Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Don't Torture a Duckling 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 4, 2025

Depending on how jaded personal sensibilities may be, especially those regarding what might be termed "mainstream" religion, tongues may or may not have to be planted firmly in cheek when it's suggested if Conclave didn't reinforce enough anti-Catholic sentiment, Don't Torture a Duckling has arrived to pick up any perceived slack. That said, as I mentioned many years ago in my Don't Torture a Duckling Blu-ray review of Arrow's 1080 release of the film, commentator Troy Howarth makes a valiant effort to claim that this film actually isn't anti-Catholic, to which even some ardent believes may respond with, "Hold my holy water".

Don't Torture a Duckling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: While this is a 4K UHD release without a 1080 disc, I've sourced these screenshots off of Arrow's older 1080 release, as despite its age I still feel it probably offers a better representation of the palette than screenshots sourced directly from the 4K disc, which are by necessity downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Because there is no 1080 disc in this package, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

Don't Torture a Duckling is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the presentation:

Don't Torture a Duckling (Non si sevizia un paperino) has been exclusively remastered by Arrow FIlms and is presented in it soriginal aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with original Italian and English mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata. The film was restored and graded in SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision at Dragon DI.

The mono soundtracks were remastered from the original optical sound negatives at L'immagine Ritrovata with additional work by Porsteinn Gislason. There are times in which audio synchronization will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue in both languages was recorded in post production. ,br>
All materials sourced for this project were made available by Intramovies.

Arrow's old 1080 release of Don't Torture a Duckling had some absolutely fascinating information on Techniscope and what the 1080 insert booklet called "the consequences of and for low budget filmmaking" which has been excised from this 4K insert booklet, I'm assuming because article author Torsten Kaiser was evidently not involved in this new 4K restoration. That said, at least some of what Kaiser detailed in that piece plays into the result of this new and at least in some ways improved transfer. The challenges two-perf Techniscope created, which according to Kaiser's original article included standard 4-perf prints created by blowing up the image, a la 16mm to 35mm, something that then resulted "not only in a reduced image area on the print in comparison with the initial 2-perf negative, but also an increased grain size that was noticeably coarser, and details and colours that were softer and less defined". I'm including this information mostly as a cautionary tale, especially for those who (as I admittedly do at times) react negatively to overly thick, splotchy grain in 4K presentations. The good news here is that by far the worst moments are at the beginning during the optically printed credits sequence, where layers of frozen grain and even dirt mask the image. While grain is certainly heavy throughout this presentation, I actually found the resolution to be generally nicely tight looking. There are still noticeable variances in densities and color temperatures that this 4K presentation probably only exaggerates, though HDR / Dolby Vision add some significant pop to many of the outdoor scenes and individual elements like the bright red sports car Barbara Bouchet drives have noticeably brighter highlights in this version. Some interior scenes don't fare quite as well, and some have a somewhat dowdy brown appearance. On the whole, my 4K score is 4.25.

Don't Torture a Duckling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Don't Torture a Duckling features LPCM Mono tracks in either Italian or English. I'm not quite sure why, but unlike the 1080 disc, which had an Audio Setup menu, this disc offers a Choose Version option on the Main Menu, which is the way to select the language. I frankly noticed no discernable difference between the audio presentations on this disc and the older 1080 disc from Arrow. Both of these tracks show occasional boxiness, along with some passing minor distortion in moments like what sounds like a pan pipe cue in Riz Ortolani's score, but there's nothing here I'd term overly problematic or even very distracting. There's some admitted brashness in higher frequencies in particular that are probably most evident in the scoring. Dialogue comes through the gauntlet fine, though I personally found the English language voice acting pretty lackluster. Optional English subtitles are available.

Don't Torture a Duckling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This 4K UHD disc ports over the supplements of the 1080 disc, though "reorganizes" some of them, specifically the interviews, which are now presented separately with their own titles. The two new supplements are identified with an asterisk (*).

• Audio Commentary is by giallo expert Troy Howarth, and covers both biographical data on the participants as well as a wider conversation about some of the film's themes.


• Giallo a la Campagna (HD; 27:44) features giallo expert Mikel J. Koven, in a "video conversation" covering the genre in general and this film in particular. This comes with a spoiler warning.


• Hell is Already in Us (HD; 20:30 ) is a video essay by Kat Ellinger, supposedly (according to the description on the menu) about Fulci's misogyny but really a bit more wide ranging than simply that. This also comes with a spoiler warning.


• Lucio Fulci Remembers is culled from 1988 audio interviews with journalist Gaetano Mistretta (actually just tapes of Fulci replying to written questions submitted by Mistretta). These play out to arty shots of a reel to reel tape recorder and memorabilia related to Fulci.

  Part 1 (HD; 20:13)

  
  

  Part 2 (HD; 13:12)

• Who Killed Donald Duck?* (HD; 18:31) is an interview with Barbara Bouchet. Subtitled in English.


• Those Days with Lucio (HD; 28:20) is an interview with Florinda Bolkan. Subtitled in English.


• The DP's Eye (HD; 46:21) is an interview with cinematographer Sergio D'Offizi. Subtitled in English.


• From the Cutting Table (HD; 25:38) is an interview with editor Bruno Micheli. Subtitled in English.


• Endless Torture (HD; 16:03) is an interview with makeup artist Maurizio Trani. Subtitled in English.


• Theatrical Trailer* (HD; 3:56)

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet, and packaging features a slipcover.

Don't Torture a Duckling 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Will there come a time when some critic in, say, 2075 tries to make a case that Conclave really isn't that anti-Catholic? In the meantime, anyone wending their way through Don't Torture a Duckling can cue up Troy Howarth's interesting audio commentary for his thoughts on Lucio Fulci's perhaps peculiar relationship to religion. This new 4K edition of what Fulci evidently considered his own favorite film has some definite pluses courtesy of a new 4K scan, though some baked in issues with the source lead to a somewhat heterogeneous appearance. Audio is a product of its time, but sounds generally fine, and Arrow includes a newly released Barbara Bouchet interview with this edition. Recommended.