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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: January 15th, 2019.
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Brett Halsey, Daniela Giordano, Pascale Petit, Brigitte Skay, Nino Korda
Year: 1972
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Four Times That Night - Movie Review:
The first Mario Bava film to be produced by Alfredo Leone (who would go on to become the producer most often associated with Bava's output), 1972's Four Times That Night is pretty far removed from the horror films that Bava is best known for. Judged on its own merits, however, the picture turns out to be a pretty enjoyable little sex comedy.
Tina (Daniela Giordano of The Girl In Room 2A and Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key) is asked out on a date by a swinger named Gianni (Brett Halsey of Fulci's Cat In The Brain and Bava's earlier western Roy Colt And Winchester Jack). She agrees and off they go and from there we're shown four different potential scenarios for how the evening may or may not have turned out, Rashomon style.
Considerably raunchier than anything else Bava would direct, Four Times That Night stands out not because it's a great film but because it's the one movie in the director's filmography that contains a considerable amount of female nudity, so much so in fact that it landed the film in a hot spot with the censorship board in Italy after it was finished. That said, by today's standards the picture comes across as randy and playful rather than exploitative despite the copious amount of bare flesh on display in certain scenes.
Performance wise, the gorgeous Giordana (a former Miss Italy) steals the show. She's quite fetching and she turns out to have a real knack for playing her character in the few different ways that the script calls for. Brett Halsey, a regular on the Euro-cult circuit for years, proves as sturdy a leading man here as in any of his other films. He's a charmer and he's well cast as the playboy type. Dick Randell (yes, the man who produced For Your Height Only and Pieces) has a small role as the doorman and he appears to be having run playing the seedy character while Bay Of Blood's Brigette Skay pops up for an obligatory nude scene.
Much of the humor is fairly slapstick in nature with plenty of sight gags included in each of the four scenarios. Don't expect a whole lot of witty dialogue here (though the film has its moments in that regard), instead sit back, and enjoy the hijinks. While Bava certainly made more interesting films in his career, Four Times That Night is not without its share of director related quirks. The film really plays around the with whole notion of truth and deceit being easily manipulated which is something that we'd see him experiment with in different ways down the road. The film also looks quite good and there are some interesting painted backdrops used here and even some odd-looking scenes that exhibit the director's flair for visuals, giving the film a really unique look that separates it from other sex comedies of the era. If the film isn't a classic, it's at least quirky, genuinely funny, and as such, quite entertaining.
Four Times That Night - Blu-ray Review:
Four Times That Night is framed at 1.85.1 and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a 25GB disc. The image is a little soft in spots but for the most part if looks pretty good. If it doesn't give the eye-popping detail that the best transfers do, it definitely surpasses previous DVD editions. Colors look quite good and black levels are fine. The image is film-like, showing natural grain but little print damage, just occasional white specks now and then. Skin tones look good and some minor flicker in a few spots doesn't prove to be too distracting. Not a reference quality transfer, but a perfectly good one.
DTS-HD tracks are provided in English and in Italian language options with subtitles available in English only. There's a little bit of hiss in a couple of spots but otherwise the audio here is fine. The levels are balanced well and you will have no trouble understanding the performers.
The main extra on the disc is an audio commentary track from Tim Lucas, the author of Mario Bava: All the Colors Of The Dark. As is the norm for Lucas' Bava commentary tracks, it's informed and very detailed. He talks about the comparisons to Kurosawa's film, gives us plenty of background information on the cast and crew and puts it into context alongside the era in which it was made and a few other entries in the director's filmography.
Kino has also included two deleted scenes - Johnny And Tina (a two-minute piece that was edited out of the original Italian cut) and Tina And Esmerelda (a three-minute piece also cut out of the Italian version). These are both presented in high definition with English audio.
Aside from that, we alsoa trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Mario Bava properties distributed by Kino (Baron Blood, Evil Eye, Lisa And The Devil, Kill, Baby... Kill and Hatchet For The Honeymoon), menus and chapter selection.
Four Times That Night - The Final Word:
Four Times That Night is an enjoyable and entertainingly quirky sex comedy featuring some spot-on direction, great production design and some fun performances. Kino's Blu-ray release offers a decent upgrade over the DVD release and is highlighted by a fine commentary as its main supplement.
Click on the images below for full sized Four Times That Night Blu-ray screen caps!
Not seeing anything attractive here.
Bad contrast, missed day for night, and the color timing is wretched.
I posted @ Latarnia with more caps...this Blu kinda blows.
Here is a cap from the DVD Vs the cap from the Blu
WTF is up with her skin?
Just one of many such example of badness.