P.O. Box Tinto Brass 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		5.0

P.O. Box Tinto Brass 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 25, 2026

Tinto Brass' "P.O. Box Tinto Brass" (1995) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Cult Epics. The supplemental features on the release include an exclusive new audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth, Jeremy Richey, Nathaniel Thompson, Eugenio Ercolani, and Heather Drain; archival program with Tinto Brass; vintage promotional materials; and more. In Italian and English, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Better than the movies

The difference between Tinto Brass and Federico Fellini is about sixty seconds long. Paprika and Miranda, for instance, work for the exact same reason Amarcord and City of Women do -- they all have a great sense of humor. However, in the first two films the viewer sees everything that in the other two films he must imagine. The same is true about Brass and Fellini’s most ‘outrageous’ films. Take Salon Kitty and Caligula and compare them to Fellini Satyricon and Fellini's Casanova. They play with the exact same risqué material, but once again Brass lets the viewer see all of the ‘controversial’ kitsch that remains hidden in Fellini’s films. The sense of humor? It is still there, behind the kitsch, producing the type of memorable contrasts ‘professional’ critics can recognize only in Fellini’s films. Of course, Fellini has a bigger and much more diverse body of work, featuring films that tackle a broader range of ideas. However, Brass and Fellini share an identical euphoric appreciation of life in all of its variations, from its most beautiful to its oddest.

P.O. Box Tinto Brass pokes fun at its creator’s reputation as Italy’s Maestro of Erotic Cinema. Over approximately ninety minutes, Brass plays himself and reads supposedly authentic personal letters from female fans confessing their love for his work. (Mail from the other sex is, of course, promptly discarded by his flirty assistant because it is always one-dimensional). The visibly pleased director then visualizes their stories in his mind while letting his creative instincts transform them into arousing masterpieces. At the end of the reading session, while forcing a confession from his assistant, the director meets his fans in her story.

The episodic structure of P.O. Box Tinto Brass is essentially an updated take on the popular European omnibus projects from the 1960s. For example, Bambole! has four episodes directed by Dino Risi, Mauro Bolognini, Franco Rossi, and Luigi Comencini in which beautiful young women have more or less the same experiences Brass’ fans describe in their letters. Brass reveals slightly more, but the humor that makes each episode entertaining is again a byproduct of the timeless insecurities of the two sexes and the colorful excuses they usually produce while trying to hide them. Another very similar film from the 1960s is Lucio Fulci’s The Maniacs, which also has an episodic structure and entertains with sexual adventures that mimic those in P.O. Box Tinto Brass. Fulci has an even wilder imagination, making segments of his film far more subversive, but once again his camera does not show what Brass is comfortable revealing.

Each episode has a different stylistic identity and looks good, but cinematographer Dante Dalla Torre can’t match the quality of the work Brass did with Silvano Ippoliti. Only during the clueless husband’s trip to the brothel where he meets his hard-working wife does the management of light and color produce some of the lush atmosphere Brass’ best films are known for. Quite predictably, however, Riz Ortolani’s (Il Sorpasso, Don't Torture a Duckling) soundtrack floods P.O. Box Tinto Brass with typically great jazzy tunes, easily creating the impression that it was a much bigger and more ambitious project.

P.O. Box Tinto Brass 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Cult Epics' release of P.O. Box Tinto Brass is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray is Region-A "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the content on the 4K Blu-ray.

Screencaptures #1-5 are taken from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #8-14 are taken from the 4K Blu-ray.

In 2020, Cult Epics produced this Blu-ray release of P.O. Box Tinto Brass, which introduced an exclusive new 4K restoration. The 4K Blu-ray in this new combo pack release brings a native 4K presentation of the 4K restoration, graded with HDR.

The 4K restoration of P.O. Box Tinto Brass remains the absolute best prepared for a Brass film, and in native 4K, with HDR, it looks sensational. I liked everything that I saw on my system. All visuals have an incredibly lush, very attractive organic appearance that makes the stylistic resemblance between Brass and Federico Fellini's work that much more obvious. The most significant improvement from the transitions to native 4K is in the dynamic range of the visuals. Because the 4K restoration is properly graded, the expanded color gamut reveals a striking richness that is ideal for 4K. Primary red, blue, green, and brown look absolutely incredible now. In some areas, delineation and depth are also improved. However, the main strength of the native 4K presentation is in the area of color reproduction. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks immaculate as well.

P.O. Box Tinto Brass 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. There are imposed -- impossible to turn off -- English subtitles when the Italian track is selected.

In the past, t have seen P.O. Box Tinto Brass with both tracks. I tend to prefer the Italian track. However, both tracks were finalized with a wide range of limitations, which are retained by the two lossless tracks. I revisited P.O. Tinto Brass with the Italian track. The comments below are from our review of the original Blu-ray release of it.

The Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is quite nice, especially in the areas where Riz Ortolani's score has an important role. However, its quality makes it too obvious that P.O. Box Tinto Brass was shot with a modest budget. For example, it has some unmissable dynamic unevenness, and the clarity of the overdubbing is frequently average at best. The good news is that it is very healthy. The English dub track comes from an old DVD release of the film and is quite funny, but it misses a few tiny parts that were not overdubbed in English. In these parts, you get Italian audio with English subtitles.

P.O. Box Tinto Brass 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth, Jeremy Richey, Nathaniel Thompson, Eugenio Ercolani, and Heather Drain. Each critic comments on different segments, focusing on the style and sense of humor of the material, as well as the evolution of Tinto Brass' career and work. I thought that the comments were very fair and informative. (Brass's cinematic image is, as Howarth points out, as easily recognizable as Alfred Hitchcock's).

• Trailer - presented here is a fully restored original trailer for P.O. Tinto Brass. Music only. (2 min).

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth, Jeremy Richey, Nathaniel Thompson, Eugenio Ercolani, and Heather Drain. Each critic comments on different segments, focusing on the style and sense of humor of the material, as well as the evolution of Tinto Brass' career and work. I thought that the comments were very fair and informative. (Brass's cinematic image is, as Howarth points out, as easily recognizable as Alfred Hitchcock's).

• Trailer - presented here is a fully restored original trailer for P.O. Tinto Brass. Music only. (2 min).

• Interview with Tinto Brass - in this archival program, Tinto Brass discusses his passion for cinema, his work at the Venice Film Festival where he made his first contacts, his work as an editor for Roberto Rossellini, his obsession with 'female forms', the difference between erotica and pornography and its relationship to culture, the conception of P.O. Box Tinto Brass, etc. Brass also shares a particularly funny experience he had with Lotte Eisner (Cinémathèque Française) as a young man. The program was produced for Italian label Ripley's Film in 2003. In Italian, with optional English subtitles. (16 min).

• Photo Gallery - a collection of stills from and posters for many of Tinto Brass' most famous films. With music. (2 min).

ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Booklet - a 20-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Eugenio Ercolani, as well as technical credits.

• Reversible Cover - a reversible cover with vintage poster art for P.O. Box Tinto Brass.

P.O. Box Tinto Brass 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The 4K restoration of P.O. Box Tinto Brass remains the absolute best prepared for a Brass film, and in native 4K, with HDR, it looks sensational. This is how all Brass films should look on 4K Blu-ray. Hopefully, the folks behind the 4K restoration of P.O. Box Tinto Brass, and especially the party that graded it, will be trusted to work on the inevitable 4K restorations of Paprika, Salon Kitty, and Black Angel. If you have the previous Blu-ray release of P.O. Box Tinto Bass in your collection, keep it. The excellent documentary Istintobrass is not included in this new 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack release. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.