6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Pasquale Festa Campanile's erotic drama The Slave centers on Silvia, a wealthy young woman with a serious fetish for being dominated. She hires an actress always up for a hefty paycheck to indulge her darkest desires, but as the two spend time alone in Rome the relationship develops unexpectedly
Starring: Rosanna Schiaffino, Haydée Politoff, Romolo Valli, Aldo Giuffrè, Gabriele TintiErotic | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Italian: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Pasquale Festa Campanile's "The Slave" a.k.a. "Scacco alla regina" (1969) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Mondo Macabro. The supplemental features on the disc include new video interviews with critic Roberto Curti; new video interview with Justin Harries from London's Film Bar; cast and crew profiles; original trailers; and more. In Italian, with imposed English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The Mistress
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Pasquale Festa Campanile's The Slave arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent U.S. distributors Mondo Macabro.
The release uses a high-definition transfer which was apparently struck from the original negative and as far as I am concerned the film looks wonderful on Blu-ray. There are a few tiny specks and scratches that pop up here and there, but depth and clarity are very pleasing. Virtually all of the close-ups are well lit and look great (see screencaptures #1 and 16), while the few outdoor shots boast pleasing fluidity. Some contrast fluctuations exist -- primarily during the dream sequences where contrast and color saturation are also intentionally manipulated (see screencapture #3) -- but they are part of the film's original image design. Colors are stable and natural, never appearing artificially boosted. The best news, however, is that there are no traces of compromising degraining or sharpening corrections. Quite predictably, from start to finish the film has a very pleasing organic appearance. Lastly, the are no encoding or compression anomalies to report in this review. All in all, I am enormously pleased with Mondo Macabro's first Blu-ray release and very much look forward to seeing other European genre films treated with similar care and attention. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Italian LPCM 1.0. For the record, Mondo Macabro have provided imposed English subtitles for the main feature. (They cannot be turned off via the disc's main menu or with the player's remote control). The subtitles appear inside the image frame).
The film is complimented by a superb, very atmospheric soundtrack courtesy of one of Italian cinema's all-time greatest composers, Piero Piccioni. The music is clean, well rounded, stable and free of distortions (there are a couple of tiny pops, but the majority of viewers will not notice them). Overall dynamic intensity is rather limited, but this should not be surprising as there are no elaborate action sequences. The English translation is excellent.
Mondo Macabro's release of Pasquale Festa Campanile's The Slave is easily the best Blu-ray debut from an independent distributor that I have seen in years. Not only is the technical presentation very good, but the film itself is a delicious period gem I am convinced many viewers will fall in love with. Buy with confidence, folks. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
1963
Slipcover Edition Limited to 2,500 | SOLD OUT
1973
De Sade '70 / Marquis De Sade's Philosophy in the Boudoir
1970
1964
1963
1975
1990
1975
Limited to 1,000 units
1968
1979
1970
1964
The Misfortunes of Virtue / Cruel Passion
1977
L'anticristo / Kino Cult #15
1974
2017
1985
Collector's Edition
1968
1976
1979
Dangerous Obsession / Il miele del diavolo
1986