Quick Let's Get Married – VCI Entertainment (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1964
Directors: William Dieterle, Victor Stoloff
Writer: Allan Scott
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Barbara Eden, Elliott Gould, Carl Schell, Michael Ansara, Walter Abel, David Hurst, Leonardo Cimino

Release Date: September 22nd, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 95 Minutes 56 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: GP
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Thief Mario Forni arrives in a small Italian town searching for hidden treasure, posing as a house painter. He falls for Madame Rinaldi, a local brothel owner, while secretly locating the treasure beneath a statue in an old church. When a prostitute named Pia confides her pregnancy nearby, Mario speaks from inside the statue, pretending to be St. Joseph, and leaves her gold coins. Believing it a miracle, Pia inspires the town, drawing attention from a suspicious mayor, banker, and a visiting bishop. Even after learning the truth, the bishop sees real value in the hope the "miracle" brings. When the statue collapses, revealing a golden cross, the town celebrates--while Mario and Rinaldi slip away with part of the treasure to start anew." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3/5

Quick Let's Get Married comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.5 GB

Feature: 20.7 GB

While the source is clean and free of any debris, it does not retain a filmic appearance. Flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity is strong, and there are no major issues related to compression.

Audio: 3.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital mono mix in English with SDH. While the track sounds clean, clear, and balanced, range-wise it is limited.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a poster & photo gallery of Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Barbara Eden, and Elliott Gould movies and television shows; alternate opening and closing credits under the title 7 Different Ways (2 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono); and an audio commentary with film historian, podcaster, and artist Rob Kelly.

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

Summary:

From its inception, Quick Let's Get Married was a troubled film; its original director, Victor Stoloff (Sinfonia fatale), was fired and replaced by William Dieterle (Portrait of Jennie). Although filmed in 1964, under the working title The Confession, the film would not be released until 1971 under the title Quick Let's Get Married. 

A thief looking for a treasure buried underneath a St. Joseph statue takes interest in a distraught woman and when he speaks to her, she thinks that the statue talked to her. His words renew her faith in humanity, and as a result, a series of events unfold that lead the locals to believe they are divine interventions from St. Joseph.

What begins as a crime caper evolves into a romantic comedy where a thief becomes romantically involved with a brothel’s madame. While the treasure beneath the St. Joseph statue is central to the story that unfolds, that subplot often takes a backseat to romantic encounters and corrupt government officials. The most intriguing character is a prostitute named Pia, whose lover abandons her when he finds out she’s pregnant. That said, Pia’s character serves as the moral center for a film populated by immoral characters.

Quick Let's Get Married was produced by William Marshall, who at that time was married to Ginger Rogers (Magnificent Doll) and it was planned as a comeback for her after an 8-year absence from theatrical films. Ginger Rogers is cast in the role of Madame Rinaldi, and Ray Milland (Lost Weekend) is cast opposite her in the role of a thief named Mario Forni. They had previously worked together on The Major and the Minor.

The cast is a who’s who in 1950s and 60s film and television, notably Barbara Eden in the role of Pia. Made a year before, she portrayed what is arguably her signature character, Jennie, from I Dream of Jeannie; she delivers a heartfelt performance that stands out among the cast. Other notable cast members are Michael Ansara (The Manitou), who portrays a corrupt mayor, and Elliott Gould (The Long Goodbye), who makes his theatrical film debut portraying a mute.

Sometimes the narrative is too clever for its own good, which disrupts momentum. Fortunately, there is never a shortage of surprises to keep things from getting predictable. While the humor can be hit or miss, the funniest moments are scenes with Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. Ultimately, on paper, Quick Let's Get Married should have turned out much better than it did, and the result feels like a missed opportunity.

VCI Entertainment gives Quick Let's Get Married a servicable audio/video presentation and an informative audio commentary.

Written by Michael Den Boer

Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) – Indicator Series (4k UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy/West Germany/USA, 1971
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Mario Moroni, Charles Ross, Guido Leoni
Cast: Daniela Giordano, Brett Halsey, Pascale Petit, Robert H. Oliver, Dick Randall, Valeria Sabel, Rainer Basedow, Brigitte Skay, Calisto Calisti

Release Date: June 29th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 83 Minutes 2 Seconds (Quante volte... quella note), 81 Minutes 27 Seconds (Four Times That Night)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10 (Both Versions)
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian (Quante volte... quella note), LPCM Mono English (Four Times That Night)
Subtitles: English (Quante volte... quella note), English SDH (Four Times That Night)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99

"Handsome model John (Halsey) takes the virginial Tina (Giordano) on a date. When Tina returns to her overbearing mother in tears, her dress in tatters, everyone has a different account of what really happened that night..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Both Versions)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “Four Times That Night was scanned in 4K Augustus Color in Rome using the original negative. 4K HDR color correction and image restoration work was undertaken at Filmfinity, London, when Phoenix and Diamant image-processing tools were used to remove many thousands of instances of dirt, eliminate scratches and other imperfections, and repair damaged frames. No grain management, edge enhancement, or sharpening tools were employed to artificially alter the image in any way.”

Here’s information provided about the differences between these two versions, “In addition to containing different opening titles and end cards, the US and Italian theatrical cuts of Four Times That Night diverge in a number of other ways. The US version includes two erotic scenes which proved too risqué for the Italian version, whilst the Italian version includes two unique experimental and comedic scenes, featuring the scientist character, towards the end of the film. The dialogue also differs markedly at times across the two cuts.”

Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 60.3 GB

Feature: 50.4 GB

This release uses seamless branching for the two versions. Both versions have never looked better; they are a marked improvement over their previous home media releases. Flesh tones look healthy; colors are nicely saturated; image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid; and the image always retains an organic appearance.

Audio: 4.5/5

Quante volte... quella notte comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Italian with removable English subtitles. Four Times That Night comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. Both tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced. The main difference between these tracks is that dialogue sounds slightly fuller on the Italian language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery (16 images—stills/posters), the original US theatrical trailer (2 minutes 22 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), a video essay by critic Rachael Nisbet titled The ‘Rashōmon’ Effect (18 minutes 25 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Roberto Colangeli, the son of prolific editor Otello Colangeli titled Like Father, Like Son (13 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with assistant director, and son of Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava, titled Scenes from a Memory (12 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an archival audio commentary with Mario Bava: All the Colors of Dark author Tim Lucas for Quante volte... quella notte, an audio commentary with genre-film experts Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth for Four Times That Night, and an 80-page book with cast & crew information, an essay titled Swingers in a pop-Giallo World written by Leon Hunt, a new writing on the film’s Italian censorship history titled How Many More Times? written by Roberto Curti and Alessio Di Rocco, an archival interview with Mario Bava conducted conducted by Giuseppe Lippi and Lorenzo Codelli, an archival interview with Brett Halsey conducted by Phil Hardcastle, an archival interview with Daniela Giordano conducted by Chris Milewski, and information about the restoration.

Summary:

Although Mario Bava is most known for his horror films, his filmography was diverse, and he excelled in whatever genre he worked in. Comedy was the genre Mario Bava is least known for; he only directed two films in this genre, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (Le spie vengono dal semifreddo) and Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note). Where Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (Le spie vengono dal semifreddo) was a satire of 1960s spy cinema, Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) marked Mario Bava’s only foray into commedia sexy all'italiana. That said, humor was a central element throughout Mario Bava’s filmography.

Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) employs the Rashomon effect, a storytelling method based on Akira Kurosawa's film of the same name. Narratives that use the Rashomon effect revolve around a collection of characters who each provide their memories of an event and each memory contradicts the others. Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) revolves around a lecherous playboy and a virginal, virtuous young woman whose accounts of a date greatly differ. Two other characters provide their accounts of what happened that night: a peeping Tom doorman and a scientist.

While a narrative that features the same scenario four times might turn out redundant, Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) always manages to engage with its four distinctly different recollections of that night; they are all equally entertaining. Most of the humour comes from characters' reactions to unwanted sexual advances and character stereotypes. That said, the funniest moments come from the guard character. There is a cartoonish-like quality to the moments with the guard.

All around the cast are outstanding in their roles, especially the two leads, Daniela Giordano (Violent Rome) and Brett Halsey (The Devil’s Honey). Another performance of note is Dick Randall in the role of the doorman. Although the female cast members provide plenty of eye candy, the male cast members are not left out; Brett Halsey’s character wears a speedo.

When discussing the cinema of Mario Bava, Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note), like all of his films, is beautifully photographed. Other areas where Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) excels are its exemplary production design and Coriolano Gori’s (Massacre Time) score, which perfectly underscores the mood. Ultimately, Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) is arguably Mario Bava’s most underrated film; it is a highly entertaining example of commedia sexy all'italiana.

Powerhouse Films gives Four Times That Night (Quante volte... quella note) its best home media release to date. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Note: Limited edition of 5,000 individually numbered units (4,000 4K UHDs and 1,000 Blu-rays) for the UK.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer

Quiet Days in Clichy – Blue Underground (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Denmark, 1970
Director: Jens Jørgen Thorsen
Writers: Henry Miller, Jens Jørgen Thorsen
Cast: Paul Valjean, Wayne Rodda, Ulla Koppel, Avi Sagild, Susanne Krage, Louise White, Petronella, Elsebeth Reingaard, Lisbet Lundquist, Olaf Ussing, Noemi Roos, Anne Kehler

Release Date: October 25th, 2022
Approximate Running Time: 90 Minutes 38 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $49.95

"Joey is a struggling writer with no money. His roommate Carl is a charming stud with a taste for young girls. Together, these two insatiable dreamers will laugh, love and screw their way through a decadent Paris paved with wanton women, wild orgies and outrageous erotic adventures." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "a brand-new restoration, scanned in 4K 16-bit from its recently discovered uncut & uncensored original fine-grain negative, with Dolby Vision HDR."

Quiet Days in Clichy comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 54.9 GB

Feature: 48.3 GB

Quiet Days in Clichy comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 37.5 GB

Feature: 21.1 GB

The source used for this transfer looks excellent. Image clarity, contrast and black levels are solid, there are no issues with compression, and the image retains an organic look. That said, it is hard to imagine Quiet Days in Clichy looking any better than this transfer.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English (there are a few dialog exchanges in French), and removable English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced, and the score sounds robust.

Extras:

The extras on the 4K UHD disc are a theatrical trailer (4 minutes 19 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), and a deleted scene (6 minutes 11 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles).

The extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer (4 minutes 19 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), a deleted scene (6 minutes 11 seconds, DTS-HD mono English, no subtitles), book cover image gallery (24 images), court documents image gallery (12 images), poster & still gallery (76 images), an archival interview with Country Joe McDonald titled Songs of Clichy (11 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Henry Miller’s editor and publisher Barney Rosset titled Dirty Books, Dirty Movies: Barney Rosset on Henry Miller (17 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and Midnight Blue interview with Barney Rosset (17 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Other extras include a reversible cover art and a limited edition NSFW embossed slipcover (first pressing only).

Summary:

Henry Miller’s novel Quiet Days in Clichy serves as the basis of Jens Jørgen Thorsen's film adaptation. In the same year that Jens Jørgen Thorsen made Quiet Days in Clichy, Joseph Strick would adapt Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. Both films were made simultaneously around Paris in 1969. When Quiet Days in Clichy first arrived in America in 1970, it was seized by the authorities as pornography. Though it would eventually win its case in federal court, Quiet Days in Clichy faded away into obscurity until it was released on DVD in 2004 by Blue Underground.

Structurally, the narrative is straight-forward. And though there is a looseness to the story at hand, there is a lot more to Quiet Days in Clichy than just a series of sex scenes. At the heart of Quiet Days in Clichy is a tale about living life to the fullest. And though some will dismiss the two main characters, a struggling writer named Joe and his friend, for the harsh language they use when discussing the women they have slept with, there are a few moments throughout Quiet Days in Clichy that counterbalance their vulgarity. Most notably, a scene where Joe is on a blind date with a woman who feels used up and unwanted. By the end of their date, he had made her feel like she did matter. That said, if there is any drawback to the story at hand, some viewers may be turned off by the lack of progression of the two main characters. When quiet days in Clichy come to an end, they are exactly where they began.

From a production standpoint, there are not many areas where Quiet Days in Clichy does not excel. Whether it be its stark black and white cinematography, carefully framed compositions, well balanced pacing, or Country Joe McDonald's pitch perfect score, it often illustrates what is going on. Many will find the performances lacking. Fortunately, there is a rawness to the performances that lends itself to the story at hand. Ultimately, Quiet Days in Clichy does a phenomenal job of retaining the spirit of Henry Miller’s source novel.

Quiet Days in Clichy makes its way to 4K UHD via a definitive release from Blue Underground, recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer