A Black Veil for Lisa – Olive Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1968
Director: Massimo Dallamano
Writers: Giuseppe Belli, Massimo Dallamano, Vittoriano Petrilli
Cast: John Mills, Luciana Paluzzi, Robert Hoffmann

Release Date: October 27th, 2015, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 88 Minutes 27 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"A narcotics detective spies on his wife in Hamburg, West Germany, and hires a hit man to kill her." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5

A Black Veil for Lisa comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 21.8 GB

Feature: 21.7 GB

The source used for this transfer is in very good shape. And though print debris crops up throughout this presentation, it is always very minor and never intrusive. When it comes to colors, there are moments when they look vivid, and this is most evident when yellow and red appear onscreen. It should be noted that there is some mild color fluctuation, but once again, this is not something that becomes distracting. The contrast and black levels remain strong throughout. Shadow detail fares well, and the image generally looks crisp.

Audio: 3.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English. The audio is in good shape. There are no issues with background noise or distortion. Dialog is always clear and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, don’t expect too much. The film was shot without sound and everything was dubbed later in post-production. With that being said, the more ambient sounds fare well, and the film’s score sounds robust.

Extras:

This release comes with no extra content.

Summary:

A Black Veil for Lisa was co-written and directed by Massimo Dallamano, who would only direct a total of twelve films before his untimely death at the age of fifty-nine. His most notable films as a director include What Have You Done to Solange? and What Have They Done to Your Daughters?. Before making the transition to directing, Massimo Dallamano was one of the most in-demand cinematographers. Some of his more notable films as a cinematographer included Gunfight at Red Sands, A Fistful of Dollars, Bullets Don’t Argue and For a Few Dollars More.

Key collaborators on A Black Veil for Lisa include screenwriter Vittoriano Petrilli (Operation Crossbow, The Great Silence), cinematographer Angelo Lotti (Venus in Furs, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids) and composer Giovanni Fusco (Hiroshima Mon Amour, L’Eclisse). The Italian language title of the film is "La morte non ha sesso," which roughly translates into "Death Has No Sex."

Though A Black Veil for Lisa features many of the staples which have become synonymous with the Giallo genre, The end product is actually closer to a police procedural that occasionally diverges into the realm of psychological terror. With the protagonist, a narcotics detective named Franz Bulon, and his fears, being a prime example of the latter.

The narrative is well constructed, and there are an ample number of moments of misdirection. Also, the main characters are well-defined and their personas greatly aid the story at hand. And when it comes to pacing, there are issues as things move with good momentum.

Visually, the most stylish moments are those which focus on the Lisa character as she is either up to no good or in the clutches of a killer. With this film’s standout moment being the scene where Lisa invites the killer into her home and her husband, who has been having second thoughts, tries to frantically call her. This scene is just one of many moments where things are not always what they appear to be.

The secondary characters' performances are best described as adequate. The standout performance comes from John Mills (Ryan’s Daughter) in the role of Franz Bulon, an inspector who suspects his wife is having an affair. He delivers an utterly convincing performance that fully embodies his character’s fears. Other notable performances include Luciana Paluzzi (Thunderball, Green Slime) in the role of Lisa, Bulon’s much younger wife, and Robert Hoffmann (Wake Up and Kill, Spasmo) in the role of Max Lindt, the man who has been hired by Bulon to kill Lisa.

A Black Veil for Lisa gets a strong audio/video presentation from Olive Films.

Written by Michael Den Boer