White Fire Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

White Fire Blu-ray Movie Review

A Chronicle of Nanar-ia.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 6, 2020

The French, who famously coined the term film noir, have another “category” in their arsenal, and for a brief definition of that, here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Un nanar est, dans le langage familier, un film qui possède tellement de défauts qu'il en devient involontairement ridicule et comique. Il ne doit pas être confondu avec le navet.

Whoops, maybe an English translation can help:

A nanar is, in colloquial terms, a film that has so many flaws that it unintentionally becomes ridiculous and comical . It should not be confused with turnip.

Yes, confusing “so bad they’re good” films with turnips is evidently important to the French, but there’s an eytmological or at least historical reason for that differentiation, since “turnip” was apparently used long before movies came along to designate something of little value. The French Wikipedia page delineating nanar films offers several examples, including Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Room , Turkish Star Wars, Troll 2 and Birdemic: Shock and Terror, which may give at least the broad, general outlines of this “genre” (if that’s even a correct corollary term to nanar). There are actually whole websites devoted to nanar films, and on her commentary included on this disc as a supplemental feature, Kat Ellinger discusses Nanarland, a site (with the most common dot suffix) which has deemed White Fire to be the sine qua non and/or non pareil paradigm of the nanar idiom (and, yes, I did just use those three terms in the same sentence). This is a film that starts out making absolutely no sense whatsoever, and then rather intriguingly manages to arguably zoom straight downhill into utter chaos.

The film opens with a vignette which even Ellinger (who seems to have a genuine fondness for this film) states has absolutely no relation to the rest of the story, other than introducing the kid versions of two characters who, as grown ups, are the focus of the film. This opening has what appear to be the parents of two young children running through a forest, being chased by paramilitary types. Now for those who may want to set up their own Mystery Science Theater 3000 viewing party and "comment" on the film as it plays, you might want to pay attention to the kids in this scene. They're supposed to be terrified, or at least one might assume that condition given the circumstances being depicted. Instead, you can clearly see them laughing and enjoying the patent insanity of being in the scene (and let's face it, they probably had little to no idea of any underlying "plot dynamics"). Suffice it to say that by the end of this opening vignette, the parents are dead (the father is played by writer-director Jean-Marie Pallardy, and his "death" is rather gruesome and looks like it actually injured him in the filming, as Ellinger also notes in her commentary) and the kids have been taken in by characters who are neither introduced nor contextualized (my personal advice to any prospective viewers of White Fire is to get used to things like that).

There’s an appealing and actually kind of sweet interview with Pallardy included on this disc, and he makes no bones about having built his career out of soft porn films (he goes into rather picayune detail as to why his films aren’t “really” porn), and how that made financing White Fire a bit of a tricky enterprise. In that regard, that Turkish Star Wars film mentioned above may have a “sibling” of sorts in White Fire, since Turkish investors helped get the film greenlit, and indeed it was filmed in and around Istanbul (spelled Istambul in a some “locator” text superimposed on an establishing shot). The two kids seen in that opening vignette who are now grown are Boris (Robert Ginty) and Ingrid (Belinda Mayne), and Ingrid is working at a diamond mine in the desert. Early semi-clear events detail that the pair seem to be intent on stealing as many diamonds as possible. For those who may be disappointed that Pallardy wasn't making a soft porn film with White Fire, take heart, though, as the film has a really kind of smarmy subtext suggesting that Boris and Ingrid are "intimate" in ways that brothers and sisters typically aren't, and the film does offer some rather long, lascivious full frontal looks at Mayne.

Unfortunately (and minor spoiler alert, though it hardly makes a difference in a property this silly), Ingrid isn't long for the world, and that's where this film really goes gonzo, with Boris meeting a near lookalike named Olga (Diana Goodman) whom he refashions, a la Pygmalion or perhaps more saliently Vertigo, into the girl of his dreams, which is in this case, Ingrid. That allows access into the mine, where a huge gem that actually burns anyone who touches it can be found, and which is the ultimate heist object.

Those who peruse cast listings may wonder where Fred Williamson is in all this mishegos, and interestingly (if disappointingly) he only shows up quite late in the proceedings for just a handful of scenes, as a kind of jovial nemesis who has a connection to Olga, who now looks like Ingrid. Are you catching all of this? If not, there are a grab bag of other outré elements, including a whole series of deaths and/or immolations by a variety of implements (including one sequence which might be cheekily described as Turkey Chainsaw Massacre). There are also a number of odd supporting performances from the likes of Jess Hahn and Gordon Mitchell, both of whom evidently had long histories with Pallardy.

White Fire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

White Fire is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only the following pretty generic language about the transfer:

White Fire is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio [sic] with mono audio. The High Definition master was provided by Films Boutique.

As Ellinger gets into in her commentary, the mere fact that White Fire is being released in any form in high definition is something of a minor miracle, and so certain slack will probably have to be granted considering the rarity of the film (especially, as Ellinger notes, in this somewhat longer form than some previous home video releases). The element used for the transfer has pretty widely variant quality, with some of the brightly lit outdoor scenes popping surprisingly well, with some deep blue skies and generally commendable detail levels. The opening scene is somewhat rough looking, perhaps due in part to some interstitial optically printed credits, and that same rough, slightly less vibrant, quality tends to ebb and flow throughout the presentation. There are numerous minor signs of age related wear and tear that lead me to believe this probably hasn't undergone any substantial restoration. Densities fluctuate somewhat, and the palette kind of migrates between looking decently suffused and at least occasionally rather warm, and then more desaturated, with an almost bluish undertone. Grain resolves naturally for the most part, but can occasionally look a little gritty against some of the brighter skies. My score is 3.25, but fans of the film (and there are evidently droves of them) who have only been able to see older home video versions may feel more generously inclined.

White Fire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

White Fire offers either English LPCM 2.0 mono or French LPCM mono tracks, and in toggling between them, I didn't hear any differences other than the spoken language. The film features some a couple of surprisingly effective tunes from Jon Lord of Deep Purple and Whitesnake, and the theme in particular is repeated ad infinitum. All of the music sounds full bodied and distortion free. The dialogue, at least some of which I'm assuming was post-looped for both versions, can occasionally show slight differences in ambient reverb, but is generally cleanly and clearly presented.

White Fire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Kat Ellinger


• Enter the Hammer (1080p; 11:35) is a really fun and often funny new interview with Fred Williamson.


• Surviving the Fire (1080p; 22:27) is an engaging newly done interview with Jean-Marie Pallardy. In French with English subtitles.


• Diamond Cutter (1080p; 20:51) is a new interview with editor Bruno Zicone. In French with English subtitles.


• 2020 Re-issue Trailer (1080p; 2:12)

Additionally Arrow has also provided their typically well appointed insert booklet.

White Fire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are any number of questions more discerning cineastes may have about White Fire, even beyond any wondering how the film ever got made in the first place. Ellinger mentions the weird sci-fi look of the mine, albeit pretty low budget sci-fi, just to cite one presentational aspect, but what's up with the supposed "elevator" Ingrid rides in the mine which obviously doesn't move, or even the fact that apparently the mine operators like to torture their employees? White Fire has the makings of a cult "so bad it's good" classic, but I'd argue that the kind of smarmy incest angle might take a bit of the fun out of it for some. Arrow has once again provided another niche release for a certain demographic that offers decent video and good audio, along with some really appealing supplements.