6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
In Dublin, a young woman is brutally murdered in her home by a maniac that throws acid in her face and then slits her throat with a razor. Her mangled body is later discovered in the boot of a limousine owned by the Swiss Ambassador Sobiesky. The Ambassador, who was the dead woman's lover, refuses to cooperate with the police due to his diplomatic immunity. John Norton, an ex-cop famed for his brutal working methods, is brought in to help and gets too deeply involved when he stars an affair with the Ambassador's beautiful step-daughter, Helen. Meanwhile, the brutal killings continue...
Starring: Luigi Pistilli, Dagmar Lassander, Anton Diffring, Arthur O'Sullivan, Werner PochathForeign | 100% |
Mystery | 35% |
Thriller | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
It can often be kind of fun when a release sports a commentary track where what one assumes would be fans of the film commenting can’t help from continually laughing at how silly, even downright bad, the film is. Such is the case with The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire , a lesser remembered giallo from 1971 (and some may feel there’s a definite reason for that lack of renown). Commentators Adrian J. Smith and David Flint frequently break out into unabashed giggles throughout their “tour” through this film, mentioning patent absurdities in everything from locations utilized, to weird visual non sequiturs employed by director Riccardo Freda (who evidently had his name replaced with Willy Pareto, perhaps the Italian version of John Smithee), to a baffling array of supposed suspects, to the equally baffling near absence of the character ultimately revealed to be the murderer, to — well, a whole host of other “issues”. Now to be fair Smith and Flint do stop their joking from time to time in order to state that the film is “well made”, which is perhaps a kind of backhanded compliment implying that Freda at least was able to point his camera in the right direction, and that elements like Stelvio Cipriani’s music actually have some intrinsic worth (the commentary track points out Cipriani’s score on a number of occasions, perhaps in an attempt to “even” the playing, and or critiquing, field). All of this is to say that anyone coming to The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire expecting some kind of as yet undiscovered giallo masterpiece is probably going to come away largely disappointed, especially if the title of the film brings to mind (as it probably inarguably was meant to do) Dario Argento’s classic The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco) is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono audio. Scanning and restoration work was completed at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques.I saw what I think must have been some kind of bootleg version of this years ago, and for anyone who has had a similar experience, the upgrade will be pretty amazing. While the palette is perhaps arguably a trifle on the pink side at times, overall densities and general saturation are excellent, and detail levels are also routinely high, especially in the many uses of close-ups. There are selected moments when the grain field is noticeably coarser than in the bulk of the presentation, and kind of oddly these moments don't seem to be related to lighting conditions. I've offered a few samples in screenshot positions 14, 15, 16, and 17, and you can pretty easily see the "chunkiness" and even a slightly pixellated look. That said, this resolves just fine in motion, and I found the overall viewing experience to be very organic looking. Some of the "special effects" are downright laughable, as evidenced by screenshot 19 which looks like (I apologize in advance if this permanently ruins one of your fondest childhood memories) a horrible accident on the set of Thunderbirds: The Complete Series.
The mono Italian and English language tracks were remastered from the optical sound negatives. 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 production standards of the period.
The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master at R3Store Studios, London.
All original materials used in this restoration were accessed from Movietime.
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mixes in English and Italian. No matter which language you choose, you get manifold instances of lip movements coming nowhere near the sounds emanating from them, due to the multinational status of the cast. Synch is arguably more than just "slightly loose" at times as a result, but that kind of adds to the odd charm of the film. I didn't notice a huge difference in amplitude between the tracks, and Stelvio Cipriani's kind of "post-groovy" score sounds fine in both iterations.
- International Trailer (1080p; 2:54)
- Italian Trailer (1080p; 2:54)
- Stills, lobby cards, posters, press and home video sleeves (1080p)
- Cinesex fotoromanzo photo novel (1080p)
This is another cult release where the film may be no great shakes, at least as anything other than unintentional comedy relief, but where the supplements are really enjoyable and make the overall package alluring in its own demented way. You probably won't care one whit about "whodunit" or even in fact "who it's being dun to", but that kind of adds to the lunatic charm of this odd piece. Technical merits are excellent and the supplementary package really fun. For those of a certain skewed perspective if for no one else, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is the rare "bad" film that comes Recommended.
La polizia chiede aiuto
1974
La ragazza dal pigiama giallo / The Pajama Girl Case
1977
Le foto proibite di una signora per bene
1970
Morte sospetta di una minorenne
1975
4 mosche di velluto grigio
1971
Sei donne per l'assassino
1964
Special Edition | La morte cammina con i tacchi alti
1971
Casa d'appuntamento
1972
Special Edition | La morte accarezza a mezzanotte
1972
2022
2018
La coda dello scorpione
1971
Giornata nera per l'ariete
1971
Profondo rosso
1975
1972
L'assassino ha riservato nove poltrone
1974
Standard Edition
1982
Nude per l'assassino
1975
Il gatto a nove code | Special Edition
1971
Una libélula para cada muerto
1975