The Girl from Rio 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

The Girl from Rio 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 10, 2023

Jess Franco's "The Girl From Rio" a.k.a. "Future Women" (1969) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Blue Underground. The supplemental features on the release include new program with critic Stephen Thrower; new audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson; archival interviews with actress Shirley Eaton, Jess Franco, and producer Harry Alan Towers; collection of original promotional materials from around the world and archival production materials; and more. In English, with optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The film is set in beautiful Rio de Janeiro where the handsome undercover detective Jeff Sutton (Richard Wyler, The Ugly Ones) is trying to track down the missing daughter (Marta Reves, Kiss Me Monster) of a wealthy businessman. Sutton’s plan is an unusual one. He has seduced the elegant socialite Lesley (Maria Rohm, House of 1000 Dolls) and made her believe that he has stolen ten million dollars and is planning to start a new life someplace safe. He hopes that through Lesley he would be able to attract the people who have kidnapped the businessman’s daughter and then force them to release her.

After visiting a few of Rio’s hottest nightclubs, Sutton and Lesley are cornered by Masius’ (George Sanders, Journey to Italy) men. Somehow the lovers manage to outsmart them and disappear, but soon after Sutton is captured by Sumitra’s (Shirley Eaton, The Million Eyes of Sumuru) scantily clad and incredibly attractive warriors and transported to Femina, a mysterious place where all men have apparently gone the way of the dinosaurs. Sumitra makes love to Sutton and then offers him a deal: He could be the first man to leave Femina alive if he gives her his loot or he can die slowly (after she plays with his body a bit more).

While Sutton is trying to make up his mind, Masius is informed that Sumitra has captured his target and could convince him to give her the stolen money. Like a good businessman, Masius also decides to offer what he believes is a good deal -- and if the deal is rejected, take with force what he is convinced belongs to him.

Jess Franco’s The Girl From Rio is an extremely difficult film to profile. Its characters were created by the great novelist Sax Rohmer (the man responsible for the crazy world of Fu Manchu), but it is a bit like a rescripted vintage euro spy film on steroids. Indeed, it blends a huge dose of action and a small dose of erotica but then it ends up flirting with psychedelica. The end result is a colorful mish-mash of visuals and ideas that can look brilliant or totally amateurish. It all depends on the strength and quality of the liquor one is willing to consume before and while one is viewing the film.

The wackiness of the plot is unquestionably the film’s biggest strength. There are large sequences where nothing makes sense, but because the characters act as if they are part of a serious conspiracy and their presence is of crucial importance the whole thing becomes absolutely fascinating to behold. It is classic Franco material, really, with top-notch B-style and atmosphere that nowadays make many of these types of films look like bizarre vintage masterpieces.

Franco clearly did not have a big budget to work with, but the various costumes and especially the minimalistic decors in Femina look very stylish. The guns and rifles are made of cheap plastic and it is easy to tell, but it hardly matters -- the sound effects are good and the villains still get killed at the right time. The huge explosion at the end, however, is difficult to swallow.

Producer Harry Alan Towers should be credited again for the fantastic locations. (This is a man whose passion for exotic beauty was truly unmatched). The film even uses some really good raw footage from the big carnival in Rio.

While working on The Girl From Rio, Franco and cinematographer Manuel Merino also found time to shoot some footage that was used in the far more provocative 99 Women.

The Girl from Rio 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blue Underground's release of The Girl From Rio is a 4K Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray and the Blu-ray are Region-Free.

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-32 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #35-39 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

The Girl From Rio made its high-definition debut with this release in 2016, which was not at all impressive. This upcoming release introduces a brand new and exclusive 4K restoration of the film that can be viewed in native 4K and 1080p. The 4K presentation can be viewed with HDR and Dolby Vision grades. I viewed the film in native 4K with Dolby Vision and spent quite a bit of time examining the 1080p presentation.

Even though the 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray introduce the same 4K makeover, the presentations are quite different. I liked the native 4K presentation quite a lot. However, I thought that the 1080p presentation should have been a lot more convincing.

In native 4K, the new makeover looks really good. Delineation, clarity, and depth are not just better but dramatically better, so there is a lot more to see and appreciate. Some of the outdoor footage looks so striking now that it almost feels as if someone has removed some sort of a veil that previously made all visuals appear flat and soft. Fluidity is excellent. However, now quite a few density fluctuations are easier to recognize as well. There are no traces of problematic degraining adjustments. (On the previous release, there were plenty). Image stability is very good. The surface of the visuals looks very healthy, too. I liked the color balance. In a couple of areas, I think that blues -- and especially navy blues -- should have been a tad more pronounced, but overall the color temperature of the visuals is convincing. The Dolby Vision grade expands the dynamic range of the visuals quite well, as it should, but without introducing any drastic alterations. Darker areas and brighter daylight footage look nicely balanced. Now, I spent quite a bit of time examining the 1080p presentation and noticed that there are plenty of areas where select ranges of blues shift toward turquoise. This has become a serious issue on modern 4K makeovers and at this point it looks like the encoder is routinely replacing or mishandling the digital values for blue with the digital values for turquoise. (This is clearly the case on the recent 4K makeover of The Italian Job). On this release, the error is very obvious on the 1080p presentation, so it appears that the adjustments that need to be made during the transition from 4K, which has a wider color gamut, to 1080p were either ignored or mismanaged. Why? In native 4K, there are various sequences that look right, meaning that the blues are proper, but in 1080p the same sequences do not look right. For example, in 1080p, here you should not be seeing cyan/ turqoise. Also, in 1080p, here and here you should be seeing the colors and color temperature that present here and here. The last two examples are from the 4K Blu-ray. On my system, these discrepancies are very obvious. Naturally, I have to assume that the party that prepared the 1080p encode simply shifted the 4K data to 1080p without proper adjustments. All in all, I think that the 4K presentation of the new makeover is unquestionably the all-around best presentation of The Girl From Rio. My score for the 4K Blu-ray is 4.75/5.00. My score for the Blu-ray is 3.75/5.00.

The Girl from Rio 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. Optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I thought that the lossless audio track on the previous release of The Girl From Rio was very good. It does have some small inherited limitations but this is hardly surprising. The audio track on this release sounded identical to me. If there are any discrepancies in key areas that we address in our reviews, I could not tell. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report.

The Girl from Rio 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson. The two commentators analyze the stylistic identity and narrative of The Girl From Rio, Jess Franco's direction, trends in genre cinema at the time the film was completed, cast choices and the careers and legacies of various stars, etc.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson. The two commentators analyze the stylistic identity and narrative of The Girl From Rio, Jess Franco's direction, trends in genre cinema at the time the film was completed, cast choices and the careers and legacies of various stars, etc.

• Rocking in Rio - in this new program, critic and author Stephen Thrower discusses the conception of The Girl From Rio, some of its unique qualities, Jess Franco's career and its evolution over the years. In English, not subtitled. (41 min).

• Rolling in Rio - in this archival featurette, actress Shirley Eaton recalls how she was approached to play the evil Sumitra, the atmosphere of the film, and the notorious lesbian scene (which was apparently shot with a double); Jess Franco discusses Shirley Eaton's personality, George Sanders' performance and his tragic death, and Alfred Hitchcock's attitude towards the French New Wave; and producer Harry Alan Towers discusses the shooting of The Girl From Rio, as well as the initial work that was done on 99 Women. In English and French, with imposed English subtitles where necessary. (15 min).

• Poster and Still Gallery - a collection of original promotional materials from around the world and behind the scenes stills. Also included in the gallery are original reprinted synopsis and production credits from an archival press book and reprinted VHS and DVD covers. The gallery was compiled by Gregory Chick.

• Additional Scenes and Trims -
  
  1. Presented here is additional footage from the German version of The Girl From Rio which is titled The Seven Secrets of Sumuru. In German, with English subtitles. (10 min).
  2. While preparing the new 4K restoration of The Girl From Rio, the folks from Blue Underground uncovered a reel of trims. They are presented here without audio. (7 min).

• RiffTrax Edition - The Girl From Rio is presented here riffed by Mike Nelson, Bill Cobett, and Kevin Murphy. In English, not subtitled. (78 min).

The Girl from Rio 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jess Franco's The Girl From Rio is a whacky psychedelic thriller that brings together everything that makes the cult Spanish director's work so great. It does not make a whole lot of sense -- and for this type of project this is actually a major bonus -- but it has a truly fantastic atmosphere. As far as vintage European B-films are concerned, The Girl From Rio is one of the very best. Blue Underground's upcoming 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray release introduces a brand new 4K restoration of The Girl From Rio that is a stunner. However, it only looks as it should in native 4K. The 1080p presentation of the same restoration should have been more convincing. Franco aficionados should not miss it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.