Shameless

Region 0 - PAL

1.72:1 Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 5.7 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.66:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.45 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.77 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.72:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.0 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

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

Shameless

X Rated Kult Video

Alan Young Pictures

German (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono); English (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono); Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono)

Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono); English (Dolby Digital 1.0 mono)

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.72:1

Edition Details:
• CARNAL VIOLENCE trailer
• PHANTOM OF DEATH trailer
• BLACK CAT trailer
• BABA YAGA trailer
• KILLER NUN trailer
• VENUS IN FURS trailer
• NEW YORK RIPPER trailer

DVD Release Date: 26 Nov 2007
Amaray

Chapters 12

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 1.66:1

Edition Details:
• U.S. TORSO trailer (3:30)
• Italian trailer (3:06)
• German trailer (1:44)
• Italian title sequence (2:39)
• English export title sequence [mislabeled US title sequence] (2:49)
• English export end titles [mislabeled US end credits] (1:22)
• German title sequence (2:05)
• Artwork Gallery (1:24)
• 10 soundtrack cues
 

Chapters 9

Chapters 12

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.80:1

Edition Details:
• International Trailer (widescreen 16X9 - 3:07)
• US Trailer (widescreen 16X9 - 3:31)
 

Chapters 26

ADDITION: Blue Underground - July 09': I don't own any of these PAL DVD version so I will have to defer to Eric's comments as definitive when he has a chance. This may very well be a duplication of the out-of-print Anchor Bay but the VOB files are February of 2009 - so while it may be the same transfer - it is also the newest put to DVD for this particular film.

From my standpoint the Blue Underground image can looks the strongest but is also cropped on all 4 edges but most notably on the top. It can tend to look quite greenish at times but may be the sharpest. It's single-layered and only has two anamorphic trailers as supplements. Subtitles only exist for the Italian opening whether you choose the English or Italian audio option. The latter does not offer English subtitles.

There are questions about the running time - as it should be longer (ex. I could not obtain the first capture - the subtitle one - with the same image but the opening was rife with roaming focus sex acts). This does seem to be from an NTSC source as there are no ghosting or combing artifacts. The transfer appears to be progressive as well. Again we will defer to Eric - stay tuned.

The film is a fetishists paradise with naked mud-rolling, peering up young ladie's skirts and gratuitous nudity of very pretty women. It's pure for the genre and a bit of a hoot. I'm curious now as to if it's the full version as I can't imagine what could have been cut.     

Gary Tooze

***

ON THE PAL DVDs: The dual-layer Italian disc from Alan Young Pictures sports a fine image (only slightly sharper than the single-layer UK release) and Italian language track but the English track is rebuilt from the US version so the track opens with the guitar sting at the end of the US credits and features alternate scoring over the opening group sex scene (which was the title sequence of the Italian and export version) but since that scene is shorter in the US version, the rest of the title sequence is filled out with English dialogue from the post-lecture scene which is then repeated after the Italian language Perguino lecture in sync with the image track. The commentary track is of little use to English speakers but the split-screen comparison to the tinted and natural-light versions of the marshland sequence is a nice extra (the sequence on the German disc is untinted as it was in the US theatrical version). Although the audio on the English and Italian tracks is pitch-corrected for the PAL speedup, the menu music is noticeably sped up.

Using what looks like the same master as the Italian disc,
Shameless have subtitled all of scenes not dubbed into English (Anchor Bay also did this but that disc was missing the image track for the lecture sequence (the audio was presented in Italian with English subtitles over the opening credits; muffling the music and distracting from the visuals). The track is however missing the last two lines of dialogue (which were never dubbed in English and subtitled in the Anchor Bay release). The audio track is okay but there is hiss throughout and a warble in the music during the last scene. Shameless presents the new title card before Carlo Ponti's production company credit and the credits of the main actors but the gap where the title is supposed to appear is not distracting (the X-Rated disc utilizes a video generated title in gaudy lettering and Anchor Bay imposed an artificial closing of the camera shutter to add their title card over a black screen). Despite almost no contextual extras and the somewhat inappropriate tagline "Where whores meet saws!" Shameless presents the film with a pleasing amount of gusto and have the edge as far as being the most English-friendly.

The UK and Italian discs presents the film in 16:9 with an aspect ratio of 1.72:1 while the anamorphic Anchor Bay disc was matted to 1.85:1 (as it would have been presented theatrically) although 1.66:1 seems to be the original aspect ratio (both the Italian and UK discs loose a bit on the top and are slightly stretched but have the same horizontal information as the German 1.66:1 disc). The out of print German DVD from X-Rated Kult Video featured an attractive non-anamorphic transfer which was the first to feature the image track of the art lecture which was missing from the Anchor Bay disc (which played the audio of the scene with subtitles over the title sequence). Besides the aforementioned replacement title card, the German and English tracks substitute a suspense music cue over the main titles in place of Guido and Maurizio de Angelis' more lyrical one which is better suited to the "action" under the credits. The Italian track featured the original scoring (the German track also features Italian audio for scenes not included in the export version). Judging by the supplements in the X-Rated disc, the original German version of the film derived its image track from the U.S. theatrical release by Joseph Brenner which featured a new title sequence and animated title card over teaser footage from the marshland sequence later in the film and some familiar seventies library music. As a result, this title sequence is labeled as the German one while the opening and end credits ascribed to the US version are actually from the English export version baring the CARNAL VIOLENCE title (the Italian disc also does this). The trailer is likewise a hybrid featuring footage and optical effects from both the Italian and US trailers. Besides the ten soundtrack cues from the RCA Italy CD - which paired the score with cues from Bruno Nicolai's score for Umberto Lenzi's EYEBALL, extended albums of both scores are now available from Digitmovies - the disc also sports a cool animated main menu.

The Scandinavian DVD from Another World Entertainment and the Spanish DVD are reportedly uncut and feature the English track but lack subtitles for the Italian-only scenes. Beware the Australian DVD under the title CARNAL VIOLENCE which is heavily censored. The Anchor Bay disc is out of print and the upcoming Blue Underground disc is expected to be a reissue of the Anchor Bay version.

 - Eric Cotenas

4) Blue Underground - Region 0 - NTSC - BOTTOM