Five Dolls For An August Moon – Arrow Video (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1970
Director: Mario Bava
Writer: Mario di Nardo
Cast: William Berger, Ira von Fürstenberg, Teodoro Corrà, Edwige Fenech

Release Date: February 1st, 2016
Approximate running time: 80 Minutes 46 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region B/Region 2 PAL (UK)
Retail Price: OOP (UK)

"Wealthy industrialist George Stark (Teodora Corrà, Django the Bastard) has gathered a group of friends - played by a who's who of Italian genre cinema including William Berger (Faccia a faccia), Ira von Fürstenberg (The Fifth Cord), Edwige Fenech (Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) and Howard Ross (The New York Ripper) - to his island retreat. He hopes to entice them into investing in a new project, but soon the sunbathing and cocktails parties give way to murder, as the corpses begin to pile up one by one." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Five Dolls For An August Moon (5 bambole per la luna d'agosto) was remastered in High Definition from the original film elements. The HD master was made available for this release by Alfredo Leone."

Five Dolls For An August Moon comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 41.5 GB

Feature: 23.3 GB

The source used for this transfer looks great, and any source-related impressions are minor. Colors look vibrant, flesh tones look accurate, black and contrast levels remain strong throughout, details look crisp and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with three audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Italian, a LPCM mono mix in English and an isolated music and effects track also presented in LPCM mono. Both audio mixes are in great shape, and there are no issues with distortion or background noise. Also, the dialog always comes through clearly and the more ambient aspects of the soundtrack are well represented. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 55 seconds, LPCM mono), a documentary titled Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre (60 minutes 7 seconds, LPCM stereo English and Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava – All the Colors of the Dark, reversible cover art and a 32-page booklet with cast & crew info, an essay titled The Exhilaratingly Inauthentic Five Dolls For An August Moon written by Glenn Kenny, an essay titled A Little bit of What You Fancy Does You Good written by Adrian Smith and information about the transfer.

Included with this release is a DVD that has the same content as the Blu-Ray included as part of this combo release.

Summary:

Mario Bava’s previous film was the major studio production Danger: Diabolik, his biggest success of his career. He would follow up Danger: Diabolik with the low-key Five Dolls for an August Moon. The screenplay for Five Dolls for an August Moon was adapted from the Agatha Christie story Ten Little Indians.

The Five Dolls For An August Moon narrative keeps things moving along, and pacing wise, there are never any lulls along the way. Basically, the main focus of the narrative is the series of murders and the dead bodies that have been piling up in a meat locker wrapped in plastic. This handling of the way the corpses have been disposed of perfectly surmises Mario Bava’s subversive sense of humor in all things related to death. Another way Mario Bava injects his dark sense of humor into Five Dolls for an August Moon includes the murder set pieces. All the murders take place out of the camera’s view and each victim is found in a different place with weapons of opportunity.

Besides directing Five Dolls for an August Moon, Mario Bava also edited this film. Of course, Five Dolls For An August Moon's greatest strengths are its visuals, especially the way Mario Bava uses colors. Most notably, the color blue. My favorite moment occurs when an assortment of clear marbles bounces down a spiral staircase only to roll into a bathtub containing a victim. What Five Dolls For An August Moon lacks in visceral carnage, it more than makes up for it in the way Mario Bava reveals each corpse.

The cast is solid, and performance-wise, they are all very good in their respective roles. The most alluring performance came from Edwige Fenech (La Pretora). Other notable cast members include William Berger (Face to Face), Howard Ross (The Killer Reserved Nine Seats), Ira von Fürstenberg (Rasputin) and Ely Galleani (High Crime).

Five Dolls For An August Moon gets a solid release from Arrow Video that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a pair of insightful extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer