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 If you want a review of the actual film, click here.
Firstly a few words about this release. This appears to be a joint venture between Arrow and the Cecchi Gori Group. The reason for thinking this is because it is sealed with one of those small silver tabs that you get on Italian CD cases which has 'Cecchi Gori' printed on it. Also, when you first insert the disc, there is an Italian language copyright screen followed by the animated Cecchi Gori logo. However, all the packaging is in English. The first menu you see asks you to choose between the Italiano OPERA and the English TERROR AT THE OPERA. This only applies to the language of the main menu though as you can switch between audio and subtitles during the film. |
| video | I guess that this release was always going to be compared to the Anchor Bay dvd but it now certainly has to be compared to the Italian Cecchi Gori release!
How does it do? Well it boasts an image quality that I think is better than either of the others. It is a pretty close run thing but this anamorphic transfer is impressive. The film is shown in it's correct aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and looks all the better for it. This is particularly good news considering the Italian dvd was incorrectly framed at 1.85:1. Any further worries about the Cecchi Gori link are put aside as it also does not contain the reversed section of film that that release had. There is a line that appears for a few seconds early on in the film but that's about as far as print damage goes and it occurs in all versions of the film I have seen.
This transfer is indeed beautiful to behold with strong vibrant colours throughout. The black levels are once again spot on and flesh tones appear natural. The image definition is pin sharp and there is very little visible grain and even then, only during the lighter scenes. Interestingly, although the film title that appears in the credits is 'TERROR AT THE OPERA', all the other credits are in Italian. |
| sound | One thing Arrow have not mentioned is the fact that this dvd has both the English language and Italian language audio tracks. Even the packaging only mentions the Italian one. Both are only Dolby 2.0 Surround but that is how the film was made and so I don't think that is a great hardship. Indeed, I think we get spoiled by the likes of Anchor Bay giving us 5.1 remixes all the time.
There is a difference between the two tracks (apart from the obvious). Switching between them reveals that the music levels are the main things to change. It seems the volume levels of the music are very low on both tracks, which is almost certainly intentional as even the Anchor Bay 5.1 track had these low levels. However in general, the English track seems slightly louder. But that dubbing...!
Talking of which, it seems that it uses the pre-Cannes English dubbing of the film with Inspector Alan Santini´s voice dubbed by a different actor, displaying a
distinct Italian accent not present in the current International release as issued by Anchor Bay.
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| extras |
The only extras are English and Italian subtitles, an Argento biography and a gallery of 15 stills from the film. The subtitles are a big bonus. For the first time, we don't have to listen to that awful English dialogue to understand what's going on!
The usual biography interestingly refers to TENEBRAE as UNDER THE EYES OF THE ASSASSIN, the translation of the Italian SOTTO GLI OCCHI DELL'ASSASSINO which points to the author not being overly familiar with Argento's films. The 15 stills appear to have been sampled at random and, to my mind do not portray how visually impressive OPERA actually is.
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| conclusion | | As this release is encoded region 2, it may not be an ideal disc for some but the outstanding transfer, soundtrack and subtitle choices certainly make it the best release of the film so far on dvd in my opinion. If lack of extras doesn't bother you, and it certainly doesn't me, get this disc. Nice one Arrow. |
| Special thanks to Neil Agran |
| cover artwork |
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TERROR AT THE OPERA
CECCHI GORI GROUP-TIGER
CINEMATOGRAFICA-A.D.C. ; ITALY
dvd specification
original year of release: 1987
approximate running time: 107 minutes
aspect ratio: widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1
system: PAL (colour)
rating: 18
sound: english and italian dolby digital 2.0 surround
subtitles: english and italian
dvd release: arrow films
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
Argento biography
photo gallery |
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