Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

Subtitles:

• Vintage production featurette from 1960, shot on location and including interviews with Georges Franju and actors Pascale Audret, Pierre Brasseur, Marianne Koch, Dany Saval and Jean-Louis Trintignant (27:14)
• Original theatrical trailer (3:33)
• Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Fujiwara

DVD

Bitrate:

 

Description: When the terminally ill Count Hervé de Kerloquen (Pierre Brasseur, Goto, Isle of Love) vanishes without trace, his heirs are told that they have to wait five years before he can be declared legally dead, forcing them to devise ways of paying for the upkeep of the vast family château in the meantime. While they set about transforming the place into an elaborate son et lumière tourist attraction, they are beset by a series of tragic accidents if that s really what they are...

The little-known third feature by the great French maverick Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face, Judex) is a delightfully playful romp through Agatha Christie territory, whose script (written by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac of Les Diaboliques and Vertigo fame) is mischievously aware of the hoariest old murder-mystery clichés and gleefully exploits as many of them as possible.

They re equally aware of the detective story's antecedents in the Gothic novel, a connection that Franju is only too happy to emphasise visually at every opportunity thanks to his magnificent main location. A young Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist, Amour) is amongst the Kerloquen heirs.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from CinePassion.org located HERE

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

This is the another Arrow Blu-ray release that is being simultaneously released in both region 'A' (US) and 'B' (UK). It is the exact same package on both sides of the pond to the best of our knowledge.

NOTE: As Michael Brooke informs us on Facebook in regards to Day of Anger: 'As the producer of Arrow's release, I can confirm first hand that the UK and US discs are absolutely identical: we only paid for one master, so there's no doubt about this at all! Which means that no matter which package you buy, the discs will play in any Region A or B setup (or Region 1 or 2 for DVD - and in the latter case the video standard is NTSC, to maximise compatibility). The booklets are also identical, but there are minor cosmetic differences on the disc labels and sleeve to do with differing copyright info and barcodes, and the US release doesn't have BBFC logos.' Spotlight on a Murderer is the same situation.

Spotlight on a Murderer gets a solid transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow.  It is single-layered with a supportive bitrate for the 1 1/2 hour feature. Contrast is nicely layered in the 1080P rendering. There is some pleasing depth in the 1.37:1 frame.  It's very clean with a few light surface scratches and speckles. This Blu-ray has solid detail and come texture. It provides a consistent and rewarding presentation in-motion.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrow transfer audio in a linear PCM 2.0 channel track at 1536 kbps (16-bit) in the original French language. The effects are fairly passive but there is enjoyable original music by Maurice Jarre (The Tin Drum, The Man Who Would Be King, The Damned etc.) that comes across very well via the lossless rendering adding a beautiful layer onto the film's mysteries. It is another of his pleasant scores. There are optional English subtitles for and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE.

Extras :

Arrow add a 27-minute vintage production featurette from 1960, shot on location and including interviews with Georges Franju and actors Pascale Audret, Pierre Brasseur, Marianne Koch, Dany Saval and Jean-Louis Trintignant. It is in French with English subtitles. There is also an original theatrical trailer and the package has a reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain and, for the first pressing only, a liner notes booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Fujiwara. A DVD is also included (NTSC for both packages) signifying it as 'Dual-Format'.