Anchor Bay Entertainment

Region 0 - NTSC

2.34:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.27 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97

1.86:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.5 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

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

Anchor Bay Entertainment

01 Distribution

Blu-ray

Blu-ray

Blu-ray

Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1078 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1078 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Italian 1045 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1045 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.34:1

Edition Details:
• TALES OF THE CAT - interviews with director/co-writer Dario Argento, co-writer Dardano Sachetti, and composer Ennio Morricone (4:3; 13:53)
• International Trailer (16:9; 1:52)
• U.S. Trailer (16:9; 1:38)
• 60 and 30 second TV Spots
• 55 and 30 second Radio Spots
• Radio interviews (from 1971) with James Franciscus (8 mins)
• Radio interviews (from 1971) with Karl Malden (8 mins)
• Poster and still gallery
• Cast & crew biographies and filmographies

DVD Release Date: 10 July 2001
Amaray

Chapters 27

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen letterboxed - 1.86:1

Edition Details:
• none
 

Chapters 12

Edition Details:
• "Tales Of The Cat" - Interviews with Writer/Director Dario Argento, Co-Writer Dardano Sacchetti, and Composer Ennio Morricone (13:54)
• 2 Theatrical Trailers (US, International)
• 2 TV Spots (1:00/:30)
• 2 Radio Spots (1:00/:30)
• Radio Interviews with Stars James Franciscus (7:35) and Karl Malden (7:50)

Blu-ray Release Date: May 31st, 2011
Standard Blu-ray case

Chapters 21

Chapters 12

Blu-ray Release Date: January 29th-30th, 2018
Custom Blu-ray Case (see below)

Chapters 12

ADDITION: Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray - May 11': Despite the arrow having a smaller file size and bitrate there are few differences in the image quality. The Arrow may have a shade more noise and skin tones can, at times, look a bit warmer but other wise the dual-layered release is an efficient one. It supports The Cat O' Nine Tails colors well and the brightness level matches the Blue Underground transfer.

Arrow have gone with linear PCM 2.0 channel tracks for both Italian and English at 1536 kbps. I can't say I noticed a big difference between the DTS-HD Master but the LPCM may be a bit weaker in the high-end - otherwise this is another tie. Arrow do have a different subtitle translation that does not precisely follow the English language - and it somewhat précised beside the more literal Blue Underground. Both Blu-rays are region FREE.

Arrow have some very nice, self-produced, extras with a 10-minute Dario Argento Interview entitled Dario's Murderous Moggy, 16-minutes of Luigi Cozzi reflecting back on The Cat O' Nine Tails and 25-minutes of Sergio Martino discussing in an interesting piece entitled The Art and Arteries of the Giallo. These three video featurettes are all in 1080P. There is an original theatrical trailer and the package - '4 Sleeve art options with original and newly commissioned art work' - contains a double sided fold out poster and booklet. Pretty solid and fans will appreciate the extra attention to detail which is becoming an Arrow Hallmark.

Arrow have come up with a comparable Blu-ray release. For most, a double-dip is unnecessary as it simply boils down to the extras. We suggest buying the least expensive for your geographic region. I do like the Arrow details...

***

ADDITION: Blue Underground - Region FREE - Blu-ray - May 11': Blue Underground comes through again for Argento fans. Their 1080P transfer is significantly brighter and more detailed than  the DVD releases. Colors are authentic with skin tones reaching natural hues. The image quality is clean and consistent as we've come to expect from the distributor - with a fine sheen of grain giving it some texture. This is dual-layered with a high bitrate and easily the definitive digital version of the Argento classic.

Audio is presented in a more robust DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel stereo at 2060 kbps. The effects have some depth - and the perception of separations. There are no drop-outs or hiss and the crispness of the sounds adds atmosphere to a film that is already drenched by the visuals. Blue Underground have included optional subtitles in a yellow font with placement separating the characters (see sample below) and my Momitsu has verified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

Extras include all from the 2001 Anchor Bay edition - with nothing new. - but there is still enough worthy of indulging with the 15-minute 'Tales of the Cat' interviews and audio only segments with James Franciscus and Karl Malden.   

 -Gary Tooze

***

ON THE DVD: The Anchor Bay DVD sports a progressive, dual-layer, anamorphic transfer. The English opening credits are scratchy and seem to have been spliced in from a different print. After the credits, the presentation improves dramatically (although don't expect SUSPIRIA-like colors). The Italian print source for the body of the film is the likely reason for the use of English subtitles for Italian text inserts (but there is evidence of one or two alternate takes - see capture 7 where Malden spells out different words in English and Italian and has different mannerisms and the print quality changes on the Italian disc). The end credits are in Italian. The English, French, and Italian tracks are cited on the cover as Dolby 2.0 Surround but the AC3 tracks themselves are not actually flagged as such but their does appear to be slight stereo separation between the two tracks so it may be possible that it was intended as a surround remix but not flagged as such during the DD encoding. The extras include a new documentary featuring Argento, screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti, and composer Ennio Morricone as well as the usual US and international export trailers (the latter places emphasis on the box office figures and ranking of Argento's previous film THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE), TV spots, radio spots, and still gallery (including stills from scenes not present in the final cut such as one that resolves the fate of lead Franciscus' character - and that of Spaak - left ambiguous in the final cut). The most interesting extras are two eight minute vintage 1971 radio interviews with stars Franciscus and Malden about the film. Blue Underground's subsequent DVD release is a port of the Anchor Bay release.

The Italian disc from 01 compares poorly to both the US DVDs and the previous Italian DVD from Medusa which sported an anamorphic transfer and included Italian 5.1 and mono tracks as well as Italian and English subtitles. The films starts with English credits at 2.38:1 while the body of the feature is cropped to 1.86:1 and is non-anamorphic. There are no extra features.

 - Eric Cotenas