Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 13, 2016

Nominated for Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Luis García Berlanga's "The Executioner" a.k.a. "El verdugo" (1963) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new video interview with Pedro Almodovar; new program on director Luis Garcia Berlanga and his work; and archival episode of the Spanish television program La mitad invisible. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring critic David Cairn's essay "By the Neck" and technical credits. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The wrong man for the job

There is an obvious Chaplin-esque element in The Executioner but the dark satire brings it closer to the classic commedia all'italiana films from the late 1960s. The very best amongst them introduce colorful characters without a visible path to success in life and then humiliate them in a variety of different ways. The more intense the humiliation is, the more effective the humor typically is. The best of these films, however, are also excellent litmus tests because they expose the flaws and hypocrisy of the social system that actually allows the humiliation to occur. This is exactly what The Executioner does.

The main target here is a young man (Nino Manfredi, Bread and Chocolate) whose life spins out of control after he decides to have a bit of fun with the single daughter (Emma Penella, Fortunata and Jacinta) of an aging executioner (Jose Isbert, El Cochecito). When the girl announces that she is pregnant her father confronts him and soon after he reluctantly agrees to start a family with her. The man then inherits his father-in-law’s job, which comes with great benefits but presents him with a number of serious moral dilemmas. For a while the man listens to the old man and his new wife and tries to do what he is told is right, but the more he learns about the system that he is paid to serve, the more disillusioned he becomes.

Luis García Berlanga is not as unforgiving as Luis Bunuel, but his film makes it painfully obvious that Franco’s regime was directly responsible for the cultural and moral decay in Spain after the Civil War. The entire film is essentially one big condemnation of the seismic shift in the country’s system of social and cultural values and the odd environment that emerged after it.

In many of Chaplin’s timeless comedies the Tramp appears out of sync with the world around him and gradually becomes a powerful disruptor that causes tremendous chaos -- it is where the bulk of the humor in these comedies comes from. In Berlanga’s film Manfredi’s character has a very similar function. He is the ‘eccentric outsider’ who does not think, see or act as he should and as a result simply does not fit in. The satire here is a lot more subtle -- and justifiably so because had it not been the film would have never survived Franco’s censors -- but the contrasts that emerge expose a lot of the same social hypocrisy that Chaplin’s films target.

But there is something that Berlanga does differently that actually makes his film a lot easier to compare to the classic commedia all'italiana films. After the young man is established as the ‘eccentric outsider’, Berlanga allows him to repeatedly engage his opponents and question the logic of their words and actions. This makes the decay even more disturbing because it essentially frames it as a widespread social sickness of Kafka-esque proportions that could very well be incurable.

Berlanga teamed up with the great Italian cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli, whose credits include such iconic films as Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in America, Mamma Roma, and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.

*Two very good commedia all'italiana films from the same era that should appeal to viewers who enjoy The Executioner are Vittorio De Sica’s Il Boom a.k.a. The Boom, and Luigi Zampa’s Il Vigile a.k.a. The Traffic Policeman, both with the legendary Alberto Sordi.

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Luis García Berlanga's The Executioner arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm optical soundtrack negative. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX.

Scanning: Deluxe, Madrid.
Transfer supervisor and colorist: Lee Kline."

I do not currently have a DVD copy of this film in my library to do some direct comparisons, but I feel confident stating that it has never before looked this good on any home video format. Indeed, the entire films looks remarkably healthy and the technical presentation is as impressive as that of Antonio Pietrangeli's I Knew Her Well (also sourced from a recent top-notch 4K restoration). Detail, depth and especially fluidity are absolutely fantastic. The grayscale is also excellent -- the blacks are solid while the whites and the variety of grays appear wonderfully balanced. The high-quality scanning has ensured a very fine layer of grain that is also wonderfully resolved. Additionally, there are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments or other compromising digital corrections. Image stability is outstanding. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Spanish LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Depth and clarity remain very pleasing throughout the entire film. Dynamic intensity is also good, though the film's original sound design is far from impressive. The dialog is stable and easy to follow. However, during a couple of short segments I noticed some extremely mild hiss making its presence felt in the upper register. There are no audio dropouts, cracks, or digital distortions to report.

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Executioner. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (4 min 1080p).

• Pedro Almodovar - in this short video interview, Pedro Almodovar (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) discusses the significance of Luis García Berlanga's The Executioner. The interview was conducted in 2016. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (4 min 1080p).

• Bad Spaniard - this excellent documentary film takes a closer look at the life and work of Luis García Berlanga and examines the key themes in The Executioner. Included in it are interviews with the director's son, Jose Luis Beranga, writers Fernando R. Lafuente and Bernardo Sanchez Salas (University of La Rioja), Rafael Maluenda (director of the Berlanga Film Museum), and director/critic Carlos F. Heredero. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (57 min 1080p).

• La mitad invisible - presented here is an archival episode of the Spanish television program La mitad invisible which examines the history and long-lasting appeal of The Executioner. The episode was broadcast in 2009. In Spanish, with optional English subtitles. (29 min 1080i).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic David Cairn's essay "By the Neck" and technical credits.

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have to place Luis García Berlanga's The Executioner right next to Antonio Pietrangeli's I Knew Her Well as I consider it one of the best recent entries in the Criterion Collection. It is a small masterpiece that has the wit of Luis Bunuel's work but hits its targets with the same energy many of the great commedia all'italiana films do. Berlanga's films are very difficult to see outside of Spain so hopefully this release will start a trend and more of them will transition to Blu-ray in the United States. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.