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(aka "L'Alcova" or "Lust" or "Zerbal")
directed by Joe D'Amato
Italy 1984
Italy 1936: Elio (Al Cliver, ZOMBI 2) returns
home from Africa planning to write his memoirs to settle his
mounting debts. Little does he know that his lonely wife
Alessandra (Lili Carrati, TO BE TWENTY) has been sleeping
with his hired-in-advance secretary Velma (Annie Belle,
LAURE). Besides the silks, African masks, and sculptures,
Elio has also brought Abyssinian princess turned sex slave
Zerbal (Laura Gemser, BLACK EMMANUELLE) home with him.
Alessandra and Velma take an instant disliking to her and
constantly degrade her and underestimate her intelligence
(her initial greeting to Alessandra of "Go and get yourself
fucked" is taken by Elio as a misuse of a phrase he taught
her to fend herself against unwanted attention from other
men). When Elio turns over Zerbal's ownership to Alessandra
and jealous Velma's time is taken up typing Elio's
unsuccessful memoirs, Zerbal becomes Alessandra's model and
exercises her influence over Alessandra and a subsequently
sexually-frustrated Elio (who Alessandra locks out of her
bedroom so she can spend time with Zerbal). Elio returns the
belongings of a fallen comrade to his widow only to discover
that the man was a stag filmmaker and his wife was an
actress. With his manuscript going nowhere, Elio buys some
filming equipment and decides he can make money if he
produces some stag films himself with Alessandra, Zerbal,
and Velma as actresses. Zerbal convinces Elio to use the
true story of how he acquired her as the film scenario which
she uses as the start of her revenge. |
Poster
Theatrical Release: 1 January 1986 (France)
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DVD Review: Severin - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!
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Distribution |
Severin Region 1 - NTSC |
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Runtime | 1:33:27 | |
Video |
1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono) | |
Subtitles | none | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Severin Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 16 |
Comments |
Severin's dual-layer progressive, anamorphic transfer of THE ALCOVE is a tad softish with hazy blacks. This is partly the original cinematography as other examples of director/cinematographer Joe D'Amato's work bear out but Filmexport's master must not have been optimal either. The English mono sound is clear and strong with only light hiss. The film should probably be framed at 1.66:1 but the 1.78:1 cropping is not as ruinous here as it is on Severin's discs of HANNA D. and THE ART OF LOVE (the cropping to 16:9 was likely done by licensor Filmexport).
The Joe D'Amato interview comes from an old videotape (augmented with film clips of varying quality) and is 4:3 fullscreen inside a 16:9 frame. The 16:9 trailer appears to also be sourced from fuzzy videotape but may well be the only source for it. The film has had previous DVD releases in Italy by Avofilm (who may have used their fullscreen VHS master) and Germany's X-Rated Kult Video whose transfer was 4:3 1.66:1 with forced German subtitles on the English track. |
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Distribution |
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