Knives of the Avenger – Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1965
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Mario Bava, Alberto Liberati, Giorgio Simonelli
Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Fausto Tozzi, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Luciano Pollentin, Amedeo Trilli, Renato Terra, Sergio Cortona, Elissa Pichelli

Release Date: January 15th, 2019
Approximate Running Time: 84 Minutes 20 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"a wandering soldier (Cameron Mitchell) who finds shelter in the home of a woman and child (Elissa Pichelli, Luciano Pollentin). When an assassin (Fausto Tozzi) is sent to kill the innocents, Helmut becomes their defender, fulfilling the prophecy foretold by a witch-like psychic." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5

Knives of the Avenger comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 21.8 GB

Feature: 18.6 GB

Though there is no word about the source of this transfer when compared to previous home video releases from Image Entertainment and Anchor Bay. The areas of improvement in this transfer are immediately noticeable. Colors have never looked more vibrant and image clarity has greatly improved.

Audio: 4/5 (LPCM Mono Italian), 3.5/5 (Dolby Digital Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Italian and a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. The Italian language track is the stronger of these two audio mixes. Dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include, a reversible cover art, a trailer for the film (1 minute 27 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), English title sequence (4 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles) and an audio commentary with Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark.

Other extras include trailers for Baron Blood, Evil Eye, Lisa and the Devil, Kill, Baby... Kill! and Hatchet for the Honeymoon.

Summary:

Though it's most common for a director to stay with a film from the beginning to the end. There are many instances where a new director is hired to continue on from what has already been completed or scrap everything that their predecessor had completed.

Throughout his career, Mario Bava would take over several films that other directors had started. Knives of the Avenger is one of the films where Mario Bava was given the task of salvaging a film after the original director was fired. Knives of the Avenger’s original director, Leopoldo Savona (Arms of the Avenger, Apocalypse Joe).

Though there are elements in Knives of the Avenger that are associated with the Peplum genre. Knives of the Avenger is actually closer to the Italian sub-genre of films that were knockoffs of Richard Fleischer’s The Vikings.

The cast does a good job in their respective roles. The most memorable performance was by Fausto Tozzi (Cry of a Prostitute) in the role of Hagen, a man whose act of savagery has led to a blood feud. Other notable cast members include Giacomo Rossi Stuart (Death Smiles on a Murderer) in the role of an exiled king named Arald and Cameron Mitchell (Blood and Black Lace) in the role of Knives of the Avenger's hero, Rurik.

From a production standpoint, the premise retreads well-worn ground, and the narrative is predictable. Fortunately, there are more things that Knives of the Avenger does right than wrong. The well-executed action sequences are Knives of the Avenger's greatest strength.

Knives of the Avenger gets a strong release from Kino Lorber, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer