Inglorious Bastards Blu-ray - Bo Svenson Fred Williamson

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Quel maledetto treno blindato' or 'Bastardi senza gloria' or 'Counterfeit Commandos' or 'Deadly Mission' or 'G.I. Bro' or 'Hell's Heroes' or 'Inglorious Bastards' or 'The Dirty Bastard')

Directed by Enzo G. Castellari
Italy 1975

"Whatever THE DIRTY DOZEN did," screamed the ads, "they do it dirtier!" INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is more than just the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's long-rumored next movie; this 1978 international smash remains perhaps the biggest and most badass war movie in EuroCult history! Exploitation legends Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson and Bo (WALKING TALL, KILL BILL) Svenson star as the leaders of a gang of condemned criminals who escape from an Allied prison camp with a plan to blast their way to the Swiss border, only to find themselves 'volunteering' for a suicide mission deep inside Nazi occupied France. Academy Award nominee Ian Bannen (FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, BRAVEHEART) co-stars in this explosive action epic from director Enzo Castellari (STREET LAW, THE BIG RACKET), now fully restored from original vault elements for the first time ever in America!

***

Bo Svenson stars as an American officer who's thrown into a prison convoy with a murderer (Peter Hooten), a Negro (Fred Williamson), a thief (Michael Pergolani), and a coward (Jackie Basehart). En route to the stockade, the convoy comes under attack by the Germans and the men escape across the French countryside. Roughly the first half of the movie has these men wandering around France shooting Germans and blowing up stuff, while the second half revolves around their entanglement with an important Allied mission in France.

Excerpt from Sgt. Slaughter Goes to War located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: February 8th, 1978 - Italy

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Comparison:

Severin (3-Disc Explosive Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Severin - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover
Distribution	Severin Films - Region 1 - NTSC	Severin Films - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:39:18	1:39:27.541
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.69 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,401,460,884 bytes Feature: 19,570,305,024 bytes Video Bitrate: 23.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: DVD
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English \| Italian \| German \| French (Dolby Digital 2.0)	Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (where non-English is spoken), none	English (where non-English is spoken), none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Severin Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Edition Details: • A conversation with Tarantino and director Enzo G. Castellari (38:20) • Audio commentary with Enzo G. Castellari and David Gregory Disc 2 • Featurette: “Back to the War Zone” (13:00) • Featurette: “Train-Kept-A-Rollin” (1:15:18) Disc 3 • CD with 20 minutes of score DVD Release Date: July 29th, 2008 Keep Case Chapters: 18	Release Information: Studio: Severin 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 48,401,460,884 bytes Feature: 19,570,305,024 bytes Video Bitrate: 23.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • A conversation with Tarantino and director Enzo G. Castellari (38:23 in HD!) • Audio commentary with Enzo G. Castellari and David Gregory • Featurette: “Back to the War Zone” (12:59 - in HD!) • Featurette: “Train-Kept-A-Rollin” (1:15:18 in HD!) Blu-ray exclusive: • Enzo's 70th birthday celebration in L.A. (7:12) • Trailers Blu-ray Release Date: July 28th, 2009 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 18

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Severin Blu-ray July 09': I'm going to have to check our equipment but something here doesn't seem right. I am aware that the DVD edition had some black boosting and sharpening while this Blu-ray seems to have avoided this practice, but the image at 1080P seems marginally horizontally stretched (abnormally fatter faces). The Blu-ray image also seems a bit hazier.

I'll get in touch with Severin and find out if my screener is the final release copy. I actually prefer the lack of boosting but remain curious.

Actually in-motion the presentation seems quite fine but I still have these queries when putting it under the microscope of comparable computer screen captures.

Extras include an additional 70th birthday party for Enzo (Inglorious Reunion at the 'New Beverley') for 7-minutes and trailers (plus one for the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray of Eagles Over London) that weren't present in the DVD package. You do get all the DVD supplement featurettes but now in HD! including the hour+ “Train-Kept-A-Rollin”, and feature on one disc now. My Momitsu tells me this is region FREE!

Please stay tuned though as we uncover more about these Blu-ray anomalies.

***

ON THE DVD: For many this film has strong appeal for a few factors aside from Tarantino creating his, proposed, modern version utilizing and expanding upon the film's obvious 'grindhouse' and 'exploitation' features. It is also not a bad action-war-thriller in its own right.

Severin's transfer is a good one - dual-layered, anamorphic and progressive this uncut version of the film has never looked so clean on digital despite some minor edge-enhancement. This is entitled as the '3-disc Explosive Edition' which may be fairly appropriate considering the film. Detail- color and contrast are all far better than one might expect for such a 'forgotten' film from 33 years ago. The transfer is fairly clean as well without undue damage or noticeable scratches. As far as SD goes - this is visually impressive in the original 1.85 aspect ratio. the disc is coded for regions 1 + 7 (?) in the NTSC standard.

The two channel mono track sounds fine and the usual Italian mix-n-match voice syncs aren't overly intrusive and giving it a kind of nostalgic charm. Audio is almost always a tell-tale giveaway of meager production roots but this is no cheapie and is fairly free of hiss, pops or dropouts. Obviously no dynamic separation but quite an appropriate and satisfying original track on Severin's DVD edition of Inglorious Bastards.

Extras include a boisterous audio commentary from Castellari where he deftly recalls production details etc. . Many fans will indulge in the 38 minutes conversation with Tarantino and Castellari - also on Disc 1.

On disc 2 are two featurettes - “Back to the War Zone” is but 13 minutes and has Castellari revisiting shooting locales. “Train-Kept-A-Rollin” runs well over an hour and includes interviews with Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson and others. It's almost humorous how much excess is covered in this documentary but it should sate even the most ardent fan of Inglorious Bastards. There are subtitles available for the non-English dialogue.

The third disc is a CD with about twenty minutes of the 'previously unreleased' score.

Well, quite a package and the film's rawness has some definite charm - it's nice to see it in its 'uncut' entirety. Inglorious Bastards has a full-fledged following and this DVD package will satisfy both those who have patiently awaited this release and those yet uninitiated.

Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus (all extras appear on the Blu-ray as well)

DVD package Disc 2

Subtitle Sample (can't get subs for Blu-ray yet)

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