ADDITION: Blue Underground - Region FREE - Blu-ray - August 17': Blue Underground is advertised as a "gorgeous new 2K restoration from the original camera negative". Ooooppps... 'Huston we have a problem'. It's not so 'gorgeous'.

Firstly, let me state that I, generally, like Blue Underground's products (The Dario Argento Collection Blu-rays, The Lucio Fulci Collection Blu-rays, Django, Venom, The 10th Victim etc. etc.) but they have never sent DVDBeaver a disc or screener. Ever. We appreciate their film choices, but we are not beholding to them in any way. This excellent title, unfortunately, has been problematic (see Arrow's DVD issue in 2010) and continues to be with this 2017 Blu-ray edition.

There are multiple tracks offered on the Blu-ray - 3 Italian and 3 English, plus the commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse. The Blu-ray has some featurettes: Three Shades Of Asia is a new 20-minute interview with Asia Argento discussing The Stendhal Syndrome and how she became a part of it and her role(s) in the film. Prisoner Of Art is a new 14-minute interview with co-writer Franco Ferrini and Sharp As A Razor is a new 10-minute interview with Special Makeup Artist Franco Casagni. There is also a theatrical trailer, and a poster & stills gallery. There are two DVDs - one with the feature and the other with the 2007 featurettes. Plus there is a 20-page booklet with photos and a new essay by author Michael Gingold. 

The score by the iconic Ennio Morricone (Property is No Longer a Theft, Luna, A Bullet for the General, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, U Turn, Stay As You Are etc. etc.) sounds excellent. WE will provide more details when we receive the corrected package.

So Blue Underground, have, graciously, and correctly, made a statement addressing the problems:

STENDHAL SYNDROME BLU-RAY UPDATE:
Recently, we were made aware of a minor compression issue and 2 bits of missing audio (English version only) on the new STENDHAL SYNDROME Blu-ray. We investigated and have now corrected the Blu-ray. We will be offering a replacement V2 disc for those with concerns about the aforementioned issues.
If you purchased the new 3-DISC LIMITED EDITION and the Blu-ray disc art does not have “V2” on it, you may request a replacement Blu-ray Disc by emailing us at StendhalBDreplacement@gmail.com. You MUST include the following information in your email to qualify for a replacement disc:
· Your Name
· Mailing address
· Copy of receipt showing purchase of THE STENDHAL SYNDROME 3-Disc Limited Edition
The V2 Blu-ray Discs will be available to mail out in approximately 4 weeks. We thank you for your continued support and patience!

NOTE: There is no mention of replacing the included DVD which has the same audio issue.

Our advice would be to hold off buying until you feel you are more likely to get a corrected version. At least a month. We should re-compare/review, here when we have a corrected edition.

Gary Tooze

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ON THE DVDs: Arrow's transfer strongly resembles the Medusa transfer and is likely from the same master which was cropped from the intended 1.66:1 aspect ratio to 1.77:1 and lacks the intended warmer, grainier look of Giuseppe Rotunno's cinematography (which is better represented by Blue Underground's transfer and was at least apparent in the otherwise poor older RAI master used for the original DVD releases). Like the Blue Underground release, Arrow has included both the 5.1 Italian and English tracks on the longer version (Medusa's release presented the English and Italian versions on different discs both with English and Italian subtitles). Arrow's disc regrettably does not include subtitles for the Italian track (which features Asia Argento's voice). The film's original mix was an early digitally-encoded Dolby Stereo mix with an active mono surround channel so the 6.1 and 5.1 upmixes had more to work with (besides various ambient effects, Morricone's score also made use of the surround track). The original mix was included on the French DVDY Films - a sell-through version of the original Pioneer release - and Troma Team releases but only the French disc was correctly flagged as Dolby 2.0 Surround. The Medusa DVD's extras included a behind the scenes featurette in which some of the redubbed actors could be heard performing in English but this extras was not subtitled and carried over for the Blue Underground set which included five newly produced interviews. The non-anamorphic Troma Team DVD was one of the earliest releases and used the available PAL-converted RAI master. While only a few of its extras were actually related to the film (what was the point of including a Ruggero Deodato interview about CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) with most of them being the usual Troma promotional items, one had to admire their early attempt to make full use of the DVD medium including its interactive abilities.

Although Blue Underground's original OAR DVD release was criticized for noise reduction and filtering (nowhere near as heavy as what was done to the Medusa transfers), their subsequent Blu-ray release is said to be a substantial improvement. In the SD world, Blue Underground provides a transfer in its original aspect ratio with an array of audio options and English subtitles as well as the most comprehensive extras but the Arrow disc may be attractive to UK customers because it is the first uncut release (the previous tape and DVD releases in the UK were cut by the BBFC) and it also has cache as part of Arrow's new collectible line of Cult Films.

 - Eric Cotenas

NOTE: From Arrow: "It has been brought to the attention of Arrow Video that incorrectly manufactured stock of The Stendhal Syndrome and The Card Player has been released onto the market. The one fault on both discs is the absence of English subtitles. This will not affect the enjoyment of fans who prefer the English dubs and otherwise the discs are as intended but for those of you who like to select the Italian tracks and don't have a grasp of the language you may find the English subtitles beneficial!

Please send any queries to - returns@arrowfilms.co.uk

New procedures are now being put in place to try to ensure there's not a repeat of this! "