Paramount's DANGER: DIABOLIK will now be a fully loaded Special Edition! (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Thorne]

Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas let slip on another board today that Paramount's release of Mario Bava's cult spy thriller DANGER: DIABOLIK - scheduled, then cancelled some months back - is now on track to be released as a fully blown special edition. Lucas spent Wednesday afternoon with Diabolik himself, John Phillip Law, recording a new scene-specific commentary for the upcoming release, and the commentary reportedly turned out great. Law is even flying to Rome next week to shoot a music video for the DVD where he'll reprise his role of Diabolik for Bava's son, director Lamberto Bava. You can likely expect more detailed extras on the final release.

The disc is being produced by Kim Aubry from American Zoetrope. It was on the suggestion of Aubry and Roman Coppola that Paramount decided to delay their original release of the film and rethink it as a loaded S.E. No release date has been suggested as of yet.

 

[Ian_H]

Now if we could also get the MST3K version as well. Some people loathe MST3K but I for one love both versions!

--Ian

 

[Patrick McCart]

The MST3K edition would be VERY worthwhile since there's little chance it would get a release otherwise. Diabolik is far from being a bad movie (cheesy, yes, but not a Creeping Terror) but the jokes were very funny.

Also, by adding the MST3K version, sales would increase considerably since it's in very high demand from the show's fans (It ranked the top 10 on "most wanted" episodes on DVD).

 

[Mark_TS]

well, lets hope they get the AR correct. ('scope)

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Very good news, indeed! I also hope American Zoetrope bucks the normal Paramount trend and includes the American (or international) DIABOLIK trailer on the DVD.

 

[David_Blackwell]

I would love to see the MST3K version on this DVD too. This is one crazy movie. Bava sure did put together some fantastic visuals for some of his movies.

 

[ArthurMy]

"well, lets hope they get the AR correct. ('scope)"

Why wouldn't they get it correct? It's Paramount. They get it correct. They have one of the best track records of any studio in terms of what you call AR, so why ask this question at all? Just curious.

 

[Mike Heenan]

Maybe he's referring to the laserdisc which was 1:85?

 

[ArthurMy]

Sorry, I was under the impression we were discussing the DVD release. What Paramount did or didn't do right on the laserdisc release isn't really relevant. BUT, it's funny that my memory of seeing the film in the theater was that it was 1:85 - I could be wrong of course. I have a DVD here of the laserdisc - I'll check out the credits and post after I do.

 

[Patrick McCart]

1.85:1 may be the OAR. In the MST3K version, the credits are letterboxed to that ratio.

However, the majority of the film seems panned & scanned, so perhaps the film was hard-matted.

 

[Jim Barg]

If the MST3K episode is included, I'll certainly buy it. As it is (especially with SE treatment), it might be worth a blind buy.

 

[Mark_TS]

>>What Paramount did or didn't do right on the laserdisc release isn't really relevant.
-----

Amusing that you think the LD release has no bearing on this-if they missed once for whatever reason, they could do it again.
Next time, try a search for the thread that discusses this in detail.

 

[ArthurMy]

I think smart people are doing this release - both Paramount (who have a great track record with OAR over the last few years) and Zoetrope. I have no worries and the laserdisc release is ancient history IF it was wrong. Why do you automatically make an assumption that because, in your opinion, the laser had an incorrect ratio (I haven't had time to pop in the disc yet to see if that's correct or not - it will be very obvious by the credits or end credits) that that means they will screw up (or even might screw up) the DVD release? I see no positive result that comes from these sorts of "I hope they do it right this time" posts. Again, Paramount has a great track record so why you are worried is, frankly, beyond my ken.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I'm a Bava fanatic, yet I have never been able to ascertain if Diabolik was shot in a 2.35:1 system.

The Haunted World of Mario Bava by Troy Howarth, which contains many of the original posters does not list any Italian widescreen system of the period, ie. TotalScope, Techniscope, etc. Panaramica is not an anamorphic (2.35:1) system; it's just a tag for 1.85:1 hard matting and 2.35:1 anamorphic extraction like RKO's SuperScope 235.

Bava's own, Planet of the Vampires is often listed as being shot in Panaramica, but it's true ratio is 1.85:1.

It's likely that Diabolik is in the same boat.

 

[ArthurMy]

I just watched my DVD made off the laserdisc. Where does this supposed scope info come from? It's exactly as I remembered it from the theater - 1:85. Perfectly framed for that ratio. So, it looks to me that the Paramount laserdisc is correct and so the "hopefully it will be in scope" comment is not correct. I'm sure there was a thread at some point (I couldn't find it) where someone might have either printed wrong info (what else is new on the internet) or just been mistaken or was even just asking a question. There is NO widescreen process listed in the film's credits and there absolutely would have been had it been in a scope process. Therefore, as Gordon McMurphy states above, like Planet of the Vampires, Danger: Diabolik was a 1:85 film. Amusing, isn't it?

 

[Brandon Gantt]

Disappointingly Tim also states, at the Mobius forum, that the DVD will carry the altered soundtrack from the VHS and laserdisc releases and not the original 60s dub.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Brandon, that is bad news. :frowning:

I was really hoping that original sound elements were being used. Perhaps they don't exist anymore.

 

[ArthurMy]

What is the "mobius" forum? That sounds like one of those Universal movies from the late sixties. Can we have a link to Tim Lucas' comments?

Gordon, what exactly are the differences between what we saw in the theater and what was on the laser?

 

[obscurelabel]

Link to the Mobius forum and Tim Lucas's thread on Diabolik:


http://www.mhvf.net/forum/euro/posts/49774.html

 

[ArthurMy]

I scrolled through that thread but it really has no information at all really, other than Tim saying that the difference is that in one dub the title character's name is pronounced "DEEabolik" and in the other it's pronounced "DIEabolik". If that's the only difference I don't know what the brouhaha is about. I can't remember what it was when I saw it back in the late sixties in NY. I mean, Tim Lucas was asked point blank what the differences were and that is ALL he could come up with, so no worries for me.