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The Women In Cages Collection (Roger Corman's Cult Classics)

Women in Cages (1971)      The Big Bird Cage (1972)      The Big Doll House (1971)

 

Innocent Carol Jeffries (Jennifer Gan, Naked Angels) is framed by her drug-dealing boyfriend and ends up in a tough prison in the Philippines jungle in Women In Cages. She must face off against the sadistic warden, Alabama (Grier), who takes great pleasure in alternately seducing and torturing her prisoners. Also starring Judy Brown and Roberta Collins. Directed by Gerry De Leon (Mad Doctor Of Blood Island).

Inside the hellish women’s prison called The Big Bird Cage, inmates like Terry (Anitra Ford, The Price Is Right) struggles to survive. They get their chance to escape when scheming revolutionary Blossom (Pam Grier) engineers a prison break . . . from the outside in. Also starring Carol Speed (Abby). Directed by Jack Hill.

Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) joins a group of sexy, young female prisoners in their struggle against a sadistic warden in Big Doll House. This shockingly real film is perhaps one of the most influential of all women-in-prison films! Also starring Judy Brown, Roberta Collins (Death Race 2000) and Sid Haig (House Of 1,000 Corpses). Directed by Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Foxy Brown).

 

 

Posters

 

 

Comparison: 

Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT)

 Box Cover

Distribution

Shout! Factory

Region 1 - NTSC

Shout! Factory

Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Runtime 1:21:09, 1:35:42, 1:34:36 1:21:15.871, 1:35:53.414, 1:34:45.721
Video

1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.34, 6.21 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,735,799,291 bytes

Women in Cages: 20,477,952,000 bytes  

The Big Bird Cage: 24,522,221,568 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 29.98 Mbps

Disc 2

1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 23,664,493,621 bytes

The Big Doll House: 15,544,418,304 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 18.00 Mbps

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

Bitrates DVDs

Bitrates Blu-rays

Audio English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. DTS-HD Master Audio English 1921-2191 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1921 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 448 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles None None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Shout! Factory

Aspect Ratio: - 1.78:1

Edition Details:
• Audio Commentary by director Jack Hill on The Big Bird Cage

• Trailers

• TV Spots

Disc 2

• Audio Commentary by director Jack Hill on The Big Doll House

• From Manila With Love (48:56)

• Interview with Judy Brown (7:11)

• Trailer (2:12)

• TV Spot (:56)

DVD Release Date:
June 21st, 2011
Transparent Keep Case

Chapters: 20 for each movie

Release Information:
Studio: Shout! Factory

Aspect Ratio: - 1.78:1

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 46,735,799,291 bytes

Women in Cages: 20,477,952,000 bytes  

The Big Bird Cage: 24,522,221,568 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 29.98 Mbps

Disc 2

1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 23,664,493,621 bytes

The Big Doll House: 15,544,418,304 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Video Bitrate: 18.00 Mbps

Edition Details:
Blu-ray Disc 1

• Audio Commentary by director Jack Hill on The Big Bird Cage

• Trailers

• TV Spots

Blu-ray Disc 2

• Audio Commentary by director Jack Hill on The Big Doll House

• From Manila With Love (48:56)

• Interview with Judy Brown (7:11)

• Trailer (2:12)

• TV Spot (:56)

Blu-ray Release Date: August 23rd, 2011
Standard
Blu-ray Case

Chapters: 23, 17, 20

 

 

 

Comments

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

ADDITION: Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - August 11': Firstly, like the DVD set - this consists of two discs. The first is a dual-layered Blu-ray with Women in Cages sharing it with The Big Bird Cage. The second Blu-ray is single-layered and has The Big Doll House. The screen captures will bear out how the image quality has improved by tightening up in detail - better contrast - more grain and less noise. Whether this is enough is a personal preference. I think it's cool to have these in 1080P. This is a surprisingly crisp presentation that probably outdoes any theatrical viewing of the past 30+ years although you might benefit by making your Home Theater more like a Drive-In for these gems. The Big Doll House suffers a little with a smaller file size/bitrate to get the extras sharing the second disc in HD. The visuals improvement is pretty high but will depend on how discerning you, or your system, are. This is definitely a textbook case of a filmic presentation over a softer SD 'video look' - obviously from the same strong sources.

Audio gets the DTS-HD master treatment in 2.0 channel stereo in -and-about 2000 kbps. It handled the underwhelming films tracks with ease - exporting about as well as possible. Any imperfections seem authentic and charming in this triple feature. There are no subtitles offered on the Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc.

Extras are duplicated from the DVD, including the commentaries, with most video being in HD. There is nothing additional included.

I suspect the more hardcore fans will get the most out of this Blu-ray package. It's about $10 more than the DVDs at the writing of this review but I can see a significant number of fans getting their value out of this. 

***

ON THE DVDs: Well - you don't hear me complaining - this probably has the most 'camp' (appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value) of any triple feature package available so far this year. Shout! Factory are continuing with more Roger Corman's Cult Classics (see The Ron Howard Action Pack, other 'Double Features': The Evil / Twice Dead, The Terror Within / Dead Space, Up From the Depths /Demon of Paradise etc.). This Women In Cages Collection package has 2 dual-layered discs. The first has Women in Cages (1971) sharing the disc with The Big Bird Cage (1972) and the second DVD has The Big Doll House (1971).

NOTE: This set is coming to Blu-ray in August HERE and we hope we can get our hands on it to compare although I am not expecting visual miracles.

The image quality, probably less of a factor, is very acceptable.  Each film is quite clean, no damage, detail is surprising for the SD format. These are progressive and anamorphically transferred in the slightly bastardized 1.78 aspect ratio. The bottom line - these 'new transfers' are completely watchable - The Big Doll House is the best looking with the least noise. Fans of Corman and the genre won't be complaining about the MPEG-2 image. For 40-year old 'kitsch' films these look better than I anticipated.

Audio is flat and unremarkable - a bit of sync issue (not the fault of the transfer) which adds to the flavor. Dialogue is comprehensible and that is about all you can ask. There are no subtitles on the region 1 - NTSC discs.

The supplements are great. We get low key audio commentaries by director Jack Hill on both The Big Bird Cage and The Big Doll House. He discusses his recollections and there are amusing anecdotes. There are trailers and TV Spots for all 3 films. There are two featurettes - a 50-minute documentary entitled From Manila With Love which features producers Jane Schaffer and Corman and it includes input from screenwriter James Gordon White plus some of the performers like Anitra Ford, Candice Roman, Sid Haig, Judy Brown and Teda Bracci. Some fans may be keen to see vintage footage of deceased actress Roberta Collins. There is also a 7-minute interview with Judy Brown ('Collier' in 'The Big Doll House' and Sandy in 'Women in Cages') who is frank about her participation and relaxed attitude towards the projects. She is pretty cool.

We'll take a look at the upcoming Blu-ray but I suspect most fans will really enjoy this DVD set and the price is almost 50% OFF at the writing of this review. Solid value. Have some fun!

 - Gary Tooze


DVD Menus
 

 

Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 

 

Same Extras on both

 


 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Women in Cages

 

directed by Gerardo de Leon

 

Release date: October 21st, 1971

 

(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


Cue Blip

 (Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)


 

The Big Bird Cage

 

directed by Jack Hill

 

Release date: July, 1972

 

(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


The Big Doll House

 

directed by Jack Hill

 

Release date: April 30th, 1971

 

(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 


(Shout! Factory - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM)

 

More Blu-ray Captures


 Box Cover

Distribution

Shout! Factory

Region 1 - NTSC

Shout! Factory

Region 'A' - Blu-ray





 

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