Image

Region 1 - NTSC

Image

Region 1 - NTSC

1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.89 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.17 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Image

Films sans Frontières

English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono , French DD 2.0 mono.

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1



Edition Details:
• "Mario Bava, Maestro of the Macabre", documentary (60min) (with
interventions of Joe Dante, John Carpenter, Tim Burton Lamberto Bava
and many more)
• Interview with Barbara Steele (8 min)
• "Homage of Camillo Mastrocinque" featurette
• Ciak from the set
• Photo gallery
• Note to the Italian edition
• Cast & crew biographies
• Italian Theatrical trailer
• English Theatrical trailer
• Collectable booklet (in Italian)

DVD Release Date: December 2004
Amaray
Chapters 16

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.66:1

Edition Details:
• Commentary by film historian Tim Lucas
• Theatrical trailer
• Liner notes by Mario Bava scholar and Video Watchdog publisher Tim Lucas
• Photo and poster gallery
• Mario Bava biography and filmography
• Barbara Steele filmography

DVD Release Date: December 14, 1999
Snapper Case

Chapters 14

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 1.66:1

Edition Details:
• History of the movie (Text in French)
• Mario Bava biography and filmography (In French)
• Out of print
 

Chapters 5

 - Gregory Meshman

***

ADDITION - Ripley Home Video - PAL - January 2005 - This is not a bad issue of the film, with less damage than the Image Entertainment edition. It has good boosted audio options and decent extras, but no commentary.

Marco Forneir says:

The Image DVD (that I also have) is slightly cropped horizontally compared to the RHV one, and is missing a few moments compared to the RHV edition. Technically the Image edition is not cut, but RHV managed to discover an additional part of the film (roll 15b) that was never before included in any home video edition. Hence the true uncut version is only the RHV one.

*****

The Image Entertainment edition with its anamorphic picture quality is by far the superior release when it comes to the image (even with the flagrant damage marks), the Extras and even the menus. That is about all there is to say here. With an unusual running time the Films sans Frontieres PAL edition was shown to be taken from a NTSC source and has 'ghosting'. One might wonder which is the appropriate title for the film (both are shown above). For those keen on this Bava film, the Image DVD is the obvious route to go.

 Gary Tooze

NOTE (Thanks Annie!) - having bought the Italian DVD edition of Mario Bava's Black Sunday I was surprised to see that this edition in particular is the first one on home video that restores a scene to its rightful place in the film.

The scene I'm talking about is the one where the Barbara Steele character is talking with her father outside the house where they live. Before, this was intercut between the one where a little girl reluctantly goes milking a cow. Now, the outside scene segues into that wonderful set piece where Steele is playing a wonderful melody on the piano while her brother cleans his shot gun and their father is sitting by the fireplace.

According to the extra feature that explains all this, we get to know that this change was made according to the original script sequence and for this reason alone I think you should change your final verdict on your comparison.