La Visita - Sandra Milo

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

(aka 'The Visitor')

Directed by Antonio Pietrangeli
Italy 1963

Thirty-something stunning beauty Pina (Sandra Milo) takes out an ad in the personal column hoping to find a man to take her away from the tiny Italian village where she lives. For months now she has been trying to find the right one – a man with a solid career, a family in mind, and plenty of stamina. Adolfo (Francois Perier) lives in Rome running a profitable business. Looking to share his life with that special person willing to raise a family Adolfo replies to Pina’s ad. The couple arrange to meet in the village where Pina lives. Incorporating flashbacks that highlight Pina’s and Adolfo’s lives, the complexity of the characters are slowly revealed and when the two finally meet Pina quickly concludes that Adolfo is the one. He appears noble, cultured, and ready for a serious commitment – Pina can hardly believe her luck!

Poster

Theatrical Release: December 28th, 1963

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DVD Review: Raro - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Raro - Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:50:28
Video	1.66:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.55 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.
Bitrate:
Audio	Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Raro Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Video interview with Ettore Scola (Director and author of the screenplay) - 18:36 • Video interview with Armando Trovajoli (Composer of the music) - 9:46 • Video interview with Paolo Pietrangeli (Director) - 14:50 • New transfer from original 35mm negative print • Director biography and filmography • BONUS ROM Content: A PDF fully illustrated booklet containing critical analysis of the film by Gabrielle Lucantonio DVD Release Date: March 13th, 2012 Keep Case inside cardboard slipcase Chapters: 10

Comments:

Hold on. Can someone tell Raro that this is 2012? This is a non-anamorphic letterboxed transfer. Their website indicates it to be 1.85:1, IMDb says the film is 2.35:1 - but this DVD is actually 1.66:1! Advertised as 'New transfer from original 35mm negative print' - well maybe they should have enhanced it for widescreen.

It doesn't look too bad at all - but the image resolution could have been 33% better. My guess is they got this from the Italian Minerva source - but didn't get it 16X9 enhanced. Contrast is great - it is clean, seems from the correct standard (no ghosting of combing). Audio is acceptable without excessive sync issues or flaws and there are optional English subtitles.

The extras - about 45-minutes worth of three interviews - screenplay author, composer of the music and director Pietrangeli - are all available (I believe) on the English friendly Minerva DVD HERE. These are good extras - the Minerva has a commentary but in Italian - and also has the director bios and notes - these are on a PDF on the Raro disc that includes a critical analysis of the film by Gabrielle Lucantonio.

Bottom line is that La Visita is a hoot but for the best digital value the Minerva is significantly cheaper to those with a region FREE DVD player. Great film - but I am going to get the Italian Minerva. It even has English menus!