Five Dolls For An August Moon Blu-ray

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

(aka "5 bambole per la luna d'agosto" or "Island of Terror" or "Five Dolls for an August Moon")

directed by Mario Bava
Italy 1970

Obviously taking its inspiration (uncredited) from Agatha Christie's mystery thriller, Ten Little Indians, Bava's film is about a group of decadent jet-setters on holiday on an virtually deserted Mediterranean island. Soon they will be picked off, one by one, by a mysterious killer. Since this is Mario Bava behind the wheel, you'd expect this film to deliver some distinctive shocks in the style of his later effort, Twitch of the Death Nerve, but FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON is less a violent thriller than a black comedy. Some may even consider it an abstract exercise, closer in form to a jazzy improvisation. Not only do most of the murders occur off-camera but standard suspense techniques are abandoned while Bava goes in for the odd detail - a character hiding a feather boa in a rock, a plastic wrapped corpse in a deep freeze, a dish of marbles spilling onto a floor. All of this nonsense is set to a hypnotic, percolating score by Piero Umiliani which will make you deliriously happy, even as the corpses are piling up on the screen. Why Bava hated his film is hard to fathom but it's easy to see why fans of his gorier thrillers were disappointed. However, as an exercise in cinematic style, FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON is hard to beat and there is nothing else quite like it, something that is obvious from the first five minutes of the film where Eurotrash sexpot Edwige Fenech is undulating on a living room table while her companions look on with a mixture of boredom and bemusement. The references to Fellini's La Dolce Vita are apt but this is guilt-free decadence and FUN is the operative word here.

Excerpt from TCM located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 14 February 1970 (Italy)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Anchor Bay (Mario Bava Collection Volume 2) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for all the DVD Screen Caps!

1) Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT

2) Anchor Bay (Mario Bava Collection Volume 2) - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE

3) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Image Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC	Anchor Bay Region 1 - NTSC	Kino- Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:18:12	1:21:06	1:21:08.911
Video	1.81:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.11 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.84:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.22 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 22,701,606,868 bytes Feature: 20,035,146,240 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 27.94 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Image Entertainment
Bitrate: Anchor Bay (Mario Bava Collection Volume 2)
Bitrate: Kino Blu-ray
Audio	Italian (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono)	Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)	LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit
Subtitles	English, None	English, None	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Image Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 1.81:1 Edition Details: • Isolated Music & Effects Track • Mario Bava Biography & Liner Notes by Tim Lucas • Director, Stars & Composer Filmographies • Photo & Poster Gallery • Trailers for other Mario Bava Collection titles DVD Release Date: May 15, 2001 Snapper Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Anchor Bay Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.84:1 Edition Details: • None DVD Release Date: October 23, 2007 Slimline Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: Kino Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 22,701,606,868 bytes Feature: 20,035,146,240 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 27.94 Mbps Edition Details: • Commentary by Tim Lucas - author of *Mario Bava : All the Colors of the Dark* • Trailers Blu-ray Release Date: September 3rd, 2013 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 10

Comments

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

ADDITION: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - August 13': First of all GREAT new commentary by Tim Lucas - super informative and extremely professional - this guy's knowledge is... endless. As for the transfer - you can see for yourself the improvement over both DVDs. Colors, detail, brightness, contrast - more information the frame, grain. The bad is that it has only the English track but the, shortish, film still works very well (Piero Umiliani's funky organ and varied score)and with Lucas' commentary (both in lossless linear PCM) I was able to view it in a whole new light. Bava fans should definitely indulge. Strongly recommended!

- Gary Tooze

***

ON THE DVDs: Unfortunately, this film loses more than it gains from the Anchor Bay reiisue. The plus is anamorphic transfer and a bit of digital cleanup. However, compared to Image disc, Anchor Bay transfer looks a bit squeezed on the sides and has less red, more blue color. We also don't have all the extras and tracks from original soundtrack, that are presented on Image disc over a menu screens. Anchor Bay also didn't bother to include music and effects track which is not essential, but nice to have just to enjoy Bava's beautiful cinematography.

We recommend to upgrade to Anchor Bay disc only if you're buying the whole box set (right now, you can't get it any other way), but don't discard of your old Image disc just yet.

- Gregory Meshman

Menus
(Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Anchor Bay (Mario Bava Collection Volume 2) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)