The background on Meyer and his work, as well as later work-including a failed Sex Pistols film that Ebert was event brought on to work on-really adds a nice academic aspect to the release that is most welcome. He admires Meyer’s editing and visual storytelling considerably and uses examples from this film to highlight these statements. Ebert admits it would be unfair of him to talk about the film from a critic’s perspective, and I did pretty much expect this, but this doesn’t stop him from talking about Meyer, his career, and the film’s editing and construction.
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The aspect of the track I wasn’t really expecting, though, was a more academic angle.
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And of course, he talks about how the film is a satire, satirizing both the industry and the big budget melodramas similar to the original Valley of the Dolls. He also freely admits that there was no research involved, that characters and situations were based on stereotypes and his and Meyer’s “idea” as to how certain things in Hollywood worked at the time, the parties in particular. He of course talks about how he became involved with the film and shares stories about writing it under Meyer’s watchful eye. This commentary works on a few levels thanks to Ebert’s involvement with the film, along with his knowledge of Meyer’s work and film history in general. I find that aspect rather fascinating (why did it take Criterion at least 24 years to release this film under their label?) but then at the same time it actually makes this special edition a little disappointing: after all that time it finally comes to fruition, yet it mostly recycles pre-existing material for its special features, with very little new material added.įirst up of the previously available features is the audio commentary featuring film critic and writer of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Roger Ebert, which was, again, recorded by Criterion in 2003 (Fox would zlso use it on their eventual DVD release in 2006). This release validates those rumours (the notes that accompany Ebert’s commentary do state it was recorded by Criterion in 2003) while also suggesting that this was actually a project that even went back to Criterion’s LaserDisc days. Oddly, this never came to pass and Fox themselves eventually handled its release in 2006, along with Valley of the Dolls. Ultimately, for what is a very lively and colourful film, its biggest sin is that it is “open to improvement.” It’s fine in the end, and easily the best the film has probably looked on video, but a new 4K, or even 2K scan would have given the film a new dose of life.īack in 2003, when Criterion first started licensing titles from Fox for DVD, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was a heavily rumoured title to be coming from the company because of comments made by Roger Ebert. Some day-for-night sequences do look a bit odd, with saturation looking a bit poorer in comparison to the rest of the film, but this could be more a byproduct of that particular technique than anything to do with the transfer and/or restoration. Black levels are also a bit touch and go, with some crushing present. Short of a very trippy, Bava-esque party scene near the end, the colours do look a bit washed, the colours rarely ever popping Z-Man’s red cape at the end should really pop but it can come off a bit on the dull side. It’s a very colourful film, though this one aspect is a bit disappointing in the presentation. There are some optical effects employed during some montages that look a bit rough and fuzzy, but this comes down to limitations of the technique, nothing really to do with the transfer. Film grain is there, though not very distinct, while the restoration process has been especially thorough, leaving no bothersome blemishes behind. Details are sharper, with patterns and textures on outfits and the various settings coming through quite a bit more, and compression isn’t a concern. The image is far cleaner, more stable, and more filmic in comparison. Despite this maybe being the case it still looks far, far better here either way. Looking at it and then reading the notes on the transfer and restoration I suspect this is probably the same one used for Fox’s 2006 DVD.
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Though the presentation is certainly more than serviceable I’d say it’s still open to improvement. The 1080p/24hz high-definition presentation comes from a high-def scan of a 35mm interpositive created from the original negative.
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After a few decades in the making (judging by various special features on this release), Russ Meyer’s cult sexploitation flick Beyond the Valley of the Dolls finally comes to the Criterion Collection, delivered here on Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.