Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 9, 2019

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.

However “inadequate” some aspects of The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire may (or may not) be, it’s a rather distinctive giallo for at least one reason — its setting. As Smith and Flint mention early in their commentary track, they think it’s the only giallo based in Ireland (Dublin to be exact), though, as with anyone who works in the age of “expertise” fostered by the internet, they turn their joking on themselves by stating that there is no doubt some diehard film fan out there listening reacting with great umbrage at their ignorance about some other Irish set giallo . The Dublin setting works both for and against the film. The locations utilized are often incredibly scenic, if at times patently weird (as the commentators mention, the supposed “police station” looks awfully like a hotel). But an international “combo platter” of actors, evidently speaking a variety of native languages requiring at least some of them to be dubbed into English, offers a really odd sounding concatenation of different accents, very few of which sound authentically Irish.

There are any number of red herrings sprinkled rather liberally throughout the film, including an opening murder that even Flint and Smith state has only tenuous connections to whatever “plot” develops. While there are elements of this sequence that are definitely on the angst producing side, it all comes off as fairly goofy, capped by a “special effect” of a poor woman getting doused with acid that is almost unavoidably going to cause people to laugh. It’s not the last time in the film where a potentially deadly incident is handled in such a ham fisted way that it comes off as more comedic than terror inducing.

In another plot point that is kind of distinctive, but which The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire doesn’t really develop very well, an ambassador named Sobieski (Anton Diffring) becomes a suspect when that acid soaked corpse is found in the back of his limousine, though he claims diplomatic immunity to keep the cops, including lead investigator John Norton (Luigi Pistilli) from digging too deeply. A number of other suspects are introduced, almost randomly at times, and some are just as quickly discarded, in what amounts to the cinematic equivalent of ADHD. Even stranger are little “bits” in the film with characters coming and going from secret doorways, stolen glances which seem to intimate some hidden agendas (which are never clarified), as well as completely odd directorial choices, as in the sudden “drifting” of the camera away from two policemen talking in car toward people trudging through a kind of paddy, even as the cops’ banter continues on the soundtrack. It’s all very strange, and it becomes easier to laugh along with Smith and Flint as they attempt to “deconstruct” such oddities.

There is simply too much structural, narrative and even character weirdness here to really adequately describe, and so I’ll simply point to one of the funnier “meta” aspects to the film. The credits list the screenplay (also co-written by “Willy Pareto”) is supposedly based upon a novel called A Room Without a Door by Richard Mann, which our intrepid commentators chalk up to someone thinking that a film being based on a book somehow gave the property more gravitas, or something like that. Only — there was no novel and no Richard Mann (or at least that Richard Mann), it was all simply some kind of weird marketing ploy. Even funnier, for those who are able to wend their way through the labyrinth that is this film, is the fact that, if anything, a focal room has two doors, one “traditional” and one hidden. Let this be just one salient example of lunacy awaiting should you deign to take a peek at this goofy and often nonsensical outing.

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

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.

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 Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features "giallo connoisseurs" Adrian J. Smith and David Flint, and does manage to get quite a bit of background and production information in between fits of laughter and frequent sidebars into "what is that supposed to mean?" territory.


• Of Chameleons and Iguanas (1080p; 21:55) features the thoughts of Richard Dyer.


• Considering Cipriani (1080p; 25:58) is a newly filmed appreciation of the composer by Lovely Jon.


• The Cutting Game (1080p; 20:58) is a new interview with editor Bruno Micheli.


• The Red Queen of Hearts (1080p; 20:38) is an interview with actress Dagmar Lassander.


• Original Trailers

  International Trailer (1080p; 2:54)

  Italian Trailer (1080p; 2:54)

• Image Galleries

  Stills, lobby cards, posters, press and home video sleeves (1080p)

  Cinesex fotoromanzo photo novel (1080p)

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

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.