Der Commander

Released by: Ascot Elite
Released on: May 13th, 2014.
Director: Antonio Margheriti
Cast: Lewis Collins, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence
Year: 1988
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The Movie:

Directed by Antonio Margheriti and produced by Erwin C. Dietrich, Der Commander was the last of their three collaborations (the first two being Codename: Wildgeese and the next Commando Leopard) and once again it features Lewis Collins in the lead. Collins plays Major Colby, a former Special Forces man now working as a mercenary. He's approached by Colonel Mazzarini (Lee Van Cleef), another former solider now working as an underground arms dealer and a man with some serious mob ties. Mazzarini and his crew want Colby to take out a Thai General named Dong who has recently branched out into the extremely profitable world of narcotics distribution, legalities be damned. The mobsters who employ Mazzarini aren't happy with the way that this is affecting their business and they need him dealt with.

So Colby, like any good mercenary, sets out to put together a team. Once this is done (and it takes a while, the first half of this movie is pretty slow), a government agent named Henry Carlson wants Colby to bring back a floppy disc from the Thai general that's chock full of info that'll help him take down all sorts of bad dudes. Colby and his team head into the jungle to do their thing, blowing lots of stuff up on the way and shooting all sorts of people who get in their path.

While this is the weakest of the three films that Margheriti and Dietrich made together, once it gets past the overly long, talky setup it turns out to be a decent, if uninventive, jungle action film. Van Cleef and Pleasence look to have shot pretty much all of their material in a day and in singular locations (Pleasence's goofy cigar smoking character doesn't really leave his office) which leaves Collins and his crew to do most of the running around. Look for supporting work from Bobby Rhodes as a mercenary named Kongo Klaus as well as amusing appearances from Brett Halsey and Paul Muller as well.

Camerawork from Dietrich's 'go to' cinematographer Peter Baumgartner is typically strong, he captures the humid jungle locations nicely and uses some pretty cool angles in a lot of the more action intensive scenes to heighten tension. There's a decent score from Walter Baumgartner (another Dietrich regular whose work will be more than familiar to fans of the producer's sexploitation pictures!) here too, heavy on dated, eighties electronic music but somehow completely appropriate if obviously a product of its time.

In typical Margheriti fashion, some of the bigger stunt and explosion set pieces are recycled and towards the end we see bits culled from his earlier Codename: Wildgeese. The action footage shot specifically for this picture is equally solid, however. Say what you will about the originality and the writing in these movies but Margheriti had a real knack for staging exciting action scenes and his work here is further testament to his skill in that area. Combine that with a fun cast and this turns out to be a pretty decent watch.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Der Commander debuts on Blu-ray, uncut, from Ascot Elite framed at 1.85.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Contrast is a little off here and sometimes things look a little flat but detail and depth are better than standard definition could provide. The stock footage inserts can sometimes stand out but that's not a problem with the transfer so much as it is an issue with the way that it was shot and cut. Black levels are okay and skin tones look decent enough. The greens could have maybe looked a bit lusher but the bright hues of the explosions are nice and colorful. There are no issues with any obvious noise reduction or edge enhancement and this would seem to be a pretty faithful representation of the source material.

DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Sound mixes are provided in German and English while Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks are provided in French and Italian. There are no subtitles provided. The English audio is fine. Dialogue is easy enough to understand and the score sounds good enough to work. There's some decent power behind the gun shots and explosions here and while this is still limited by the age and low budget of the material, it sounds fine.

The main extra on the disc is a featurette entitled The Outsider: The Cinema Of Antontio Margheriti. This is an hour long piece written and directed by the late filmmaker's son, Eduardo Margheriti and it's a pretty comprehensive look back at the man's life and career. Made up of some great behind the scenes stories and pictures the documentary also includes interviews with those who knew and worked with the man - Barbara Bouchet, Luigi Cozzi, Franco Nero, Enzo G. Castellari, Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson, Richard Harrison, William Lustig and quite a few others. Most of the interviews in the documentary were conducted in Italian and the only subtitles supplied are in German but there are some portions spoken in English.

There's also a featurette on the disc entitled Soldner Stories, a featurette on Manfred Lehmann entitled Strib Iangasm Den Philippines, a featurette on Thomas Danneberg entitled Soldner Und Synchronstar and an interview Bobby Rhodes. Unfortunately none of these extras are subtitled, they're all in German and German only (which makes sense given the target market for this release). Rounding out the extras are a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Ascot Elite action Blu-ray titles, the film's original film soundtrack as an isolated score and a decent sized still gallery. Menus and chapter stops are also included.

And once again, for the BD-Rom equipped out there, if you pop the disc into your computer you'll have access to the complete text of the incredibly rare one hundred and ninety seven page book on Dietrich's films, Mädchen, Machos und Moneten: die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. It's also all in German but it's loaded with pictures and archival images. Additionally the cover art for this release is reversible, with one poster art style on side A and an alternate poster art style on side B - it's a little thing but it's a nice touch.

The Final Word:

Ascot Elite's Blu-ray release of Der Commander is a good one. Unfortunately the plentiful extras on the disc aren't necessarily English-friendly but the transfer is alright and the lossless audio options pretty decent. Although this is the weakest of the three movies Margheriti made for Dietrich, it's still a fun picture and as such comes recommended for B-grade action movie junkies.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!