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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Prigione di donne" or "Sex Life in a Women's Prison" or "Riot in a Women's Prison" or "Women's Prison" or "Riot in a Women's Prison")

 

Directed by Brunello Rondi
Italy 1974

 

Gorgeous young French tourist Martine (Martine Brochard) gets arrested while on vacation in Italy. After being found guilty of a trumped-up drug possession charge, Martine finds herself incarcerated at a hellish women’s penitentiary where the inmates are subjected to mental and physical torture by the staff and fellow felons alike. Things are compounded in severity when a riot breaks out in the prison, and Martine struggles to maintain her sanity. Soon it becomes every inmate for herself!

***

Young French tourist Martine gets falsely accused of drug possession in Italy. She's imprisoned in a brutal women's prison where inmates face abuse from staff and other prisoners. A riot erupts, intensifying the ordeal.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 13th, 1974

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Review: Raro - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Raro - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:31:27.356         
Video

1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 22,509,722,716 bytes

Feature: 22,293,590,016 bytes

Video Bitrate: 28.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

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

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1576 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1576 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -31dB

Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Raro

 

1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 22,509,722,716 bytes

Feature: 22,293,590,016 bytes

Video Bitrate: 28.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Audio commentary by Film Historians Troy Howarth and Eugenio Ercolani


Blu-ray Release Date: October 7th, 2024

Standard  Blu-ray Case

Chapters 11

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Raro Blu-ray (September 2024): Raro have transferred Brunello Rondi's Riot in a Women's Prison to Blu-ray. There are some inconsistencies with softness creeping into a few close-ups but mostly the 1080P is solid with decent detail and occasional depth. There can be a few green leaning sequences but colors are generally acceptable and contrast is supportive. There was no flagrant damage and the HD presentation was better than I was anticipating.

NOTE: We have added 56 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Raro use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in an English DUB. Riot in a Women's Prison has aggression but surprisingly less than you might expect between inmates. Mostly the riot skirmishes are the extent of the violence. The score was by Alberto Verrecchia (Beyond Terror, Season for Assassins, The Hallucinating Trip, A Black Ribbon for Deborah), sounding oddly supportive in in the lossless transfer. Raro offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Raro Blu-ray offers a commentary by film historians Troy Howarth  (So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films) and Eugenio Ercolani. They discuss director Brunello Rondi (A Violent Life) and his frequent script collaborations with Federico Fellini. Rondi also worked as artistic director on La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cabiria (1957.) They share information on criminologist and anthropologist Aldo Semerari who worked as a production consultant on Riot in a Women's Prison, plus most of the cast including Katia Christine (The Designated Victim, Spirits of the Dead) and many others. It's an entertaining and interesting commentary from two experts of Euro-cult / genre cinema. There are no other extras.

Brunello Rondi's Riot in a Women's Prison is exploitive but not overly trashy. It has attractive leads portraying varied female stereotypes. 'The innocent' played by Martine Brochard (Eyeball, Murder Obsession, Savage Three, two nunsploitation and a couple of Tinto Brass films), the protective toughie; Marilù Tolo (early career was in a lot of peplum films, moving to Roy Colt and Winchester Jack, Bluebeard, Candy and even a bit part in Juliet of the Spirits,) sexy Katia Christine from The Designated Victim, Spirits of the Dead (she always reminds me of Shannon Bream.) As far as 70's 'Women in Prison' flics go - this is probably one of the better I've seen - pleasantly devoid of the usual tasteless violence and forced lesbianism. There are plenty of Euro-genre stars here and the Raro Blu-ray has an entertaining Howarth / Ercolani commentary. You could do much worse. To each his own.

Gary Tooze

 


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Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:

Distribution Raro - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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