The Black Windmil

Directed by Don Siegel
UK 1974

Although received with critical disappointment, mainly because Siegel had forsaken his exploration of American mythology and violence for what seemed to be a rather old-fashioned British thriller, there is in fact a lot to enjoy in The Black Windmill. It's a very playful piece at the expense of the British stiff-upper lip, made with a discerning American's eye for London. The plot is a shaggy dog story (with just the right degree of nightmarishness) revolving around intelligence agent Caine's single-handed attempts to retrieve his kidnapped son. Though by no means a perfect film, it is a much more coherent work than it is given credit, held together by Siegel's exuberant eye for the incongruous.

Excerpt from CPE's review at TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

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Theatrical Release: May 17th, 1974

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DVD Review: Universal (Europe) - Region 2,4,5 - PAL

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Universal (Europe) - Region 2,4,5 - PAL
Runtime	1:41:42
Video	2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.3 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.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Mono) DUBs: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian
Subtitles	English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal (Europe) Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: August 7th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 16

Comments:

I appreciate these Universal multi-region PAL transfers as I have yet to see any manipulation in any of them. This one is fairly clean in the impressive 2.35:1 aspect ratio, progressive, dual-layered, sharp with decent colors - there is a shade of visible dirt. Again, coded to sell across the continent and in Australia (Region 4) and Russia (Region 5) with many subtitle and DUB options. This is a bare bones DVD aside from the main feature.

I saw this close to 30 years ago and it is a film that stayed with me - Caine gives a typically brilliant performance and director Siegel adds benevolent touches to an intensely structured plot. I found it very enjoyable even after all this time.

Gary W. Tooze

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