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Severin follows up their 2023 collection of Italian gothic titles with an essential second volume that brings together three films and a miniseries. Each work takes a very different approach to the gothic as both a visual aesthetic and a set of thematic preoccupations. The results range from virtually archetypal to resolutely revisionist. For this well-appointed set, Severin provides a veritable bounty of bonus materials: new restorations, alternate cuts, commentary tracks, cast and crew interviews, visual essays, even a soundtrack CD.

Antonio Margheriti’s Danza Macabra, from 1964, is one of the very best Italian gothic films. It simply oozes with atmosphere courtesy of Riccardo Pallottini’s moody monochrome cinematography, and, while the violence remains relatively restrained, Margheriti brazenly pushes the envelope when it comes to nudity and some suggestive sexual content. Likely as a bid to cash in on Roger Corman’s Poe Cycle, Danza Macabra not only claims to be...

You can’t argue with disc collectors eager to rediscover movies they loved at age 10, in terrific kiddie matinees. Cowboy star Rory Calhoun makes a perfectly fine Italian vagabond ladies’ man for this very un-serious ‘oriental’ adventure, and Yôko Tani is the requisite princess who needs kissing lessons. Tim Lucas’s welcome, info-packed commentary satisfies our curiosity about the long-unavailable title — it’s different than the A.I.P. release we (barely) remember.

Marco Polo

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1962 / Color/ 2:35 widescreen / 104, 95 min. / Street Date , 2023 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Rory Calhoun, Yôko Tani, Camillo Pilotto, Pierre Cressoy, Michael Chow, Thien-Huong, Franco Ressel.

Cinematography: Riccardo Pallottini

Production Designer: Zoran Zorcic

Art Directors: Aurelio Crugnola, Franco Fumagalli, Miodrag Miric, Jovan Radic

Film Editor: Ornella Micheli

Costume design: Mario Giorsi

Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino / Les Baxter

Written by Oreste Biancoli, Ennio De Concini, Eliana De Sabata, Antoinette Pellevant, Piero Pierotti, Duccio Tessari

Produced by Luigi Carpentieri,...

Pepla! Pepla! Rah Rah Rah! These two remastered Italo muscleman pix could be the start of something big. A pair of relatively early Maciste epics became Samson vehicles in American-International’s Hollywood-ized revisions. Mark Forest & ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott overthrow tyrants in Egypt and Cathay, while hurling boulders and kissing exotic damsels like Chelo Alonso, Yôko Tani and Hélène Chanel. Separate releases from Kino Lorber.

Samson Double Bill

Son of Samson + Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

Blu-ray Separate Purchases

Kl Studio Classics

1960 + 1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen /

Starring: Mark Forest, Chelo Alonso; Gordon Scott, Yôko Tani, Hélène Chanel, Valéry Inkijinoff.

Cinematography: Riccardo Pallottini

Original Music: Carlo Innocenzi

Produced by Luigi Carpentieri, Ermanno Donati

Directed by Carlo Campogalliani, Riccardo Freda

Is it true? Will the neglected Italian costume pictures known as ‘sword ‘n’ sandals, Pepla & muscleman epics finally be released on disc in editions of worthwhile quality? We ‘fifties kids were raised...

Guest reviewer Lee Broughton returns to shine a critical light on a double bill Spaghetti Western disc, two features starring the world’s favorite acting fiend, Klaus Kinski. The prolific German actor racked up credits in more than twenty Euro-Westerns, some of which amounted to brief-if-worthy guest spots. These two Italian productions feature the German actor up front in starring position, and both are pretty good genre entries to boot.

And God Said to Cain & Twice a Judas

Double Bill DVD

Spaghetti Western Collection Volume 45

Wild East

1970 & 1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Street Date August 26, 2013 / 19.95

Starring: Klaus Kinski, Antonio Sabato.

Directed by Anthony Dawson (Antonio Margheriti), Nando Cicero

CineSavant DVD Guest Review by Lee Broughton

Anthony Dawson’s And God Said to Cain (1970) is a decidedly gothic affair distinguished by the fact that Kinski is cast against type as a sympathetic vengeance seeker who holds the film’s moral high ground.

The...

When Paul McCartney shocked the world in April 1970 with his announcement of the Beatles' break-up, drummer Ringo Starr added a surprise of his own by becoming (initially, at least) the most musically active member of the former Fab Four.

As he would later recount in the lyrics of "Early 1970," the deceptively jaunty b-side of his 1971 hit "It Don't Come Easy," Starr was the only Beatle who didn't have any serious beef with any other member of the band at the time. Feeling lost without the family dynamic of the musical...