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The Champagne Murders – Kino Lorber (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France, 1967
Director: Claude Chabrol
Writers: Claude Brulé, Derek Prouse, Paul Gégauff
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Maurice Ronet, Yvonne Furneaux, Stéphane Audran, Christa Lang, Suzanne Lloyd

Release Date: July 9th, 2019
Approximate Running Time: 98 Minutes 46 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"Christine Belling (Yvonne Furneaux, La Dolce Vita) tries to convince her husband’s friend Paul Wagner (Maurice Ronet, The Unfaithful Wife) to sell his venerable champagne business to an American company and asks her husband Chris (Anthony Perkins, Psycho) to persuade the stubborn Paul. While on a trip to Hamburg, Paul picks up a girl in a restaurant—the next morning, the girl turns up dead, and Paul can’t remember what happened. Chris, who becomes aware of the incident, promptly tells his wife, and she tries to blackmail Paul into signing a deal with the Americans. But when another woman turns up dead, and again Paul is the last person to see her alive, Paul begins questioning his own sanity." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

The Champagne Murders comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 20.8 GB

Feature: 19.4 GB

No information is given about this transfer. The source is in great shape and any instances of debris are minimal. Color saturation generally looks very good, details look crisp and black levels look strong.

Audio: 3.75/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, and included with this release are removable English subtitles. The audio is in very good shape; dialog comes through clearly, and ambient sounds and the score are well-represented. It should be noted that there are a few instances where the audio sounds quieter than it should. Also, I noticed several instances where the subtitles were slightly ahead.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 29 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), Trailers From Hell with Tim Hunter, who discusses The Champagne Murders (3 minutes 1 second, DTS-HD stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson.

Other extras are trailers for Five Miles to Midnight and The Midnight Mile.

Summary:

The Champagne Murders is the first and only film that Claude Chabrol made in Hollywood. There were two versions of The Champagne Murders shot simultaneously; one version was shot in English and the other version was shot in French. Also, the English-language version is about seven minutes shorter than the French-language version.

Known as the French Alfred Hitchcock, it’s surprising that Claude Chabrol did not make more Hollywood studio-financed films since his style of filmmaker, more than his La Nouvelle Vague contemporaries, was most suited for Hollywood.

The Champagne Murders is a well-executed whodunit that revolves around a wealthy tycoon who wakes up next to a strangled woman after blacking out from drinking. From there, he spends some time in a mental institution after a nervous breakdown. After he recovers from his breakdown, he tries to return to his life only to have another incident like the one that led to his breakdown.

The Champagne Murders has a solid cast who are great in their respective roles, especially Stéphane Audran (Les Biches) in the dual roles of Jacqueline Belling and Lydia. She delivers a fantastic performance in which she creates two distinctly different characters. Another performance of note is Anthony Perkins (The Trail) in the role of the protagonist's closest friend.

From a production standpoint, The Champagne Murders has a well-paced narrative that does a superb job of building tension and an excellent twist finale that provides a perfect coda. Visually, Claude Chabrol takes full advantage of Techniscope’s 2.35:1 scope frame. Another strength is Pierre Jansen’s (This Man Must Die) score, which reinforces the mood. Ultimately, The Champagne Murders is a riveting suspense film that fans of Claude Chabrol are sure to enjoy.

Kino Lorber gives The Champagne Murders a strong audio/video presentation that comes with an informative audio commentary, recommended.