6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Sartana is on the trail of a series of missing gold shipments when a white clad stranger arrives with an interest in the proceedings.
Starring: George Hilton (I), Charles Southwood, Erika Blanc, Piero Lulli, Linda SiniForeign | 100% |
Western | 28% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of The
Complete Sartana.
One of the perhaps slightly humorous upshots of the incredible success of The Man with No Name Trilogy is that it at least contributed to an influx of often pretty similar properties featuring
mysterious (if not always laconic) characters with names. Some of these so-called “Euro Westerns” (of which the “Spaghetti Westerns”
were
a subset) were insanely popular in their day, even if that popularity didn’t always extend to the shores of the United States (though it quite often
did).
A cursory sampling of films in this kind of odd niche of genre outings with their putative hero’s name in the titles might include such offerings as
the Django films (Django, Django, Kill... If You Live, Shoot!, Hanging for Django,
Django,
Prepare a Coffin), the Trinity films (They
Call
Me Trinity, Trinity Is Still My Name!
),
the Ringo films (A Pistol for Ringo, The Return of Ringo), the Sabata films (Sabata, Adiós, Sabata, The
Return
of Sabata)
and/or the five Sartana films currently under discussion. What’s a little hilarious about this glut of named characters, all of whom owe at
least
something to the now legendary Leone - Eastwood collaborations, is that along the way character names kind of came and went, and in
various markets some films were marketed as a “named” feature even if that particular character actually wasn’t even featured in the film. In fact
one of the enjoyable supplements on Arrow's fairly recent A Pistol for Ringo & The Return of Ringo: Two Films by Duccio Tessari "double
feature" were the commentaries by Spaghetti Western experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry C. Parke, who kind of jokingly recount at one point
how one of the Ringo films was marketed as a Sartana film in some foreign market (Joyner and Parke are on hand for
these releases as well, and both describe themselves as diehard Sartana fans, and in one of their commentaries for this set also
joke about how Django also ended up in a bunch of titles where the character of that name was nowhere to be found). Also kind of
amusingly, the character name of Sartana was actually introduced in a "non-Sartana" film, the aforementioned The Return of Ringo, where the character was actually one of the bad guys.
But Gianni Garko's characterization was so memorable that the name, if not the actual character, survived as a hero, and as Joyner and Parke
recount in their commentaries on this set, Garko went to some lengths (including lawsuits) to protect his take on the character, down to the
clothes
Sartana wears in the various films.
Sartana is Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet provides the following information on the transfer:
Sartana is Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono audio. All restoration work was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin- registered Arriscan and was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. The mono Italian and English soundtracks were remastered from the optical sound track negatives.This is another great looking transfer, with really nice looking fine detail on elements like faces (the film, like many Sartana outings, features askew framings which often place a face ludicrously close to the camera). But fine detail is also often quite impressive on things like some the elaborate fabrics in costumes or props (see the poncho in screenshot 7). The palette is generally warm, but has a just slightly brown looking quality, especially in some of the outdoor material. There are also some slight variances in clarity, and I once again wondered if some lens problems may have contributed to this aspect. Some of the palette pops quite appealingly (see the hair and dress in screenshot 2). As with all the other films in this set, grain looks very natural and resolves without any problems whatsoever.
All five of the films feature DTS-HD Master Audio mono tracks in both Italian and English (the covers incorrectly state LPCM 1.0, for what that's worth). There's no significant difference in fidelity and overall sound between the five films, with a couple of exceptions noted below. I opted for the original Italian mixes, while also regularly toggling to the English language tracks for comparison's sake. There is surprisingly little difference in amplitude and general sound quality between the languages, with the possible exception of I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death, where the English language track sounds tinnier, especially with regard to music. All of the Italian language tracks have noticeable hiss, but no other really problematic elements. While sync is loose, as is mentioned in the booklet (due to the Italian tradition of post looping everything), fidelity is surprisingly robust in these films, offering good support for dialogue and effects, which can admittedly sound a little boxy at times (gunfire especially). All five films boast rather interesting music scores, not necessarily as "Morricone-esque" as one might expect, and in fact there's an almost Bacharach like 6/8 theme for I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death. Several scores feature potentially bright instruments like harpsichords, which sound clear without sounding strident. Some of the cues in Have a Good Funeral My Friend... Sartana Will Pay sound influenced by the then insanely popular music of Lalo Schifrin for television's Mission: Impossible, with bongos establishing tension. Interestingly, Light the Fuse... Sartana Is Coming's English language track has some underscore where the original Italian doesn't.
Sartana is Here. . .Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin is undeniable fun, and it begins with a literal bang, but I found this particular film a bit more of a hit and/or miss enterprise than some of the others. Technical merits are strong and the supplements very enjoyable. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Una nuvola di polvere... un grido di morte... arriva Sartana / Gunman in Town
1970
Buon funerale amigos!... paga Sartana / Gunslinger
1970
Se incontri Sartana prega per la tua morte / Gunfighters Die Harder
1968
Sono Sartana, il vostro becchino / Sartana the Gravedigger
1969
Goodbye Texas
1966
La resa dei conti
1966
Blood at Sundown / Il ritorno di Ringo
1965
Ballad of Death Valley / The Angry Gun / Ringo the Killer / Una Pistola per Ringo
1965
10,000 Dollars for a Massacre / 10.000 dollari per un massacro
1967
1967
E Dio disse a Caino...
1970
Gli Specialisti
1969
Da uomo a uomo | Special Edition
1967
Due once di piombo
1966
Le colt cantarono la morte e fu... tempo di massacro / The Brute and the Beast
1966
Special Edition
1966
Django, prepare ton cercueil / Preparati la bara!
1968
The Rope and the Colt / Une corde, un Colt...
1969
Il grande silenzio | 50th Anniversary Edition
1968
Lo chiamavano Trinità...
1970