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

ADDITION: Second Run Blu-ray (May 2022): Second Run have transferred Steven Arnold's unique avant-garde film Luminous Procuress to Blu-ray. It is cited; "Luminous Procuress presented from an HD transfer of the complete and uncut version of the film from the new 2K restoration by the Pacific Film Archive and the Cinema Preservation Alliance." An opening text screen states "LUMINOUS PROCURESS was digitally reconstructed and restored in 2021 from the original 16mm camera reversals and magnetic soundtracks By CINEMA PRESERVATION ALLIANCE / RED CHANNELS And UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE (BAMPFA.)"

The picture and track were restored by my buddy Peter Conheim who told me of the painstaking process involved. He informed me "I worked very hard on it. Picture and track. The film is 16mm positive/reversal, and was very very dirty, AND had terrible scratches right down the middle of the image for many minutes at a time. And I went back to the original magnetic mix track so that the film would have a dynamic range and overall fidelity that it had never had (as an optical track on a print). And since it's all music, I felt that was really important. You will see that some dirt and junk remains, but there was a limit as to what was possible."

It looks impressive now considering the roots of the source (previously darkened and re-lit graphic sex scenes) - discussed in the extras. There are very few speckles, small marks (the most flagrant example of damage I found is below.) The film's natural textures have held up well and it look quite consistent in 1080P. The colors (Andrew Drapkin colorist) carry a richness without unnatural over-exuberance. Surprising for 16mm, the visuals carry occasional depth! This 'labor-of-love' restoration is greatly appreciated to see this film, uncut, and looking so strong, consistent and relative clean. Kudos to all involved.    

NOTE: We have added 48 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Second Run use a linear PCM dual-mono track (16-bit.) The only dialogue in Luminous Procuress is purposely indistinguishable - a foreign-langauge that I understand is, mostly, Latvian. It exists as impressionist murmurings. I was real into the score by American composer, Warner Jepson, a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music. It reminded me of the electronic scores of Gil Melle (Andromeda Strain, The Deliberate Stranger, 7 episodes of Kolchak the Night Stalker and Frankenstein: The True Story.) It is quirky and hypnotic that kinds of cast a spell over you during the film viewing. I found it a big part of Luminous Procuress's impact. Second Run have no need to offer subtitles. Their disc is, thankfully, a Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Second Run Blu-ray offers two video pieces as supplements, circa 2018/2019 by producer Harry Tsvi Strauch on Steven Arnold and the evolution of the film and curator Steve Seid on the history and early restoration of Luminous Procures. Discussed are the film's pan sexuality, showing a series of tableaus not dissimilar to Fellini's Satyricon, how it showcases a transcendence of the body and details on the participation of the ensemble known as 'The Cockettes' - helping obliterate the idea of gender and the irony of sexual beings, the inspiration of when it was made (post Haight-Ashbury), Arnold as a protégé of Salvador Dalí and much more. The Blu-ray package also contains a liner notes booklet featuring new writing by film scholar and critic Elena Gorfinkel, and an essay by Steve Seid.

Steven Arnold's Luminous Procuress is quite special. It is the only feature film by the brilliant student Steven Arnold. After taking LSD he stated “This new drug was so euphoric and visionary, so positive and mind expanding… I ascended to another dimension, one so beautiful and spiritual that I was never the same.” Luminous Procuress is pure unrestrained visionary art. It retains such a cool hippie counterculture vibe. It's, obviously, not to all tastes but I was spellbound and greatly appreciate the remarkable Second Run Blu-ray with the revealing extras and painstaking restoration - now in 1080P. What a weird and wonderful piece of Sergei Paradjanov-esque expression. To those interested this is strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze