7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.3 |
Just out of prison, ex-con Ugo Piazza meets his former employer, a psychopathic gangster Rocco who enjoys sick violence and torture. Both the gangsters and the police believe Ugo has hidden $300,000 that should have gone to an American drug syndicate boss.
Starring: Gastone Moschin, Barbara Bouchet, Mario Adorf, Frank Wolff, Luigi PistilliForeign | 100% |
Drama | 23% |
Crime | 13% |
Action | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Fernando Di Leo's "Milano Calibro 9" (1972) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include original Italian and U.S. trailers for the film; new video piece featuring writer and actor Matthew Holness; archival audio interview with actor Gastone Moschin; and three archival documentaries. The release also arrives with a 24-page illustrated booklet featuring Roberto Curti's essay "Film Noir, Italian-Style" and technical credits. In Italian or English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
"They call it the Mafia, but they're just gangs now. Gangs fighting each other. The real Mafia doesn't exist anymore."
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Fernando Di Leo's Milano Calibro 9 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video.
The film has been recently restored in 2K and looks gorgeous in high-definition. During close-ups clarity and depth are simply terrific, making it very, very easy to see even exceptionally small details (see screencapture #19). Despite the somewhat uneven camera movement, the larger panoramic shots also boast fantastic fluidity. Colors are wonderfully saturated and stable, never appearing artificially boosted. There are absolutely no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Also, there are no traces of sharpening adjustments. Quite predictably, from start to finish the film has a very solid organic appearance. In fact, the larger your screen is, the more impressed you are likely to be with the terrific depth and fluidity (pay attention to the darker footage as well). Finally, there a couple of tiny flecks, but there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or stains. All in all, this is a fantastic presentation of Milano Calibro 9 that should make its fans enormously happy. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your Blu-ray player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0 and English LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles (for the Italian track) and English subtitles (for the English track) are provided.
I prefer the Italian track. On this release, the Italian track also sounds quite a bit better -- depth, clarity, and balance are clearly superior. You should keep in mind, however, that plenty of the actors were overdubbed. What this means is that there are some very minor sync issues, but they are in fact part of the film's final sound design (the dialog and the effects). There are no pops, cracks, distracting hiss, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.
Raw and brutal, Italian director Fernando Di Leo's Milano Calibro 9 transitions to Blu-ray in spectacular fashion. Recently restored in 2K, the film looks indescribably beautiful in high-definition, and I can only hope that the other two films from the Milieu Trilogy, The Italian Connection and The Boss, will get a similar treatment. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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