Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Bloodstained Butterfly Blu-ray Movie Review

CSI: Giallo.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 18, 2016

It’s probably at least a bit of a stretch to categorize The Bloodstained Butterfly as a true giallo, as even this Blu-ray release’s commentary and supplementary documentary state. While there are certain elements of giallo at play, the film is actually probably more in the poliziotteschi mode, as (again) a documentary on this Blu-ray release speaks to. The police procedural aspects of The Bloodstained Butterfly are one of the film’s more prevalent elements, tending to focus attention on how the cops go about catching their man rather than more lurid gialli approaches like gruesome and graphic murders made by a killer wearing a trenchcoat and gloves. This version of The Bloodstained Butterfly evidently restores at least some footage that is missing from some international versions (again, going by the informative if pretty chatty commentary on the disc), which includes some introductory beats for a few characters before the murder that is at the core of the film takes place. That event is handled almost discursively, at least for a giallo, with very little in the way of blood and/or guts, and an emphasis on the after effects of the killing rather than the killing itself. A young woman is viciously stabbed in a park, and her lifeless corpse then rolls down a hill where it’s discovered by a little girl playing in the rain. The assailant high tails it out of there, but is seen by several passers by (not to mention the audience itself). The police show up and the first half hour or so of the film is taken up with a number of nascent CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The First Season-ish technologies like taking plaster casts of footprints and analyzing fingerprints. By the end of the first half hour of the film, a suspect has been apprehended and tried, and it’s not much after that the he’s sent away to life in prison. That might lead some perspicacious viewers to suspect that director Duccio Tessari is going to ply a kind of Hitchcockian The Wrong Man approach toward the story, and while that is in fact kind of what happens, it’s notable that The Bloodstained Butterfly indulges in several twists and turns along the way that may keep even devoted armchair sleuths guessing as to what’s really going on.

The convicted suspect is a well known television sports commentator named Alessandro Marchi (Giancarlo Sbragia), and in one of the film’s nicely done elisions, the rather incredible amount of evidence linking him to the crime is presented as a kind of quasi-montage. His prints are all over the murder weapon, the victim’s clothing has traces of the pleather seats (pleather! — how’s that for specificity in evidence collection?) from Marchi’s car, and Marchi’s trenchcoat (yes, there is a trenchcoat in the film) has traces of a unique chemical compound found only in the dirt of the park where the murder took place. Add in the fact that the victim was a friend of Marchi’s daughter and all signs seem to point to the fact that the police have in fact gotten their man. But—have they? As should probably come as now huge surprise, some “follow up” murders which are more than passingly similar to the park killing suddenly crop up, leading the cops to wonder whether an innocent man is in jail.

While that plays out, involving a police inspector named Berardi (Silvano Tranquillo), a bit past that aforementioned half hour section, purported star Helmut Berger finally really shows up (he’s in a few establishing moments, but they’re literally moments) as aristocratic pianist Giorgio, who has begun romancing Marchi’s daughter Sarah (Wendy D’Olive). Without spoiling a couple of at least relatively involving plot twists, it turns out that this is not exactly a coincidence, though it’s interesting that The Bloodstained Butterfly both reveals and withholds various information at different points, at one moment positing what turns out to be a complete red herring, at another discursively detouring around relevant material so as to not get to the “big finish” too soon, and at still others doling out tidbits that later turn out to be major clues.

There are a number of interesting aspects to The Bloodstained Butterfly, which is not to say that all of them are equally effective and/or helpful to the film’s overall tone. One odd little bit is a recurring gag involving a coffee machine in the police station, a series of jokes that never really pays off very well. More interestingly, and certainly more subtly, pay attention when various “eye witnesses” skew their testimony to cover up their own peccadilloes, something that is just kind of presented without any “commentary” by the screenplay or director. The film probably peels away a few too many “nesting dolls” as one supposed focal point gives way to the next, something that may leave viewers at least a little discombobulated at a couple of junctures, but The Bloodstained Butterfly also defies some giallo tradition by actually being fairly straightforward, with a relatively logical explanation for all of the killings.

The Bloodstained Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Bloodstained Butterfly is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's typically informative booklet contains the following information about the provenance of the master and the restoration process:

All restoration work was carried out at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm 2-perf Techniscope camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan with a wetgate and was graded on Digital Vision's Nucode Film Master.

Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Overall image stability and instances of density fluctuation were also improved.

While this is a somewhat variable looking presentation in terms of color space, clarity and detail levels, generally speaking this is a very nice looking transfer that is virtually damage free. The palette still looks slightly drab to my eyes, though it should be noted that Duccio Tessari and cinematographer Carlo Carlini are certainly not trying for any of the lurid color choices that tend to inform Bava films, for example. That said, flesh tones look a little brown at times, and even some outdoor imagery is less vividly suffused than some of the rest of the film (see screenshot 5 for an especially nice looking outdoor moment in terms of color). Contrast is a bit anemic at times, especially in some interior scenes (see screenshot 6), but again generally speaking things look very good, maintaining decent levels of shadow definition even at night. There are some curiously soft looking sequences during the courtroom scenes where it almost looks like there might have been a malfunctioning lens (see screenshot 12). There is also variable clarity and sharpness from scene to scene (contrast screenshot 1 with screenshot 2 for one example). Grain looks great throughout the presentation, resolving naturally and giving the transfer a nicely organic appearance. My score is 4.25.

The Bloodstained Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Bloodstained Butterfly features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks in both Italian and English. Arrow's booklet has the following information:

The original Italian and English mono soundtracks were transferred from the original 35mm optical sound negatives using the Sondor OMA/E with COSP Xi2K technology to minimse optical noise and produce the best quality results possible. There are times in which the films' [sic] audio synchronisation will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the soundtracks were recorded entirely in post-production. This is correct and as per the film's original theatrical release.

Both of these tracks sound very similar in terms of score and effects, though it seemed to me the English version was just slightly "warmer" sounding, with just a bit less stridency in some of the higher frequencies. Gianni Ferrio's score is one of this film's nicest assets, and its treks from Tchaikovsky to cool jazz all segue effortlessly and sound nicely full bodied. Dialogue is also rendered cleanly, though as the Arrow booklet notes suggest, there's more than just a little "looseness" on display in terms of synching dialogue to lip movements, as tends to be the case in many Italian films.

The Bloodstained Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Introduction (1080p; 1:22) features Helmut Berger and is. . .interesting. This option is available under the Play menu.


• Murder in B Flat Minor (1080p; 26:56) is a visual essay by Troy Howarth that covers a number of gialli, but which does include major spoilers about The Bloodstained Butterfly.


• A Butterfly Named Evelyn (1080p; 54:45) is an extended interview with actress Ida Galli, who also performed under the name Evelyn Stewart.


• Me and Duccio (1080p; 8:23) is an interview with Lorella De Luca, actress and wife of Duccio Tessari.


• Mad Dog Helmut (1080p; 17:33) is a 2016 interview with Berger, part of the session that also produced that "interesting" introduction mentioned above.


• Promotional Gallery (1080p)


• Italian Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:16)


• English Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:16)


• Audio Commentary features Alan Jones and Kim Newman.

Additionally, the insert booklet features good essays, stills and information on the transfer.

The Bloodstained Butterfly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is The Bloodstained Butterfly "really" a giallo? I'll leave an authoritative answer to that question to more formidable experts, but will state that in a way it really doesn't matter. This film may not in fact easily fit in any given genre category, but that doesn't mean The Bloodstained Butterfly isn't quite effective as a mystery tale. The story may in fact take a few too many twists and turns for its own good, but the film is generally quite compelling. Technical merits are generally strong, and as is their usual tendency, Arrow has put together an appealing supplementary package. Recommended.