Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.0

The Designated Victim Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 9, 2021

Maurizio Lucidi's "The Designated Victim" a.k.a. "La Vittima Designata" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro. The supplemental features on the disc include new program with writer and assistant director Aldo Lado; new program with Balthazar Clementi; new audio commentary by critics Rachael Nisbet and Peter Jilmstad; and vintage promotional materials. In English or Italian, with optional English subtitles for the Italian track. Region-Free.

The reluctant assassin

If you take a closer look at the various genre films Tomas Milian appeared in between the early 1960s and late 1970s, you will make a very interesting discovery. There is only one film in which Milian plays a mostly decent protagonist that is openly dominated and manipulated to become a bad protagonist. In the rest of the films, even in the comedies, and even when he isn’t on the wrong side of the law, Milian is usually the one that dominates and manipulates. Why is that? If you carefully research Milian’s career in Italy where he established himself, you can gather a massive amount of interesting information that will eventually produce a fascinating profile of a man that routinely did not recognize the clear line that was supposed to separate him from the protagonists he played, which is arguably the biggest reason he became a cult actor. The other big reason that influenced Milian’s acting choices, especially during the 1970s when he did his best work, and shaped up his transformations was his dependence on drugs. Indeed, Milian used drugs to force out of his system the best of his acting talent, which is why his intensity before the camera was routinely overpowering and his protagonists so dominant and manipulative. This clarification isn’t meant to be judgmental. After all, there is plenty of video content with Milian addressing his long and consequential dependence on drugs. Rather, it is meant to encourage you to see The Designated Victim from a slightly different, unusual angle, because it is the one film in which Milian actually allows to be dominated and manipulated.

Milian is Stefano Augenti, an ambitious South American playboy who has made a name for himself in the fashion industry and married a wealthy Italian wife (Marisa Bartoli) with a solid reputation in Venice. Augenti has been happy with his progress, but now he wants more -- half of his wife’s company in cash, a plane ticket to his home country of Venezuela, and a new start with the sexy French model (Katia Christine) he has been secretly seeing for months. To get his wife to agree on a sale that will split the company, Augenti has repeatedly tried to use his charm, but she has guessed his plan and turned him down.

While enjoying Venice with his mistress, Augenti crosses paths with Count Matteo Tiepolo (Pierre Clementi), who offers him a deal that can permanently solve his problem -- the Count would kill his wife if Augenti agrees to kill his brother. Augenti immediately concludes that the Count must be an exotic practical joker who needs more excitement in his life, but the description of the troubles his brother has caused him and persistence make him realize that his offer is in fact legit. Then, while Augenti is slowly becoming comfortable with deal, the Count takes out his wife and informs him that it is his turn to help. At first, the stunned Augenti struggles to stay focused as the local authorities begin investigating the murder case and almost irreversibly compromises himself, but later on regains his composure and decides to do what is right. However, doing the ‘right’ thing proves to be quite the challenge because Augenti has never killed before.

Director Maurizio Lucidi infuses The Designated Victim with a very particular ambience that quickly becomes its greatest strength, so if this ambience does not appeal to you, then it is practically guaranteed that you will have a difficult time enjoying the film. What unleashes the ambience is the transformation of Venice into a deadly playground where men like Augenti and the Count can roam free and create some drastically different masterpieces. To be clear, the change isn’t quite as striking as the one seen in Nic Roeg’s Don't Look Now, but its materialization has quite the special effect on the story that is being told.

The other real treat is viewing Milian’s performance. It is a lot like observing a caged animal slowly realizing that it has to follow the directions of the man with the whip. Indeed, there are plenty of terrific scenes where it is just plain obvious that he is barely suppressing the anger inside him and after he is repeatedly outsmarted the erosion of his confidence completely reshapes his character.

Lucidi worked with the prolific cinematographer Aldo Tonti, who earlier in his career had lensed Europe '51, Ossessione, and Nights of Cabiria.

Luis Bacalov’s soundtrack combines baroque and contemporary themes that effectively enhance the film’s special ambience.

The Designated Victim Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Designated Victim arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro.

The release is source from a very poor 4K restoration that was completed at L'imagine Ritrovata in 2021. Indeed, it is so incompetent that large portions of the film now look like processed video.

I like this film a lot, I know it well, and I own this R2 DVD release from Shameless Entertainment which until recently offered the best reconstructed version of it. (I have included a few screencaptures from the DVD release at the bottom of this article). Unfortunately, the new 4K master that was prepared at L'imagine Ritrovata is so badly graded that I will be revisiting the film only on DVD. There are certain segments of the film that look so artificial now it is hard to imagine that not a single one of the restorers was bothered. And it is not just the awful green and cyan nuances that destroy the native palette of the original cinematography, there are very basic visual anomalies that essentially collapse the native dynamic range of the visuals. (You can see examples in screencaptures #6, 8, and 28). Also, in the most severe cases where the dynamic range is completely flattened there is actually plenty of conventional macroblocking. (See screencaptures #19, 22, 23, and 27). As you can imagine, in addition to the wild primaries and nuances that fill up the screen, there are all sorts of other anomalies that join them, creating issues that I found very distracting. Needless to say, this is a very, very sad development because the density levels of the new master are impeccable and there are absolutely no age-related imperfections that I could spot. To sum it all up, instead of a first-class presentation of an enormously atmospheric film, what we have now is a very strange, completely useless digital interpretation of it that does not have any basic organic qualities. Just awful. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Designated Victim Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0 and Italian LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are available only for the Italian version of the film.

I viewed the film with the English track, which is a lot better than the one from the R2 DVD release Shameless Entertainment produced. Obviously, it features predictably uneven dubbing, but it is clearer, sharper, and of course properly pitched. It is still quite thin in some areas, but I am going to assume that this is how it was finalized back in the days. I liked it.

The Designated Victim Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Extended Version - presented here is an extended version of the film that incorporates the old, unrestored VHS inserts that were used for the R2 DVD release of the film as well. (105 min).

• Interview with Writer and Assistant Director Aldo Lado - in this new video program, Aldo Lado discusses the early stage of his career in the film industry, some of the major Italian and French actors and directors he worked with over the years, as well as his involevement with The Designated Victim. There are some particularly interesting comments about his relationship with Venice and key locations that were used in the film. In Italian, with English subtitles. (48 min).

• Interview with Balthazar Clementi - in this new program, Balthazar Clementi, son of Pierre Clémenti, discusses the legacy of his father and his reputation as a counterculture rebel. His contribution to The Designated Victim is addressed as well. In French, with English subtitles. (28 min).

• Audio Commentary - this new audio commentary was recorded by Rachael Nisbet and Peter Jilmstad from the Fragments of Fear podcast.

• Trailers -
  
  1. English trailer. (4 min).
  2. Slam-Out trailer. (4 min).
  3. Italian trailer. (4 min).
  4. Alternate English titles (3 min).

The Designated Victim Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I was ecstatic when the folks at Mondo Macabro announced that they will be bringing The Designated Victim to Blu-ray because it is an older film I like a lot. Sadly, after the film was 'restored' in 4K at L'imagine Ritrovata it no longer looks like film. I don't know how anyone, let alone a restorer, can look at some of the visuals the 4K makeover has produced and conclude that they came out of a 35mm camera in 1971. They are just awful. I give the folks at Mondo Macabro a lot of credit for trying to get a proper release of The Designated Victim for the U.S. market, but at this point I think that it would be best if they avoided any restorations of color films that are finalized at the famous lab. If you decide to pick up this release, it will have to be for the good new bonus features that are included on it.