Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Murder in a Blue World Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 23, 2022

Do blue and orange go together? Well, according to the always somewhat questionable "experts" at Wikipedia, in the traditional RYB color model, the complementary color pairs are red–green, yellow–purple, and blue–orange, which might suggest that the color in this film's title was deliberately chosen as a kinda sorta pair to its equal but opposite (?) hue in the title of A Clockwork Orange. As some of the supplements on this disc get into, and as will become patently obvious to anyone who watches Murder in a Blue World, there are undeniable tethers to Stanley Kubrick's 1971 masterpiece, to the point that some wags have dubbed this film A Clockwork Tangerine, and some of its alternate titles come dangerously close to aping the Burgess- Kubrick title.

If some elements of Murder in a Blue World play like distant (or maybe not so distant) echoes of A Clockwork Orange, specifically with regard to marauding gangs of youth attacking folks in futuristic looking domiciles, there's quite a bit else happening in the film that doesn't have any really direct analog to A Clockwork Orange. That includes focal character Ana Vernia (Sue Lyon), an award winning (!) nurse at a local hospital where she has a nascent romance with doctor Victor Sender (Jean Sorel). Sender is involved in a quasi-Clockwork attempt to "rehabilitate" serial criminals with so-called "technology", something that later plays into the plot when one of those aforementioned marauding youths, David (Christopher Mitchum), more or less attempts to go straight, without resorting to having his eyelids forced to remain open while he watches aversion therapy videos.

Suffice it to say that evident do gooder nurse Ana may have a bit of a murderous side of her own (this is not really much of a spoiler since it's overtly depicted fairly early in the story), which becomes a bit of an issue when David manages to see her dispatching one of her victims. Murder in a Blue World has a number of kind of fun twists and turns, and it also has a somewhat subversive sense of humor at times (pay attention to the book Ana is reading at one point).

Murder in a Blue World Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Murder in a Blue World is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cauldron Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.44:1. The back cover of this release offers only a generic "2K restoration" for any technical information. The best thing about this transfer is arguably its often eye popping palette, which only suffers slight diminutions in moments like opticals, but which is surprisingly robust throughout the film, especially in the most brightly lit sequences. In fact the presentation may occasionally strike some as being a tad too bright, with a kind of milky haze overlaying some scenes. Still, primaries in particular pop extremely well. Detail levels fare best in the daytime scenes, as does the tightness of the grain resolution, with both aspects tending to be a good deal rougher looking in lower light situations. Minor age related wear and tear has made it through whatever restoration gauntlet was undertaken.

Murder in a Blue World Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Murder in a Blue World features LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks in either English or Spanish. You're obviously getting dubbing one way or the other here, so sync as they say can be loose in both tracks. The English track struck me as the better overall sounding, with a somewhat fuller midrange. The Spanish track has a much brighter, more hollow, sound and perhaps because of the prevalence of highs, admittedly minor pops and crackles are more discernable in that version. Optional English subtitles are available.

Murder in a Blue World Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Chris Mitchum - International Man of Cinema (HD*; 20:26) is an interview with the actor conducted in 2008.


• Dubbing in a Blue World (SD; 12:28) is an interesting interview with Ben Tatar.


• Video Essay by Film Scholar Dr. Savier Aldana Reyes (HD; 15:23) is rather interesting but is kind of peculiar when Dr. Reyes is onscreen because he's looking off to the side for some reason.


• Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger is another interesting analysis from the critic, who seems to love championing these kinds of cult properties.


• Clockwork Terror (HD; 1:36:44) is the UK VHS cut of the film, upscaled from standard definition (according to the menu).


• Image Gallery (HD; 3:00)

*720

Murder in a Blue World Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Murder in a Blue World might have done just as well to jettison all the connections to A Clockwork Orange, because it has quite a bit of its own "stuff" going on anyway. The story is admittedly on the goofy side, but Lyon is kind of fun and the story actually has a few unexpected twists and turns. Technical merits are generally solid if not completely optimal and the supplements very enjoyable for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.