The Case of the Scorpion's Tail Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 13, 2018

Note: There is at least one fairly major plot point that really can't be totally avoided in a decent summary of The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail which some might feel verges on spoiler territory. For anyone concerned about such revelations, skipping down to the technical portions of the review is encouraged.

Two of the biggest surprises of my tenure at Blu-ray.com came when my reviews of Citizen Kane and Psycho posted years ago and I started getting private messages from younger readers who had never seen either film thanking me for alerting them to an iconic film viewing experience that they themselves had not yet had. It was an instructive moment, both in terms of my frightneningly increasing age, but also in terms of me figuring out the arguably completely obvious fact that there was a whole new generation of film fans coming up “through the ranks” (so to speak) who were just experiencing some of the greatest classic films of all time for their first time. Those who have also not yet experienced Alfred Hitchcock’s immortal 1960 masterpiece may not understand one of the central homages Sergio Martino’s 1971 giallo The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail pays to it, but with another mention of that warning posted above, let’s just say that it’s best not to get too attached to what might seem like the focal character in the film, a la Janet Leigh in Psycho. If Marion Crane, Leigh’s character in Psycho, appeared to be a normal, everyday secretary, at least for a few minutes, it’s apparent almost immediately that Lisa Baumer (Ida Galli, billed as Evelyn Stewart), the gorgeous woman who is seemingly a focal character in the film, is at the very least an unfaithful wife, but as the story continues, it’s at least hinted that she may have had something to do with an apparently random plane crash that takes the life of her husband. What initially seems to be a plot focusing on insurance fraud soon becomes a bonafide murder mystery when Lisa herself is viciously attacked and the settlement she received from her husband’s policy goes missing.

It’s interesting to compare the first half hour or so of both Psycho and The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail to see how artfully each film misdirects the audience, giving them a number of supposed “important” plot points which in fact turn out to not just be red herrings but in a way kind of irrelevant to what the bulk of the film ends up being about. The opening half hour of The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail documents Lisa’s affair and the mysterious death of her husband, as well as the windfall of a million dollar insurance payment. But there are a whole host of people following Lisa, including what appears to be a drug addled former boyfriend who is intent on blackmailing her (even if the grounds for such blackmail are a little on the iffy side), and another private eye who is part of an investigation launched by the insurance company (again, kind of iffy, considering the fact that the husband died in a plane crash).

One of the investigators (though apparently not the same one seen in some of the opening “spying eye” vignettes) is Peter Lynch (George Hilton), who begins poking into a story that seemingly has a whole host of likely suspects. Lisa has to deal not just with her drug addicted former boyfriend, but, as it turns out, her husband’s mistress Lara (Janine Reynaud), and indication at least that Lisa was not the only spouse given toward dalliances. Without getting into too much detail, suffice it to say that the body count begins accruing, and Lynch himself becomes a suspect when Inspector Stavros (Luigi Pistilli) gets involved.

Even all of this serves as more or less a prelude to the “actual actual” plot mechanics, which pair Lynch with crusading (and incredibly beautiful) journalist Cléo Dupont (Anita Strindberg), who of course soon goes into damsel in distress mode. The film has a number of really well done attack scenes, some rather graphically showing bodies being mutilated by a knife, but the underlying mystery is really what propels the film, and in terms of resolutions, this one has some interesting twists, even if the hurried “Moishe the Explainer” bits toward the end have a couple of glaring lapses in logic.

There are a number of interesting referents beyond Hitchcock running through various elements of this film. As noted below, director Sergio Martino kind of surprisingly cites Z as a source of inspiration, and there’s another late sixties film with a memorable theme that may come to mind when music fans listen to this film’s score Bruno Nicolai, namely Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which featured a memorable (and bit hit) score by Nino Rota, one whose theme is at least hinted at in Nicolai’s music (a lot of the score actually reminded me of Paul Mauriat’s work from this very same era). Also, a photo holds at least part of the key to the puzzle, and there are a couple of sequences here that are at least somewhat reminiscent of some plot elements in Antonioni’s Blow- Up, including in fact the need to enlarge a photograph to see an important clue.

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following verbiage on the transfer:

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail / La coda dello scorpione is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Italian and English mono audio.

The original 2-perf 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at EuroLab. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restorations tools and techniques.

The mono Italian and English language tracks were remastered from the optical sound negatives at Deluxe Media, Los Angeles. The audio synch will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue was recorded entirely in post-production, as per the productions standards of the period.

This is another great looking restoration effort from Arrow, one that preserves the sometimes garish, even lurid, sensibilities of Martino and cinematographer Emilio Foriscot. The "kill" scenes have rather vivid saturation (no pun intended) which commendably support the almost crimson reds of blood flowing on skin. But detail levels throughout this presentation are regularly quite impressive, especially in the many close-ups which are employed. There are a number of rather luscious looking locations (not to mention luscious "scenery" like Strindberg), though it appears that a couple of moments of stock footage may have been employed for some quick establishing shots, at least as evidenced by a slightly more ragged look with a noticeably increased grain field. There are still just a few specks here and there that have made it through the restoration gauntlet, but this is a very enjoyable viewing experience that has a very organic appearance and which suffers from no compression issues.

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail features LPCM mono tracks in both Italian and English. To my ears, the English track sounds just ever so slightly thinner than the Italian track, something that is probably most apparent when music is playing. Otherwise, there's no significant difference in amplitude or mix. I opted to spend most of the film with the Italian track, while toggling occasionally to the English track, and aside from the always kind of slightly comical loose synch, there are no issues of any kind here with regard to dialogue support, or the rendering of effects and/or score.

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Ernesto Gastaldi is in Italian with English subtitles.


• Under the Sign of the Scorpion (1080p; 20:56) is a new interview with star George Hilton, who talks about his attempts to rejigger his image with this film.


• Scorpion Tales (1080p; 47:10) is a new interview with director Sergio Martino, who is quite interesting throughout, and who perhaps surprisingly states that one of his inspirations for at least the pace of this film was Z, the Academy Award winning Best Foreign Language Film from 1969.


• Jet Set Giallo (1080p; 20:06) offers critic and academic Mikel J. Koven, who avers that Martino really had no identifiable style.


• The Case of the Screenwriter Auteur (1080p; 15:35) is a visual essay by Troy Howarth focusing on Ernesto Gastaldi.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:31) is a bit of marketing chutzpah, comparing this film to a whole host of early classics.


• Image Gallery (1080p; 2:10) comes courtesy of Peter Jilmstad.

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Case of the Scorpion's Tail is one of the more enjoyable gialli of its era, one with a reasonably complex mystery and a glut of shady types hanging around the edges of the story who provide ample red herring options. Arrow has provided a release with solid technical merits and enjoyable supplements, and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail comes Highly recommended.