La Rose De Fer - The Iron Rose

(aka "La Rose de Fer" or "The Crystal Rose" or "Night of the Cemetery" or " Friedhof der Toten Seelen" )

directed by Jean Rollin
France 1973

The plot is simple. A boy and a girl who share similar morbid romantic interests in music and poetry picnic at a labyrinthine cemetery and make love in a tomb. Night falls and they find themselves locked in and running in circles as their alternating fears and fascinations with death and decay overtake them and lead to an ending that can either be seen as tragic or romantic.

Many of Rollin's horror films have a surrealist influence and strike a balance between the director's love of pulp novels, silent adventure/crime serials and a morbid romantic poetic sense. LA ROSE DE FER eschews the pulp elements in favor of morbid romance (though there are a few surrealist touches throughout). LA ROSE DE FER (along with LEVRES DE SANG) is one of Rollin's most personal works and the result was unsuccessful with audiences but the film's real weak point is the bland performance of male lead Hughes Questor who mutters most of his dialogue and looks down away from camera (in the midst of a loud wedding party, he announces that he wishes to recite a poem but its hard to believe anyone heard him yet they quiet down). In contrast, Francoise Pascal lets the camera capture her. Rollin's regular cinematographer Jean-Jacques Renon beautifully render the foggy woods and mossy decay of the cemetery and Rollin regular Nathalie Perrey contributes both in front of and behind the camera (she has served as both cast member and various crew positions from REQUIEM FOR A VAMPIRE up to his most recent film LA NUIT TRANSFIGUREE). The film's eerie score was the last of three collaborations between Rollin and composer Pierre Raph.

Eric Cotenas

Poster

Theatrical Release: 12 April 1973

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DVD Comparison:

Redemption (Redemption USA) - Region 0 - NTSC vs. X-Rated Kult DVD - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!

(Redemption (Redemption USA) - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. X-Rated Kult DVD - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Redemption Region 0 - NTSC	X-Rated Kult DVD Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:16:42 (4% PAL speedup)	1:16:54 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.2 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.62:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.28 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: Redemption (Redemption USA)
Bitrate: X-Rated Kult DVD
Audio	French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)	French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono); German (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)
Subtitles	English, none	English, German, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Redemption Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.62:1 Edition Details: • Les Pays Loins short film (15:39) • Les Pays Loins still gallery • Still gallery • Other Redemption trailers • Blood & Dishonour book teaser DVD Release Date: 25 September 2007 Amaray Chapters 6	Release Information: Studio: X-Rated Kult DVD Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.62:1 Edition Details: • French trailer (with English title) • German trailer • Still gallery (23:39) DVD Release Date: 20 January 2005 Oversized Clamshell Chapters 12

Comments:

Image quality is a draw between these two releases. X-Rated's disc is sharper but also grainer (more so in 16:9 which I thought might be an indication that the image was resized from a 4:3 transfer but I no longer think that is the case) while Redemption seems to have softened the image slightly to do away with some of the grain. Colors are slightly richer on the Redemption disc but the difference is minimal. The subtitles on the X-Rated disc are a bit more literate but the Redemption subtitles are more than adequate and better displayed. Mono audio on both are fine with the creepy music sounding enveloping..

The Redemption disc includes the short film "Les Pays Loins" in anamorphic widescreen and an accompanying still gallery. Note that the short was also included as a supplement on the Dutch 3-disc set of Jean Rollin's LES DEMONIAQUES. The short film was also presented in anamorphic widescreen on that release and had an accompanying audio commentary by Rollin not present on the Redemption disc (Rollin's other short film "Les Amours Jaunes" which was included on the Dutch 3-disc set of LEVRES DE SANG will be included as a supplement on Redemption USA's next Rollin release THE NUDE VAMPIRE). The twelve second time difference between the Redemption and X-Rated DVD transfers is the result of the opening licensor logo on the German disc.

The German disc has beautiful motion menus scored with Pierre Raph's music and a still gallery. The UK disc (not reviewed here) has an interview with the director.

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus
(Redemption (Redemption USA) - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. X-Rated Kult DVD - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)