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Released by: Olive Films
Released on: April 19th, 2016.
Director: Samuel Fuller
Cast: Glenn Corbett, Christa Lang, Sieghardt Rupp, Anton Diffring
Year: 1972
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The Movie:
Made in Germany for a modest budget in 1972, Samuel Fuller's Dead Pigeon On Beethoven Street gets a long overdue Blu-ray release from Olive Films, who have seen fit to release the film in its extended director's cut. Originally intended to exist as an episode of a German police series called Tatort, the story, which Fuller also wrote, begins when a man named Kressin (Sieghardt Rupp) is murdered while trying to sort out a blackmail ring.
Enter an American private eye named Sandy (Glenn Corbett). He is, like the best of Fuller's leads, a tough guy and he's arrived in Germany to figure out who killed his partner and why. To do this, he starts snooping around different German locations until he finds out that a man named Mensur (Anton Diffring) is the man behind the criminal organization. He poses as a prospective member of their gang in order to infiltrate their ranks with some help from a foxy female accomplice named Christa (Christa Lang, who was married to Fuller at the time). How does she help? By using her considerable female charms to capture photographs of some local politicians in some pictures they would just assume never see the light of day - perfect blackmail fodder! As things heat up between Sandy and Christa, the killer named Charlie Umlaut (Eric P. Caspar) starts skulking around with an itchy trigger finger.
It might be a lighter take on film noir than you'd expect from the man who gave us films like Shock Corridor, Pick Up On South Street and The Naked Kiss but this has Fuller's stamp all over it. He's clearly having fun with the material - in addition to a character named Umlaut there's also a lesbian named Dr. Bogdanovich (Stephane Audran) and, of course, our hero simply named Sandy. There's humor in some of the situations posited here as well, and if the director takes his time with the pacing, the film is never dull. It looks quite nice, the cinematography is very good and even during the occasional slow stretch the movie works as a travelogue of sorts.
We don't get a lot of information on said hero, he's a typical stranger in a strange land out to see that justice is served, but Corbett plays the part well. He does the tough guy thing with just enough enthusiasm to make it work and he handles himself nicely in a few of Fuller's trademark hard hitting action scenes (the finale where he squares off against the character that essentially becomes his nemesis is a fantastic example of just how well Fuller could direct crackling action set pieces when he wanted to). Christa Lang does not want for sex appeal here. She's basically the requisite femme fatale and she plays the part well. As her relationship with Sandy evolves over time, issues of trust of course come into play but she suits the material well. If her acting style is a tad eccentric, it works. Eric P. Caspar is a blast in his part. He's a cold blooded killer to be sure but his character is strange enough that at times he's more interesting than his employer, the actual main villain of the story. Speaking of which, Anton Diffring also does an excellent job here as the heavy in the film, at one point challenging our hero to… a sword fight!
Video/Audio/Extras:
Dead Pigeon On Beethoven Street hits Blu-ray (it never received a DVD release though it was at one point announced by Fantoma) framed at 1.44.1, which is an unusual aspect ratio but the compositions look just fine. The AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer, which is taken from a UCLA restoration of original vault materials, looks nice and film-like with very good fine detail and a solid amount of noticeable depth and texture. Minor print damage shows up in the form of small white specks here and there but otherwise the image is pretty clean, showing the normal amount of film grain you'd expect to see. Flesh tones and colors look good, black levels are fine and the transfer is free of compression artifacts, edge enhancement and visible noise reduction.
The English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track, which comes with optional English subtitles, is also fine. The levels are nicely balanced, the dialogue is clean, clear and natural sounding and the score has good range and presence to it. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion.
In an uncommon move for Olive Films, who typically release their films barebones or with only a theatrical trailer, Dead Pigeon On Beethoven Street has some pretty solid extras. Chief amongst these is a documentary that runs almost two hours in length entitled Return To Beethoven Street: Samuel Fuller In Germany. Made to commemorate the release of the director's cut of the film included on this release, this documentary is made up of interviews with pretty much everyone left alive with a connection to the film and quite a few more. Actress Christa Lang shows up here alongside actors Eric P. Caspar and Hans C. Blumenberg, executive producer Gí¼nter Rohrbach and composer Irmin Schmidt are interviewed as well. They provide some input as to how this unusual project came about, how Fuller wound up in Germany in the first place, and what it was like working with him on the picture. Additionally there's input from directors Wim Wenders and Dominik Graf, both of whom do a fine job of expressing their admiration for the feature and in discussing Fuller's importance in cinema. The director's daughter, Samantha Fuller, also appears on camera to talk about her father's life and times, while film scholars Janet Bergstrom and Bill Krohn give the piece some context and note its place in the director's filmography. This is a very well made piece that adds a lot of enjoyment to the package - if you're at all a fan of Fuller's work or just enjoy learning about the intricacies of filmmaking, particularly in the seventies, you'll certainly appreciate how thorough and engaging this piece is.
The disc also includes two essays on the film, the first by Lisa Dombrowski and the second by Samuel B. Prime. These are presented as still galleries, basically, so you move through them with the buttons on your remote. Both are worth reading and also included in a booklet of liner notes tucked away inside the case alongside the Blu-ray disc. Aside from that we get a theatrical trailer, static menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Dead Pigeon On Beethoven Street finally gets a proper home video release from Olive Films who have rightly given this fairly obscure Samuel Fuller picture a rock solid Blu-ray debut. The audio and video presentation is quite strong and the feature length documentary an excellent addition to the release. This one was worth the wait - a great release for a great film.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
