Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Witches Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 16, 2018

Vittorio de Sica was one of the most legendary directors in the entire annals of Italian (and world) cinema, having been one of the founding fathers of the neorealist movement that arose in the wake of World War II, and the guiding force behind such all time classics as Bicycle Thieves, Shoeshine and (somewhat later in his career) The Garden of the Finzi Contini. Several of de Sica’s masterpieces were either nominated for or won Academy Awards, and in fact de Sica himself was nominated for an Academy Award in 1958, though kind of interestingly not for directing, but rather for his supporting actor work in an otherwise pretty tepid adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The 1960s were an interesting era for de Sica, with the director sometimes attempting to inject slyly comedic aspects into at least somewhat neorealist efforts like 1964’s Marriage Italian Style. But one of the other aspects to de Sica’s 1960s’ output was his contribution to what have been called “anthology films” or portmanteaus. In fact one of de Sica’s more notable efforts in this genre was 1963’s Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, the film he made immediately prior to Marriage Italian Style, and which featured that film’s two legendary stars, Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Other sixties’ anthologies (some of which had other directors in addition to de Sica) included Boccaccio '70, another outing that featured the allure of Sophia Loren. Loren may indeed have been an excellent choice for two films that had a de Sica credit and which were released in 1967, both of them anthologies, and both centered on the appeal of what might be thought of as the Eternal Feminine. Woman Times Seven was directed solely by de Sica and presented Shirley MacLaine in a septet of stories, all of which had at least a tangential connection to the idea of adultery.

The Witches, while bearing a 1967 release date, was actually filmed in either 1965 or 1966 (depending on whom you consult and/or believe), with only one of its five segments being directed by de Sica. If some of de Sica’s other portmanteaus were able to exploit the talents of Loren, and if Woman Times Seven was an ode to MacLaine’s versatility, The Witches attempted to do much the same service for Silvana Mangano, who not so coincidentally just happened to be married to the film’s producer, the equally legendary Dino de Laurentiis. Mangano, whose film career is attributed at least in part to an early relationship she had with Mastroianni, may not be at quite the same level of recognition for American audiences that Loren probably is, but she had a couple of notable appearances in films that made at least a bit of a splash on this side of the pond, including Bitter Rice (the film that helped to establish her in 1949), Barabbas and, toward the end of her rather short life, Dune. The Witches has a weird, almost hallucinatory, style at times that may keep the impact of Mangano’s performances just slightly at bay, but it’s an interesting amalgamation nonetheless.

The title of this film is perhaps a little misleading, for the five women depicted in the episodes are “witches” in a metaphorical sense only, and perhaps then fairly tangentially. So, those expecting voodoo doll crafting female magicians in the mold of several characters in various gialli> will probably be disappointed. The second and fourth episodes are directed by what are arguably the two lesser lights of this anthology, Mauro Bolognini and Franco Rossi (and I mean no disrespect to either of these accomplished directors, I’m merely pointing out that relatively speaking, they’re lesser known than da Sica, Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini, who helm the other stories.

Visconti opens the film with the longest episode, a weird and arguably too drawn out affair following a famous actress at a party where she passes out and the other guests “deconstruct” her glamour appeal, both literally (in terms of removing things like false eyelashes) and figuratively (in terms of several snarky comments made). This is an interesting intellectual exercise with virtually no emotional component, and in a way kind of reminded me of Luis Buñuel’s skewering of the privileged classes.

Both the aforementioned second and fourth episodes are rather short and act almost as cutaways in a vaudevillian sense. The second episode offers Mangano as a self absorbed upper class type who supposedly stops to help a man seriously injured in a car accident, but who is too self absorbed to really do that. The fourth episode is a frankly kind of bizarre revenge story that hints at the infamous Sicilian criminal class.

That leaves the third and final installments, and there’s little doubt that both Pasolini’s “The Earth as Seen from the Moon” and da Sica’s “An Evening Like the Others” are on the surreal side. The Pasolini short is unlike anything in the director’s more provocative arena, and instead plays almost like a live action cartoon, with iconic comedian Toto as a father on the hunt for a new bride, along with his bone headed son Ninetto Davoli. This episode is intentionally comic unlike some of the others (which admittedly cull unexpected comedy from some hyperbolic performance styles), but the comedy turns rather dark as things progress. The da Sica entry is a fascinating piece that posits Mangano as a kind of dowdy and (at least in interior monologues) shrill housewife unhappily married to one Clint Eastwood (so you know it’s a fantasy, right?). In its own way, this final piece examines some of the same “reality versus perception” issues that the first short did, albeit this time with two focal characters instead of one.

The Witches Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Witches is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

The Witches (La Streghe) has been exclusively restored for this release by Arrow Films. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.

The original 35mm interpositive was scanned in 2K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director Scanner at EFilm, Burbank. Picture grading and restoration was completed at Pinewood. The grading was completed on a DaVinci Resolve and picture restoration was performed using PFClean software. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. Image stability was also improved. Separate interpositive elements were sourced for the English language sections of the film. In some shots there were instances of heavy scratches at the far edge of the image which necessitated a minor repositioning of the frame.

While not completely optimal (some of the issues I'll mention might arguably have been improved by sourcing off the negative), this is a commendable looking restoration that offers generally good detail levels in close-ups, even though the bulk of this presentation has an almost gauzy softness at times (apart from any stylistic choices on the part of the directors or cinematographer). The palette is varied and fairly natural looking, but is just a bit on the tired side, with even the candy colors of the Pasolini episode never totally popping. Contrast seems just slightly anemic at times, something that tends to show up more in the darker scenes, where some of the blacks are just slightly hazy looking. All of this said, The Witches boasts a genuinely organic appearance with naturally resolving grain (some brief moments are just a bit rough looking, as evidenced by screenshots 18 and 19). This restoration lacks any major issues in terms of damage like scratches and other blemishes.

The Witches Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Witches' DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix has the slightly "detached" feeling quality that often attends post looped Italian films. The overall sound here is decidedly on the boxy side, with a somewhat compressed sounding midrange. Dialogue is never masked in any meaningful way, but things sound somewhat artificial at least some of the time. There are no overt problems with dropouts and the like.

The Witches Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Tim Lucas


• English Language Version (1080p; 1:44:14) is a slightly shorter version (the Italian version runs 1:51:08) dubbed in English for the American and other English speaking markets. Interestingly, the sequence with Clint Eastwood must have been filmed twice, once in Italian and once in English, since Mangano is clearly speaking English in this version (i.e., her lip movements match the spoken words).

As usual, Arrow has provided a nicely appointed insert booklet with writing and stills.

The Witches Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As a showcase for Mangano, The Witches probably gets that task accomplished readily enough, but this has a more disjointed and even chaotic feeling than many anthology films do. The stories here are so widely disparate and frankly kind of on the gonzo side at times that it's hard to assess any through line uniting them other than Mangano's presence, which frankly may not be enough for non-Italian viewers. Still, this has interesting elements for fans of the directors involved, and Arrow has once again assembled a release with an appealing commentary and generally solid technical merits.