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Arrow Films

Region 0 - PAL

1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.5 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.

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Featurette with Raven De La Croix (18:03)
• Trailer Reel

DVD Release Date: March 28th, 2005
Keep Cases

Chapters 12

As Meyer himself notes, there really isn't much of a point to discussing the meandering and ultimately bizarre plot to "Up!", but ostensibly it's a murder mystery where a buxom undercover female police officer infiltrates a small town to investigate the murder of a man who turns out to be Hitler, having escaped his bunker in '44. Roger Ebert's script (the second of their three collaborations--four if you count the unshot Sex Pistols film "Who Killed Bambi?") also included numerous excursions into sexual encounters and moments of extreme violence. The film is also noteworthy for being the big screen debut of cult icon Kitten Natividad, who spends the her entire screen time nude as the Greek Chorus, periodically reminding us of the goings on in the film. Overall I'd have to say that this is my favorite film in the set.

Unfortunately the image on this disc, and indeed all of the films included in Arrow's Russ Meyer Collection, can only be described as a disappointment. The image is incredibly soft and carries low levels of contrast and clarity. The image also contains very distracting ghosting that occurs during almost any movement, no matter how fast it is. Finally, the image is also interlaced. Even when my computer ran interlacing correcting programs, the combing was readily apparent. When they were turned off, horizontal movements looked like they do in the seventh capture.

The sound on this release was just fine, with the Dolby Digital 2.0 sounding clear and about as good as the tracks come. Unfortunately there are no subtitles on the release.

The disc comes with two interviews. First, there's an interview with Raven De La Croix who discusses the casting process, nearly being killed twice on set, and the penalties that she incurred for violating his shooting curfew. Kitten Natividad also appears in a separate interview where she mainly discusses her experiences making "Up!", growing up in Mexico and having her lines dubbed. Also included is a trailer reel that is found on a number of the releases in this collection.

While the release is far from ideal, I'll give the disc a slight recommendation. What you see is what you get with the poor image, but the film is a hoot and the extras very revealing. Hopefully there'll be a better release in the future that preserves the extras from this one.

 - The Immoral Mr. Teas

CLICK to order from:

Arrow Films

Region 0 - PAL