6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
In this playful spoof of the James Bond films, Robin Hawdon stars as Word...James Word, a womanizing secret agent whose investigation of a criminal mastermind (James Robertson Justice) leads him to discover a race of beautiful, exotic superwomen.
Starring: James Robertson Justice, Charles Hawtrey, Dawn Addams, Valerie Leon, Lionel MurtonSci-Fi | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
If you like the four B's—and obviously, I mean Barbarella and Bond, bongos and breasts—the cheeky 1969 sexploitation picture Zeta One will most definitely be your softcore cup of tea. Based on a comic strip from the shortly existent British lad mag Zeta, which featured sci-fi inspired photo spreads of scantily clad women, the movie borrows equally from Jane Fonda's spacey cult classic and Sean Connery-era 007, with a swinging Anglo-funk soundtrack and lovely English jubblies galore. Make no mistake, Zeta One is simply awful as a film. It's bizarrely slow, nearly plotless, and rife with continuity errors and obvious money-saving shortcuts. None of this will matter, however, to connoisseurs of the so- bad-they're-fantastic nudie-cuties of the 1960s. That is, you don't watch movies like Zeta One for their stories or production values; you watch them because they're campy and fun and positively quaint by today's sexual standards.
In typical Kino/Redemption/Jezebel fashion, Zeta One is essentially presented as-is, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded Blu-ray transfer—close to the correct 1.66:1 aspect ratio—that hasn't been cleaned up in any significant way. This means you'll frequently see white and black specks, small scratches, and bits of hair and other debris on the image, which sometimes gives the impression that you're actually watching a projection of beat-up 35mm print in some dank grindhouse. It certainly enhances the mood, but if you're looking for a pristine picture, you won't find it here. Still, Kino's hands-off approach also means that there's at least been no smeary digital noise reduction or abusive, halo-inducing edge enhancement. The print looks entirely natural, with a visible grain pattern that may be heavy at times—especially during certain scene transitions—but is vastly preferable to an artificially smoothed- over image. Not surprisingly for a film of this vintage and budget, the picture is never razor sharp, but it's obvious that you're seeing all the detail the 35mm print has to offer at the current 1080p resolution. No complaints here. Color too is reproduced capably, with the overlapping neon lights of Angvia looking vivid but never oversaturated. Contrast is stable and skin tones are, well, fetching. The fairly short film sits on a 25 GB single-layer disc with plenty of room—I didn't spot any obvious compression issues.
The film's Blu-ray release features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio mono track that does what it can with the dynamically limited source material, and it's unlikely that Zeta One will ever sound better. You might hear a low-level hiss from time to time, but pops and crackles are limited, and dialogue is always clean and easy to understand. (Which is important since Kino never seems to include any subtitle tracks for these native-English Redemption/Jezebel releases—a pet peeve of mine.) The highlight here is most definitely the film's music, from the Bond theme-esque title song— featuring a Shirley Bassey croon-alike—to the swinging background score, which features bass and horns and percussion going bonkers in a groovy 1960s freakout.
The lone extras on the disc are trailers for Zeta One (HD, 2:02) and Girl on a Motorcycle (SD, 00:50).
Though Zeta One is not a good film, I'm oh-so-glad it exists. This sort of low-budget English nudie-cutie could never be made again, not with the same earnestness and sense of unbridled fun. It's most definitely a curiosity, and really only recommendable if you're already into this niche sub-genre, but I'm glad companies like Kino/Redemption/Jezebel are around to facilitate this kind of release. Zeta One looks and sounds as good as can be expected here considering the source material, and while short on special features, this disc is a good bet for those of you who enjoyed Girl on a Motorcycle or The Sex Thief.
1964-1965
1965
Reissue
1985
1987
Five Million Years to Earth
1967
2020
Spawn of the Slithis
1978
1988
1966
1982
1962
Collector's Edition
1996
1988
1996
Director's Cut
1993
1959
1956
The Brain Leeches / The Halloween Planet
1980
1951
1944