a target for various exotic characters, including a Soviet spy working with a stunningly beautiful but dangerous seductress (Serge Reggiani, Stephane Audran), a shady international businessman (Charles Denner), and the notoriously vile Dr. Kha (Akim Tamiroff). While trying to stay a few steps ahead of the pack, Marie-Chantal then befriends Paco Castillo (Francisco Rabal), who seems willing to help her but could very well be an impostor on a mission to acquire the blue panther as well.

Chabrol directs with a familiar confidence and equally impressive sense of humor, which is why Blue Panther looks very stylish and a lot wittier than most other Eurospy films that were made during the 1960s. Unfortunately, the wordplay that reveals the wit of the project is not at all easy to transfer to English because even an excellent translation would struggle to fully reproduce the special rhythm of the exchanges. As a result, some of the best sequences in Blue Panther can look quite ordinary, even somewhat dull.

But Blue Panther is still worth seeing because it overflows with colorful visuals and produces quite a memorable atmosphere. Also, it is quite easy to tell that the cast that was assembled for it had a terrific time working with Chabrol. Laforet and Audran, in particular, look fantastic together, while Reggiani’s enthusiasm for his goofy character is almost too good for the film.

The man behind the camera was Jean Rabier, who lensed many of Chabrol’s biggest hits, as well as such classics as Bay of Angels, Cléo from 5 to 7, and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Blue Panther Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Blue Panther arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a very beautiful recent 4K master. I don't have another copy of this film in my librarr to perform direct comparisons, but everything that I saw on this release has me convinced that it has never looked as good as it does now. If it the 4K master was prepared overseas, the other good news is that it is graded very nicely as well. The primaries and the supporting nuances are stable and healthy, plus the overall balance is very convincing. Delineation, depth, and clarity range from very good to excellent, though I must mention that a few darker areas reveal light black crush that obstructs some native nuances. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks very healthy as well. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Blue Panther Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I did not encounter any anomalies to report in our review. However, the original audio has quite a few areas with minor yet noticeable dynamic fluctuations. Most occur during mass events, like the dance sequence in the Arabic restaurant, but a few can be spotted elsewhere as well. You should not be concerned because this is how the audio was mixed when the film was shot. The overall dynamic intensity is good, but do not expect to hear any notable contrasts as the music has primarily a supporting role.

Blue Panther Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this new audio commentary was recorded by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. As usual, a wide range of topics are discussed, but the focus is on the production history and style of Blue Panther as well as the legacies of director Claude Chabrol and the principal actors.

Blue Panther Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Claude Chabrol's Blue Panther was part of a trend that produced all sorts of different Eurospy films in the early 1960s, virtually all of which worked with the exact same blueprint that made the James Bond films international sensations. Ken Clark's Agent 077, Richard Johnson's Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond, Kerwin Mathews' Agent OSS 117, all of these cinematic characters are very closely related. Even though she is treated a bit like an outsider, Marie-Chantal, the main protagonist in Blue Panther, is related to them as well. Some of the wordplay in this film is impossible to effectively translate into English, but I think that there is still plenty to like and enjoy. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a very beautiful recent 4K master. RECOMMENDED.