ADDITION: Radiance Blu-ray (September 2024): Radiance have also transferred Elio Petri's "A Quiet Place in the Country" to Blu-ray. The new HD presentation is more consistent and the small speckles have been eradicated. Funny, the frame specific damage (see below) - the frame is actually not present on the Radiance. Overall higher bitrate - small notch up - cleaner.

NOTE: We have added 38 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Radiance use linear PCM dual-mono tracks (24-bit) in optional English or Italian. The score is by Ennio Morricone (The Fifth Cord, 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.) but as Troy Howarth describes in the Shout! Factory commentary - not an easy listening experience. It does, however, suit the film's... unusualness. There are optional English subtitles (and English - SDH) subtitles on Radiance's Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray disc.

Radiance include 40-minutes of a scene-specific commentary on the theme of masculinity in the film and Petri’s work - by Kat Ellinger. It is also described as a visual essay and has chapters entitled; Masculinity, Sexuality, Leonardo, Genre, Displaced Man, The Inetto and Conclusion. Kat always provides exceptional insights. There is a new 50-minute interview on the film by author Stephen Thrower (Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci.) He is an encyclopaedia of Euro film knowledge and exports many reveals facets of the production including its aspects as a ghost story. Included is the same 1/2 hour archival interview with actor Franco Nero as found on the Shout! Factory talking about his relationship with the director Elio Petri. We have an unusual problem with the 1/4 hour interview with make-up artist Pierantonio Mecacci - it is also in Italian and has the same subtitles as the Franco Nero interview - at least on my screener disc. It's pretty funny - he's repeating everything Franco said - word for word. I presume this would have been corrected on the commercial Blu-ray edition. Lastly is a trailer and the package has a reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters and a limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Simon Abrams (Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone.) This is presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings.

Elio Petri's "A Quiet Place in the Country" is based on the short story "The Beckoning Fair One" by Oliver Onions. The film is described as a "brilliant fusion of experimental filmmaking pyrotechnics and gothic horror conventions". Leonardo Ferri (Franco Nero) is a painter who has an 'artist's block' that is manifesting itself as mental disintegration - and not of the positive variety as identified by Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dąbrowski. The sprawling Villa, that he and his slinky galpal, Flavia (Vanessa Redgrave) are staying, is in disrepair... and has secrets - including a deceased nymphomaniac and a murder. It would be fair to call A Quiet Place in the Country an "artsy horror" and unsettling. I find that the more I watch it, the more I enjoy it, although it is definitely not for everyone. It can be seen as a view of devolving sanity and how closely it aligns with the artistic process. Sexy imagery abounds. To each his own.

***

ADDITION: Shout! Factory - Region 'A' - Blu-ray September 2017: This is described as being from the best existing sources. The 1080P transfer is on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. Flesh tones move to being more realistic (cooler and less orange.) Detail rises and there is a fine sheen of grain. In my notes I mentioned a waxiness but I didn't see it in the screen captures. There is some frame-specific damage (see sample below) and it varies from emulsion anomalies to deep scratches but they only last briefly. 

Shout! Factory give the option of English or Italian audio tracks in 24-bit, 2,0 channel mono, DTS-HD tracks. There are some disparate effects in the opening and scattered throughout. There are optional English subtitles (see sample below) on the Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray disc.

I really enjoyed the new audio commentary with Film Historian/Author Troy Howarth who really helps explain sopem of the subtler and less identifiable intricacies of the plot. He makes the point twice that A Quiet Place in the Country is certainly not a Giallo (and he would know - being author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films) Anyway, I felt like I learned a lot - he discuses both Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave - their relationship and plenty more. Very much worth the indulgence. There is also a new 1/2 hour interview with Franco Nero in Italian with English subtitles and he's good to follow. Lastly is a theatrical trailer.

I was ambivalent about this film, but this Blu-ray edition really advanced my appreciation - especially with the Howarth commentary. Certainly a highly unusual film - even stylistically that you will note from the opening credits.