Live like a Cop, Die like a Man

Live like a Cop, Die like a Man
Original title: Uomini si nasce poliziotti si moure
Directed by: Ruggero Deodato
Italy, 1976
Poliziotteschi, 87 min.
Distributed by: Raro Video & Nocturno

Good old Ruggero Deodato’s only entry into the Poliziotteschi genre Live like a Cop, Die like a Man is a dark, malicious little entry into that great Italian niche, but it’s dark tones are not thanks to a charismatic villain, or a hard necked cop on a personal vendetta, but by two very unconventional undercover agents of the “Special Squad” who bar no holds in their fight against crime… even if it means crossing the lines of justice themselves and getting laid on the way.

Live like a Cop, Die like a Man was Deodato’s second film after his “comeback” with the slightly erotic thriller A Wave of Pleasure (Una ondata di piacere) 1975, and shows the early signs of where he was determined to take his movies; into a realm of dark, haunting, non-remorseful world of violence and cynicism. I say comeback due to the fact the 36-year-old director had been tampering with commercials and TV serials for the last couple of years since directing the modest comedy Zenabel in 1969. A Wave of Pleasure starring Al Cliver and Deodato’s at the time girlfriend Silvia Dionisio [who also starred in Paul Morrissey’s Blood for Dracula 1974, and Michele Massimo Tarantini’s Crimebusters 1976.] was a moderate success and on the back of this producers/screenwriters Alberto Marras and Vincenzo Salviani [who later wrote and produced Lucio Fulci’s erotic thriller Devil’s Honey 1986] offered the script that they had written with genre master Fernando di Leo to Deodato.

Intrigued by the script Deodato started planning the cast, and suggested Cliver for a lead role. Although Cliver found the level of violence a tad too much for his taste, and with what was in store for the Italian genre cinema just down the road, ironically passed on the part. Instead the parts of Fred and Tony went to Marc Porel and Ray Lovelock, both of them no strangers to violent action.

And violent action is exactly what Live like a Cop, Die like a Man is all about. From the opening scene to the final one it’s a screaming frenzy of sadistic beatings, fast paced chase sequences, explosive shootouts, male chauvinism, bold law enforcement and heartless crime lords.

Instead of the usual quick fix, I’ll give you the first ten minutes of the movie, as these set the tone and vibe for the movie in an excellent way. Starting out with a shot of the two leads, Porel and Lovelock, riding their motorbike through the streets titles pass by in a manner that is convention for most Poliziotteschi, simple text against images of city life with the odd obvious bad guy thrown in here and there. Two geezers stand suspiciously outside a band [keep your eyes open for Deodato’s cameo here] and when a woman walks out holding her handbag in a firm grip close to her chest, the two rouges take off on their motorbike down the road, heading straight for the woman. They snatch her bag, but it’s chained to her arm, and instead of letting go, they simply drag her along the sidewalk, slamming into the curb and crushing her head against a light post as they try to get the bag out of her grip. As if that wasn’t enough, they stop the bike, get off and start beating the life out of her in a very gruesome scene that would become somewhat of a Deodato trait through out the movies to follow – the passive observing of scenes of grisly violence – because this is not just a few slaps to the face, but a deadly assault that we can only avoid by closing our eyes or turning off the screen. But you wouldn’t want to do that now would you, because this is where Fred and Tony return to the screen.

After a quick examination of the now dead woman, they take off after the thieves, or should we call them murderers now, and an exhilarating eight minute motorcycle chase follows which sees Lovelock and Porel dash in and out of traffic, tight alleyways, and a couple of terrific jumps over diverse obstacles. To show just how ruthless the bikers are, they swoosh past a blind man at a crossing and run his dog over… but Fred and Tony are just as ruthless and zoom past the blind man on each side leaving him in a could of smoke. All good things come to an end and even so this exciting chase as Fred and Tony force the criminals into the back of a parked van. One of them goes flying through the van and ends up smashing into the ground in front of the van, whilst the second is impaled on the gears of the bike. Tony watches as the impaled biker writhes in pain and as he takes his last breath there is a sinister smile upon his face. At the same time Fred gently tends to the biker who smashed into the ground at high speed, helping him sit up appropriately and breathe freely. But in the blink of an eye he snaps the biker’s head, breaking his neck. Satisfied with taking out the bad guys, Tony and Fred tell the arriving officers that they will take care of the details of the two bikers “accidental” death in their reports, remount their motorbike and head off for new confrontations with crime…

That’s pretty much the tone and hefty pacing of the film. The special agents are forceful, take no shit, move fast, even if they defy their commanding chiefs direct orders, and take out bad guys like there was no tomorrow. Mob boss Roberto “Bibi” Pasquini [Renato Salvatori], runs a tight operation with his hardened thugs and bribed law enforcers, all the way to the top, keeping him one step ahead of the long arm of the law. Women are simply there for two causes, either victims or objects of sexual desire.

It’s interesting from this perspective because there are strange sexual preferences and themes at work in this movie, and the first thing I think when I see the two undercover agents riding their motorbike together in the opening scene is; wow, that’s pretty intimate for two supposedly hard-ass coppers to be riding around hugging each other on a motorbike. There’s not too much about the first images that says; two rough, tough skit kickers out to stop crime in it’s tracks at all, it could just as well have been two lovers on the way to the park or something. But this obviously gets kicked on its ass as they take up pursuit of the handbag snatchers a few moments later and exterminate the brutes, but still there’s a strange thing going on here and this is what I see. There are these two macho blokes who eliminate bad guys each day at work. They obviously are very close and even share a bike as their means of transportation, they also share a flat together and I sense some kind of homoerotic vibe between the two. To balance up the homoerotic vibe the two guys try to bed every woman they make contact with. This is apparent as they leave their flat after their cleaning woman accuses them of getting her daughter knocked up. They go to work and try to work their way into the pants of the chief’s secretary Norma [Silvia Dionisio – at this time Deodato’s wife] with an aggressive line of seduction. But when she responds with the same approach claiming that she could take on both of them, they can’t quite deal with her reply and still pester her to decide which one she would go to bed with. She tells them that women are much more insatiable then men, and she could take them both and two more. This returns later on in a variation as they finally start closing in on mob leader Pasquini and meet his nymphomaniac younger sister Lina [Sofia Dionisio – younger sister of Silvia here credited as Flavia Fabiani]. She wriggles her way out of her clothes and lures the not to hard to persuade Tony into the sack during her interrogation. As Fred talks to Lina’s maid Maricca [Gina Mascetti] they hear the sounds of Lina wearing down Tony, and Fred walks into the room and like some kind of sexual tag team, takes over where Tony ended. Even in the “climactic” ending, starring death in the eye – ok they don’t know, but they have a sense of it – they take the time out to shag Pasquini’s girlfriend… It’s a strange relationship that the two guys have with each other, but it also brings a strange kinkiness to the flick without going over the top and stepping into sleazville.

At the same time, the two protagonists kinky sexual games, sadistic violence and neglect to obey their executives make them interesting characters that walk a dangerous balancing act on the thin like between being protagonists and becoming antagonists. It would be easy to regard the two unorthodox cops as bad guys, unsympathetic characters who don’t play fair. But we don’t, we just keep rooting for them to save the day. This is all due to the fact that they hold a childlike approach to everything they do. Their continuous adolescent referrals to being such studs and later they ironically can’t satisfy the only woman who offers them a piece of the action. The innovative ways they take out the villains, with a sense of dark humour and playful “ha gotcha” approach, when they burn all the cars – 20 of them, Beamers, Mercs, Porsches and a Rolls Royce – they do it with a giggle and a wink, just like kids. The same goes for that final after their Boss [Adolfo Celi] - or even father figure if you like - has sorted out the mess they have gotten themselves into with an “It Ok now lads” gesture, they look at the detonator connected to the boat they just got off with a look on their faces that say’s “Should we press that lever?” and you know what they are going to do before it even happens, even though there is no necessity to actually blow up the boat. They do it because they are like two kids getting up to mischief.

Plot wise it’s an intriguing movie, sometimes difficult to keep up with as several threads that at first seem random, eventually come into the story and reveal a larger meaning towards the end of the movie. At times the crimes and villains that Fred and Tony take out seem just arbitrary, but it becomes apparent that they in one way or another are connected to the big fish – Roberto “Bibi” Pasquini. One such thread is the minor subplot with the great supporting actor Bruno Corazzai as the gambling heroin addict Morandi. When he fails to pay his debts in time, Bibi’s henchmen sadistically tear out his eye as a violent reminder not to screw around with Pasquini, but this apparent random event, comes back into the narrative during the last act when Fred and Tony start tightening the noose round Pasquini’s neck. Using Morandi and his pending debt towards Bibi, they find away to get close to the mobster constantly one step ahead.

The ending, even though it may come as an anticlimax for some viewers, I see as a great moment, as it also adds to the darkness of the movie. Without exposing anything, I can say that the ending according to classical narrative structure sets records straight and “the helper” proves that he’s really been behind the heroes’ all the standing by them in their philosophy that the only good criminal is a dead criminal.

I’m quite fond of Italian soundtracks and especially of this time period when they had their own sound and aura to them. You probably know that I’m not to fond of the later movies where contemporary pop and rock moved in and the suave, jazzy boss nova swing was out. Ubaldo Continiello’s score for Live like a Cop, Die like a Man get’s the job done, but it doesn’t stand out in the way that say Armando Trovaioli, Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, or Franco Micalizzi’s Poliziotteschi scores do, but it at least gives Lovelock an opportunity to sing along to the theme song “Won’t take to long” and that’s always something of value.

Live like a Cop, Die like a Man, surprisingly became quite a hit for Deodato, and obviously because it’s a gritty, sexist, macho piece of hard handed aggression that rushes forth taking no prisoners in it’s wake but with a constant twinkle in the eye. And even though the film is Deodato’s only entry into the Poliziotteschi genre he didn’t surrender to the success Live like a Cop, Die like a Man, and churn out a bunch of sequels. Instead Deodato ventured deep into the Philippine jungles and started up the shoot of Last Cannibal World. Within a few months Italian genre cinema would have a new provocative subgenre to shock the un-expecting audiences with and instead of fast shooting cops and robbers the screens would be filled with unfortunate urban city dwellers isolated in the deep jungles confronting blood thirsty loin clothed cannibals munching their guts.

Image:

1,85:1 Non-Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:

Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, optional Italian or English dialogue. English subtitles are available.

Extras:

One of the great things with the Raro releases are their great selection of extras, here there’s a pretty lengthy documentary (just under 40 min) about the movie with interviews with Deodato and Ray Lovelock, but also Al Cliver, Gilberto Galimbeti [Master at arms on the film] and Armando Novelli. There’s also a little musical surprise for you at the end of the documentary. There’s also a series of Ruggero Deodato’s commercials that he directed before returning to features, his biography and filmography to round it all off.

And here's a clip from that great opening...

The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist

The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist
Original Title: Il cinico, I’infame, il violento
Directed by: Umberto Lenzi
Italy, 1977
Poliziotteschi, 100min
Distributed by: Alpha Digital

Of all the genre’s that Umberto Lenzi tried his directing skills in, I feel that the Poliziotteschi flicks are among his finest. Obviously there are several brilliant entries of his to be found on the other sphere’s – Cannibal Ferox 1981, Nightmare City 1980, The Oasis of Fear 1971, Seven Bloodstained Orchids 1972 and Eyeball 1975 to name a few, but it’s the Poliziotteschi that I find myself returning to and rediscovering with a new passion that wasn’t there the first time around. The Tomas Milian pieces, like Almost Human 1974, Rome; Armed to the Teeth 1976 and The Rat the Cynic and the Fist, stand out and have against all odds stood up to the tests of time.

The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist is a fantastic piece of Italian genre cinema where the title possibly refers to Sergio Leone’s splendid spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 1966 and saying that, there’s more to the movie than just a cryptic title. Maurizio Merli is obvious the Fist as he slugs his way through the antagonists of the film, then there’s Tomas Milian in one of his finest performances ever, as Luigi “the Chinaman” Maietto, without a doubt the cynic of the piece, leaving John Saxon as the rat, or rather the Infamous as the original titles call him. Some stuff just get’s lost in translation doesn’t it.

Performances are tight, and well acted, Merli is great in this sequel to Lenzi’s previous piece Rome: Armed to the Teeth, which also sees Merli in the role of Inspector Tanzi. But the movie definitely belongs to Tomas Milian in a performance that out shines both Merli and Saxon by yards. He owns this piece with his sneering, sinister criminal who just oozes cynicism towards the law officials, the mob Boss Frank Di Maggio and even towards his once cohorts that he eliminates on his struggle towards the top of the food chain.

As usual, here’s a quick fix on the movie to remind you, or wake your interest for the film: Leonardo Tanzi, once Rome’s most feared police inspector has handed in his badge and now works as an editor of murder mystery novellas. (Watch the scene closely and you’ll see that its Gialli books he’s working with) When he learns that upcoming criminal Luigi “The Chinaman” Maietto has been released from the pen, he’s not so surprised to find his own obituary waiting for him under his door when he returns home. Shortly there after Maietto’s hit men make their entry [Bruno Corazzari and Claudio Undari], and after taking a few shots at Tanzi, they leave him for dead. Once a cop, always a cop is the pathos that Tanzi lives by, and after his former boss, Commissioner Astalli [Renzo Palmer] forces him into hiding so that they can lure the guilty by claiming that the legendary Tanzi is dead, Tanzi becomes a one man vigilante working outside the law. Obviously Tanzi doesn’t hide from anyone, and pretty soon he gets himself involved in rescuing a colleagues young sister from the hands of a pornographer who keeps his models/prostitutes on a strict diet of smack. (Bo A. Vibenius Thriller - A Cruel Picture anyone?) Herein also lies the connection to Maietto.

Trying his damndest to move in on American mobster Frank Di Maggio’s [Saxon] turf, Maietto is pushing the good old “Protection” racket, which obviously clashes with Di Maggio’s interests and Tanzi’s morale values. Slowly but surely the three opposing parts twist and grind their way through a grid of double crossing, enforcing violence, cunning heists and sadistic actions towards a climax, a climax that comes with a splendid blaze of glory as the three leads finally stand face to face.

What I feel makes this piece quite entertaining is that there are so many rifts and conflicts on both sides of the law. There are the conflicts on the criminal side, Di Maggio vs. the newcomer Maietto, and there’s certain tension between Tanzi and commissioner Astalli, which gives a deeper dimension to both the characters and the narrative. It’s an amazingly entertaining ride which I already said stands out among both the genre and Lenzi’s work.

Along the way there’s some great supporting cast performances by Bruno Corazzari, Claudio Undari, and the man who is almost everything worth watching Fulcio Mingozzi makes yet another short appearance. It’s a pretty male dominated movie, as nearly no women hold any specific role in the plot, other than scared victims for Merli to rescue and save, although Gabriella Lepori does have a bit of importance as she brings the narrative to an important junction, and connects the pornographer’s mischief to the racket Maietto has going.

Now there’s no way to discuss this movie without mentioning the great Ernesto Gastaldi. Ernesto Gastaldi’s name in the screenwriting credits is enough to make me want to watch the movie. If you are a regular reader, you will now that I can rant on about on his resume – Bitto Albertini’s Human Cobras 1971 and all those great Sergio Martino, Luciano Ercoli and Lenzi movies to name a few names - and there’s no doubt that Gastaldi is among the greatest of the Italian screenwriters. He frequently manages to bring depth, and complexity to the characters that so usually are mere generic personality. Just take a look at what he did to Maurizio Merli’s character police detective Leonardo Tanzi in the two movies of that series. In the second of the films, The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist, he injures the lead character, Tanzi, early on in the movie only to have him rubbing his sore wound over and over again. It also works as an instrument to give the character some personality and bring him down to a human level. He is vulnerable, but still doesn’t back down from busting up a few criminals despite his injuries, even if his actions make him sore. It’s something that action hero’s seldom consider as they move from one scene of severe damage to full fledged ass kicking without any side effects in the next scene. If you pay attention to the names of the writers in the opening titles, you will also spot Dardano Sachetti among the writers. With movies like Dario Argento’s Cat o’ Nine Tails 1971, Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood 1971, almost everyone of Lucio Fulci’s classics, Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes 1977, Zombie 1979, City of the Living Dead 1980 and the others, Antonio Margheriti’s Cannibal Apocalypse 1980 and many many more, it’s no understatement that Sachetti is quite possibly the greatest of them all, and with the two giants of Italian screenwriting working off a Sauro Scavolini story, on the same movie, there’s no more reason to hesitate about this one. The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist is a must see movie with an excellent script, great actors, and a terrific entry into the Poliziotteschi genre.

Franco Micalizzi’s score is excellent, and holds some strong reminders of Stelvio Cipriani’s scores for movies within the genre, although with Micalizzi’s unique fully orchestrated funk jazz umph to it. For some strange reason the Soundtrack is available under the name Violence… Once again Eugenio Alabiso’s editing is tight and ferocious, adding to the rapid pacing of the scenes, and thanks to the widescreen presentation that I recall wasn’t there in the previous vhs version I used to have of this magnificent movie, Federico Zanni’s excellent cinematography come to it’s right. Certain scenes could actually be lifted from this movie to show cinematography students the power of composition and value added to a scene by simple effects as framing the shot in the right way.

The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist is a definitive statement to the craftsmanship of Umberto Lenzi, a guy who easily get’s lost as a second rate director among the many cheesier of his movies, especially the later ones, but this one is a gem and proves that Lenzi really had the knack for putting forth tight action movies that still work perfectly to this day.

Image:

Widescreen 16:9

Audio:

Dolby Digital Mono, English Dubbed version, which will give you a few laughs with the voice Saxon has been given.

Extras:

Nothing special, just the original theatrical trailer.

Puzzle

Puzzle
Original Title: L’uomo Senza Memoria
Directed by: Duccio Tessari
Italy, 1974
Giallo, 92 min.
Distributed by NjutaFilms.

Story:
In London a tricky problem is presented to Edward [Luc Merenda], who has just recovered from a serious car accident. He can’t remember who he is. This is especially troublesome for him as people from his past start turning up and demanding that he “gives back the money” he owes them. He learns that his passport claiming he is Peter Smith is a fake and his real name is in fact Edward. The trail leads him to Italy where his wife Sara [Senta Berger] still unaware that he’s still alive has started putting together the shatters of her life since he went missing in London some years ago. After an awkward reuniting Sara decides to give the “dirty rotten bastard” a second chance. Edward is remorseful to learn that he was a “dirty rotten bastard”, but he has really lost his memory and needs her to give him a chance so that he can get back on track. Then George [Bruno Corazzari] shows up outside their door. George claims to be a mate of Edwards, and if Edward doesn’t return the drugs and money he was holding onto when he went missing George will kill him and then their common boss will kill George. Edward has to start putting together the pieces of his puzzle in rapid progression now, because there are lives at stake.


Me:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until time stands still, there’s nothing as entertaining as a good Old Italian Giallo. I’ll fight to the death to declare that there are NO bad Gialli, the scale goes from great ones and lesser good ones, bad is not part of the genre. Duccio Tessari’s L’uomo senza memoria is one of those Giallo that could have been so much more, but if you can stay with it through out the fist half the second half really takes off and it manages to redeem any tediousness that it may have caused in the set up. Luc Merenda walks around in confusion, always the hard ass, dishing out sarcastic comments and uses his fists over his mind as he tries to puzzle his life back together. But unfortunately he never quite manages to persuade me that he’s really confused, more just his regular old Detective mimicry as he tries to figure stuff out. Austrian Import Senta Berger pulls this off like a charm. She fits the midlife wife who is desperately trying to put her life together again with the help of neighbour kid Luca [Duilio Cruciani] and Doctor Reinhardt [Umberto Orsini] as she flirts her way through her crisis. The dramatic tightening of the noose half way through as the pieces start to fall together and the original plan to smuggle drugs out of Italy is exposed really good and presents a great example of Giallo at it’s better state. It’s also a tightly woven movie as all the plot plants get paid off towards the conclusion, Little Luca’s constant photographing of Sara, the chainsaw the gardener keeps forgetting to put away, that disgusting little dog, all subtly planted just to comeback and deliver new pieces of information, who the mysterious woman is, where the drugs are etc., as the movie moves towards a truly grizzly climax.


Duccio, with several successful Peplum & Spaghetti Westerns to his credit only ventured into Giallo territory a few rare times, Puzzle being one of them. Not quite as known as his previous attempt The Bloodstained Butterfly, but on the other hand the story here has been scripted by Giallo Script Maestro Ernesto Gastaldi which almost always guarantees placing the movie in the upper half of that above mentioned scale. Staying true to most Gialli, the who dunnit toying with the audience is there, but also by stepping away from the common Gialli traits of sex, murder and assassins in black gloves Gastaldi and Tessari flip this one over and instead focus on the characters, the amnesia and the actual mystery of what goes where, who know what and who is who. As mentioned previously if you just stay put during those first forty minutes the second half is a great piece of Giallo frenzy with double crossing mates, backstabbing foes, and also when the gorgeous Swede Anita Strindberg makes her entrance into the film, although she’s definitely underused this time around. Its brilliant how they really use the amnesia to create empathy for Edward, and also how as his vicious background as a henchman comes crawling back to him in flashes every time there is a violent encounter. And once again the genre proves that you can’t trust anyone in a Giallo, because when you least expect it the tables can and will be turned and friends prove to be foes. Is George going to stick up for his old mate and turn sides, is Sara’s best friend and suitor Reinhardt going to turn against her, is Sara even who she says she is, how much does Edward really remember or will it even be the little Luca who is going to be the mastermind behind the fiendish dope plan? Those are the questions that you face when watching this excellent movie.

Image:
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1

Audio:
Italian or English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, Optional Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian Subtitles

Extras:
Original Trailer for Puzzle, Trailers for other NjutaFilms/AWE titles [Cannibal Ferox, Mountain of the Cannibal God, Cannibal Holocaust, Eaten Alive, City of the Living Dead and Beyond] Slideshow, Duccio Tessari filmography.

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
Original Title; Strano vizio della Signora Wardh, lo
Directed by; Sergio Martino, Italy /Spain, 1971
Giallo / Thriller, 98min
Distribution by NoShame Films

Story;
Unfortunate Mrs Julie Wardh [Edwige Fenech] is cast into a frenzy of mixed emotions as her marriage to her stockbroker husband bounces onto the rocks. She seeks comfort with her new lover George Corro [George Hilton], who protects her from her sadistic ex-lover Jean [Ivan Rassimov]. But at the same time there's a murderer out on a violent killing spree hacking women to death. Could it be one of the many men in Mrs Wardh's life?

Me;
I have to admit it that there will always be a soft spot in my heart for the Italian Giallo. Nothing is as fun as these amazing arty thrillers with their jazzy soundtracks, hot seventies chicks, suave dudes, really bad bad guys, and over the top violence. Sergio Martino's Mrs Wardh is very true to the formula. Fenech is great as the confused Julie who can't keep her eyes and hands off her new boyfriend George. Rassimov suits the part of her sadistic ex Jean like a glove, and her surreal dreams of their violent relationship are great. The classic gloved stalking killer theme works well, and as usual Martino bring his tricks to the table. There is even a scene where the killing is seen reflected in the killer's glasses. Just like the Giallo genre usually is, there's plenty of weird plot twists and red herrings pointing the viewer in the wrong direction about who the killer is, and there are a few killings that don't really make sense as it's people outside of the main cast, that we've never seen before who get it. But that's the Giallo genre for you. Wonderfully wacky, violent and jazzy. I wouldn't suggest this one for a starter movie if you've never seen a Giallo before, but if you like the genre, or just dig Italian seventies flicks, then this should keep you happy for 98minutes. See how many of the plot twists that you can keep up with, and if you see the ending coming then you are ready to move up to the more obscure Gialli's.

Image:
Digitally remastered and restored from the original negative, NoShame have nothing to be ashamed about with this release. Presented in its original anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio it looks great and even though the night scenes are a bit on the dark side, Mrs. Wardh has never looked better.

Audio:
One of the great treats of the NoShame DVD’s are the audio options, you can either watch the movie with the traditional dodgy dubbing or flick over to the Italian soundtrack and put on the English subtitles. It's all in Dolby Digital, and both soundtracks are in Mono, and I prefer that, I don't want these movies with remastered fake 5.1 surround sound. These movies are best watched late at night with my late grandfathers old seventies headphones on my head, and then I don't need surround sound.

Extras:
Hopefully it's going to stay a standard that NoShame include their own produced mini-documentaries about each title, because they sure make great viewing and are full to the brim of geeky information that we like to know about when it comes to these classic gems. Here the title is Dark Fears Behind the Door and features director Sergio Martino, producer Luciano Martino, scriptwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, and stars Edwige Fenech & George Hilton all remembering The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh. Viewing several of the titles in No Shame’s catalogue, I constantly get the urge to start with the documentaries just to be able to nod and laugh at the anecdotes, but luckily it's DVD, so there's no rewind time, just a few flicks on the remote and rewatch the movie. Also included are a booklet with short biographies and career highlights, the original Italian trailer and a gallery with posters and stills.

Once again a superb DVD from NoShame and it's a pleasure to revisit Mrs. Wardh when it looks and sounds this good.