What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 28, 2016

Massimo Dallamano's "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?" a.k.a. "La polizia chiede aiuto" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of German label Camera Obscura. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; exclusive new audio commentary with film scholar Marcus Stiglegger and filmmaker Dominik Graf; documentary feature with composer Stelvio Cipriani; and more. The release also arrives with a 22-page illustrated booklet featuring writings on the film in English and German. In English, Italian, or German, with optional English or German subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Vittoria Stori

While I was revisiting Massimo Dallamano’s What Have They Done to Your Daughters? the other night, I was reminded of the great Italian TV series La Piovra (The Octopus) in which Michele Placido’s Inspector Corrado Cattani begins a long silent war against the mafia. There is exactly ten years of events between them -- the film was completed in 1974 while the first season of the TV series premiered in 1984 -- but the parallel world they expose is basically the same. The only difference is that in La Piovra Placido’s character goes much, much deeper.

Here’s the plot of Dallamano’s film: The cold body of a beautiful girl is discovered in a fancy apartment. The preliminary investigation points to a fairly straightforward suicide case, but then some surprising information emerges and when Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) and Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli) begin studying the victim’s past they discover that she was part of a large child prostitution ring. Then Inspector Valentini (Mario Adorf), who is assisting them, learns that his daughter has also been abused by the criminals running the underground operation. While the police continue to gather more information, a leather-clad maniac goes on a killing spree.

The film is structured in a very specific manner so that it appeals to two very different groups of viewers. The bulk of the material is used to replicate the classic giallo atmosphere that defines Dallamano’s earlier film What Have You Done to Solange?. I don’t want to spoil it by discussing in detail how it is done, but I will mention that the footage with the maniac certainly delivers the right dose of intensity that a good giallo demands. What I find more interesting here is that there are some pretty obvious socio-political overtones in the story which suggest that Dallamano was also looking to engage a different group of viewers. To be perfectly clear, this isn’t a political film, but it isn’t a straightforward giallo either -- it is sort of a hybrid project that essentially attempts to expose a troubling reality and make a point that Italians should be aware of it.

I mentioned earlier that the concept behind La Piovra is very similar. Inspector Cattani begins a criminal investigation that quickly evolves into a personal war against the mafia that exposes a system within the Italian society that is destroying it from within. I remember when La Piovra was released it was a real eye-opener. Dallamano’s film does not have the same punching power and it was not a shocker, but at the time when it was released it must have made some viewers feel uncomfortable. Why? Because when the final credits roll its message does not just fade away. It stays with you, and then you begin to wonder if the real world that you are part of is actually any better than the one the film has shown you.

Franco Delli Colli’s camerawork frequently adds a degree of intensity that is probably a lot more appropriate for a straightforward poliziotteschi film from the era, but this isn’t actually a weakness. The film just looks different.

The excellent score was created by Stelvio Cipriani (The Lickerish Quartet, The Night Child).

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG04 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Camera Obscura.

The film has been recently restored and the overwhelming majority of it looks quite wonderful. Indeed, the visuals look very healthy, vibrant and stable. Depth and clarity are very good, though it is quite obvious now that the original cinematography is a bit shaky in certain segments (I refer to spots where density may fluctuate a bit and the hand-held camera actually introduces some small basic optical anomalies). There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections, though I should mention that occasionally the grain could be a bit harsher than I would have liked it to be. Regardless, there are no serious anomalies. Edge-enhancement is not an issue of concern. Color stability and saturation are good. There is also a good range of healthy nuances. There are a few areas where I think that brightness levels could have been better managed, but the end result is convincing. Overall image stability is excellent. There are no distracting debris, cuts, stains, marks, or torn/warped frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit), and German: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit). Optional English and German subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the film with the 'international' English track. Like most Italian genre films from the era, there is plenty of overdubbing here and some of it is a bit uneven. There are some minor balance issues as well, but they are almost certainly part of the original dubbing -- it is just the way many of these dubs were done in Italy at the time. Clarity is very good. Depth and dynamic intensity can fluctuate a bit, but these fluctuations are also not a byproduct of recent poor digital work.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Blu-ray

• Unused Hardcore Footage - presented here is additional explicit footage. Without sound. (6 min).

• Italian Trailer - original restored Italian trailer for the film. In Italian, not subtitled. (4 min).

• English Trailer - original restored English trailer for the film. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• German Trailer - original German trailer for the film. In German, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Photo Gallery - presented here is a collection of original promotional materials for the film. With music.

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, film scholar Marcus Stiglegger and filmmaker Dominik Graf discuss some of the technical qualities that defined the Italian genre films that were made during the 1970s when What Have They Done to Your Daughters? was shot, the balance between artificiality and realism in them, the need to dub them, some of the main themes in What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Stelvio Cipriani's score, etc. In German, with optional English and German subtitles.

DVD

• Eternal Melody - in this very informative documentary, composer Stelvio Cipriani discusses his career in the film business, the type of soundtracks he created during the years for various Italian genre films, and his involvement with Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters. In Italian, with optional English or German subtitles. (48 min).

• Dallamano's Touch - in this featurette, editor Antonio Siciliano recalls how he started working with director Massimo Dallamano, and discusses his work on What Have They Done to Your Daughters and the director's working methods. There are also some very interesting comments about the explicit unused scenes/footage. In Italian, with optional English or German subtitles. (22 min).

• Booklet - a 22-page illustrated booklet featuring writings on the film in English and German.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The best way to describe Massimo Dallamano's What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is probably to say that it is a giallo with a social conscience. There is similar blending of genre material in Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, though that film actually hits some very specific targets and promotes a different type of atmosphere. I find these period films quite interesting to deconstruct because they can be unusually subversive and serious at the same time. German label Camera Obscura has recently restored What Have They Done to Your Daughters? and added some very interesting supplemental features on their release, all of which are subtitled in English. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.