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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "No es nada, mamá, sólo un juego" or "Beyond Erotica" or "Lola" or "It's Nothing Bad, Mama, It's Only a Game")

 

Directed by José María Forqué
Spain / Venezuela 1974

 

In this controversial Spanish film from 1974, originally released in the US as BEYOND EROTICA, David Hemmings plays Juan, a young hacienda-owner who abuses women due to his traumatic upbringing. His late father was a sadistic tyrant who treated the women who worked on his estates as his personal property. After his father's death, Juan begins to act out his own fantasies. His favorite "game" is to have the women dress in rabbit fur bikinis while he chases them through the jungle on horseback with a pack of dogs.

One day his latest plaything gets caught in a trap and is savaged to death by the dogs. The local people know what's going on but are powerless to stop it as their livelihood depends on work from the estate. Juan's mother, Louise, played by Alida Valli, tries to find a suitable replacement for the dead girl. But Juan has his eyes set on Lola, the beautiful daughter of one of the estate workers. When Lola turns him down, Juan imprisons the girl in an abandoned horse training yard and sets to work breaking down her resistance. But things do not work out the way he planned.

***

A 25-30-year old Hacienda-owner (David Hemmings) is misbehaving on women due to his traumatic youth; his mother (Alida Valli) covers him for his sadistic actions; however, when he wants the daughter of the mansion supervisor to serve for him, things seem to get totally out of hand. He 'tames' her, but when 'tamed' and finally married, the young woman (Andrea Rau) soon becomes the dominating person in the family.

Excerpt from iMDB located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 29th, 1974

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Review: Mondo Macabro - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Bonus Captures:
Distribution Mondo Macabro - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:28:51.708        
Video

1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 23,423,004,874 bytes

Feature: 18,893,448,384 bytes

Video Bitrate: 26.93 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 1509 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Spanish 1509 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Mondo Macabro

 

1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 23,423,004,874 bytes

Feature: 18,893,448,384 bytes

Video Bitrate: 26.93 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Commentary by Kat Ellinger
 • Video Essay of David Hemmings Career by Chris O'Neill (18:23) • Voice over by Tori Lyons
 • Alternate Opening (6:50)
 • Trailers (2:25 / 2:50)
 • Mondo Macabro previews (13:50)


 Blu-ray Release Date: November 9th, 2021
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 10

 

 

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Mondo Macabro Blu-ray (November 2021): Mondo Macabro have transferred José María Forqué's It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand new 4k transfer from film negative". It looks reasonably consistent - plenty of texture. By no means a demo - colors may have faded somewhat but it is very watchable with albeit some inconsistencies inherent in the source. I had no imposing issues with the 1080P presentation.

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Mondo Macabro use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the English language and a similar encode in a Spanish track. It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game has a few fairly aggressive sequences (the opening!) that come through fairly flat which would be authentic. There is a credited score by Adolfo Waitzman (Ángel negro, Hotel Fear, Triangle of Lust), sounding supportive without egregious flaws. Mondo Macabro offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Mondo Macabro Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Kat Ellinger. She is always good and discusses parallels between It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game and Carlos Saura 1973 "Ana y los lobos" (Anna and the Wolves) - the Spanish genre environment at the time of production, misogyny in the film, its reception in Spain - considered the most permissive film and significantly more. There is also an informative 19-minute video essay about David Hemmings' career by Chris O'Neill, showing his beginnings and venturing into genre films - specifically It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game. It has a voice-over by Tori Lyons. There is a 7-minute alternate opening with the Spanish title, two trailers and their usual evocative Mondo Macabro previews. 

José María Forqué's (whose last name sounds a lot like "4K") It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game skirts exploitation, horror and a few genres with its Euro-trashy intentions boldly visible. Hemmings adds some class - but not a lot - this remains an odd, yet, deeply-layered story that has themes of perversity, privilege, misuse of workers, survival and a, damaging, traumatic past. I was deeply vested but thanks to Kat's commentary I do see significantly more in It's Nothing Mama, Just a Game. The Mondo Macabro Blu-ray will appeal to fans of this genre and maybe a few Hemmings completists too. To that niche - this is recommended!

Gary Tooze

 

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Distribution Mondo Macabro - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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