Profondo Rosso (aka, Deep Red) (Two-Disc SE)

An English jazz pianist (David Hemmings) witnesses a bloody murder and is bugged by the feeling that he saw an important clue that is now eluding him…

Though he is inextricably linked to it, Dario Argento didn’t invent the giallo, but there’s no question that the genre achieved commercial viability due to the success of his so-called “animal trilogy”: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969), The Cat O’Nine Tails (1970) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971). Business being what it is in Italy, it’s no surprise that a steady stream of similarly titled thrillers began to glut the market and a frustrated Argento determined to strike out from the genre by helming an ambitious blend of humor and history called The Five Days of Milan (1973). The film was a commercial and critical disaster, and remains Argento’s only purely non-horror/suspense title to date. It was therefore with a sense of vengeful purpose that Argento returned to the giallo with Profondo Rosso/Deep Red - not only did he want to outdo his earlier efforts, he wanted to trump the heavy volume of competition by delivering the Ultimate Giallo. He accomplished this in grand style, and for many viewers - myself included - the film remains Argento’s masterpiece.

The story bears some similarity to his debut hit The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, but it veers into areas of the fantastic and the downright weird that elevate it to its own new level. As in his earlier film - or indeed, as in Mario Bava’s giallo template, The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962) - the story deals with a murder witnessed by an outsider whose very status as “other” marks him/her not only as unreliable but as a potential suspect. In its use of telepathy as a major plot point - and importantly, a plot point that is never debunked or discredited - the film embraces fantasy in a way that the more realistic animal trilogy never did. Argento’s efforts are greatly aided by the collaboration of the great screenwriter Bernardino Zapponi, veteran of numerous Federico Fellini films, including the Toby Dammit section of Spirits of the Dead . It was Zapponi who helped to structure the plot and who narrowed in on the idea of “twinning” motifs in the story, though Argento developed the basic outline and narrative thrust on his own. Their collaboration resulted in arguably the best plot for any of the director’s movies - one with some fantastic twists, well developed characterizations and mostly pointed dialogue. It is to be regretted that the two men never worked together again - Zapponi certainly indicated in interviews that he was more than willing to do so, and an educated guess leaves one assuming that Argento, reluctant to share the authorship with such a well-established writer, actively avoided doing so.

The film also sees Argento fully coming into his own as a stylist. Whereas his earlier films tended to adopt a slick but basically traditional aesthetic, here Argento begins to explore the possibility of off-kilter framing, rapid camera movements and jagged editing. True, long sections of the film do unfold in a more traditional manner, but this is all deliberately worked out - sooner than detract from the character interplay where it counts, Argento is willing to step back and adopt a more conservative approach, but when permitted to do so, the director cuts loose with obvious glee, allowing extended set pieces to play out in a deliberately stylized manner. The combination of style and substance is one of the key reasons why this film remains the director’s finest work - neither intrudes on the other, and the film effectively strings along the viewer while dropping subtle visual clues as to the killer’s identity. Classical mystery fans will still find the scenario a little reliant on coincidence - and will doubtless find the more outre elements downright annoying - but as far as gialli go, Argento has crafted a gripping tale that never lets up over the course of its running time.

The cast performs admirably. Perhaps thinking back to Michelangelo Antonioni’s “swinging 60s” classic Blow Up (1966), Argento cast David Hemmings in the lead. As in that art house favorite, Hemmings plays an artist caught up in a mystery he cannot quite comprehend. However, while his character in Blow Up, a fashion photographer named Thomas, is completely egotistical and difficult to warm to, the character of Marc in this film is slightly more accessible. The curious thing about the character is how ineffective he is as a protagonist - Marc doesn’t so much act as he reacts, and it’s his stubborn refusal to quit his investigation (which he undertakes more out of morbid curiosity than anything else) that leads to the deaths of several people. It’s a tricky character to realize, but Hemmings is more than up to the task. Looking a bit older than his 33 years of age during shooting, he gives Marc a lot of nervous ticks that give insight into his neurotic nature, but he also brings charm and wit to the characterization. It remains arguably the finest central performance in an Argento picture, as well as one of the finest performances of its late, great star. Daria Nicolodi makes her debut for the director as the brash journalist Gianna, and it’s the interplay between her and Hemmings that really makes the film work. Marc is established as something of a sexist, whereas Gianna is an early example of the feminist movement. They inevitably clash, but it’s their child-like determination to outdo the other that gives the relationship a special dynamic. Hemmings and Nicolodi got on beautifully during filming, and it’s obvious on screen - they really play well off each other, and Nicolodi responds with her most warm and natural performance for the director. Gabriele Lavia (Inferno) is also very effective as Marc’s alcoholic friend Carlo, who may or may not hold the key to the mystery.

Bolstered by an extraordinary score by Goblin and Giorgio Gaslini (the latter was originally commissioned to do the entire score, but Argento felt it lacked punch; his chance meeting with Goblin is one of the many things that would change the course of Argento’s art from here on out) and gorgeous cinematography by Luigi Kuveiller (with Mario Bava’s long time camera operator Ubaldo Terzano along for good measure), Profondo Rosso remains a fan favorite for good reason. Hyperbolic as it may sound, it remains - for the viewer, at any rate - the finest of all gialli, the finest of all Argento films… and one of the finest films ever made.

Another World Entertainment have given Profondo Rosso the full-blown special edition treatment (PAL Region 2), going one step futher than Anchor Bay did with their 2000 DVD release by including not one but two different cuts of the movie. When Argento’s Italian cut clocked in at a whopping 126 minutes, it was decided that cuts would be necessary to ensure a successful English-language release. This was accomplished by hacking out 21 minutes of character-and-mood-based material. None of the shocking violence was trimmed for this 105 minute cut, rechristened Deep Red, though it did lose some memorable scenes. Some fans have expressed a preference for this shortened edition, however, and Anchor Bay’s failure to include it in their DVD release proved to be a source of displeasure for the fans who find the 126 minute cut to be too long and unfocused. In addition, the AB disc’s producer, William Lustig, made a fateful decision to create new opening and closing titles in order to translate them into English. Lustig did his best to recreate the exact font and coloring, so much so that the difference isn’t really noticeable in the opening titles - white letters against a simple black background - but the same cannot be said of the closing shot - a memorable reflection of Hemmings staring at his reflection in a pool of blood as the titles unspool. In Anglicizing the credits, Lustig was forced to freeze frame the final shot, whereas in the original Italian version it continue to roll “live” as it were, as Hemmings moves around tries to cope with what has happened. The change enraged fans, and it proved to be a regrettable fumble in an otherwise immaculate presentation of the full-length director’s cut. Happily, Another World Entertainment has corrected these bugs for their two-disc special edition. The first disc includes the 126 minute cut, while the second includes the 105 minute export cut. Both editions are accurately rendered at 2.35, and have been enhanced for widescreen TV sets. The source elements for both transfers are comparable, with only some minor speckling in evidence. Another World has done a terrific job restoring both cuts of the film to a lustrous state, though the transfer of both titles is marred by a distracting “jerking” effect that crops up whenever there’s any movement in the frame - and with this being an Argento film, there’s plenty of movement. It’s hard to ascertain whether this is a flaw in the transfer or merely an issue limited to the pressing provided for review, but it nevertheless deserves to be reported. Beyond that, both films have excellent color, and do not suffer from any other discernible transfer gaffes. Here’s hoping that this problem is either limited to the copy under review or, if it is a wider issue, can be corrected down the road.

NOTE: Sooner than risk going out with an inaccurate criticism of their release, I decided to contact Thomas at AWE to see if I could get some verification.  He explained the situation to me via email, a portion of which I am including, with his permission, to better illuminate this unfortunate side effect: "Way back late in 1999, William Lustig went to Italy on behalf of Anchor Bay to scan PROFONDO ROSSO for DVD-release at the time. As these were the days right before High Definition files became the scanning preservation-standard for the industry, the film´s intermediate positive was color graded and simply scanned to a Digital Betacam tape in NTSC 720x480 at 30 frames pr. sec (3-2 pull down) and a runtime of 126 min, 34 sec.

The Italian interests in the DVD format at that point in time were
apparently zero and NO scan was made at this crucial point in time to a
PAL 720x576 at 25 fps Digital Beta, even though it would have been as
easy as the changing of tapes and pressing of a button.

Most DVD-releases of PROFONDO ROSSO following in the heels of the AB disc were therefore stuck with having to use Lustig´s NTSC Beta-master as their source, since going back and scanning the intermediate positive one more time was well beyond their budget for releasing such a title. The standard NTSC to PAL DVD-releases I´m referring to are:

German Dragon/Raptor 2-disc and single disc release
French Wild Side 2-disc release
Dutch Film Wurks single release
Australian Madman Entertainment single disc

All these DVDs run at 126 min and 34 sec. and are source-recognizable by their credit-sequences using the less elegant English credit font and the end title sequence with David Hemmings having his face freeze-framed as Lustig fatally chose to make this blatant error in order for English credits to roll at film´s end.

Zoom forward almost a decade to 2008 and AWE´s Kenneth Eriksen asking me to take a look at "a new Italian PAL-master" that they have received for the release of PROFONDO ROSSO in Scandinavia. There was good news and bad news and a decision to be taken. Bad news: On close inspection the PAL Master showed itself to be conversion from Lustig's NTSC transfer and again with running the full length of 126 min, 34 sec. Good news: Surprise! The original Italian Art Deco titles, both pre and end titles, were back again and looking absolutely beautiful. Also the print looked slightly different when compared to the Anchor Bay/Blue Underground discs. The colors were more vibrant and alive and cleaner. I contacted the Italians and learned from them that, yes: they actually HAD applied significant changes to this transfer by way of running the image through the MTI Digital Restoration System to remove thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches from the picture. The MTI is a digital remastering tool that a company like Criterion uses to clean up their transfers of older films with. DP Luigi Kuveiller and colorist Roberto Insanguine also had done some additional color and contrast-boosting to their liking and approval. Audio restoration tools had been used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss and crackle from the 2.0 and 5.1 soundtracks and were vastly superior on this release restored to register a smoother and fuller quality. One can then only wonder why they did not invested in a proper conversion before embarking on such an venture and why the title music cue in the opening title sequence was been placed wrongly. But such are the unfathomable ways of the Italians.

So decision time: Should we take the safe route and run a NTSC transfer of the beaten route of the AB/BU-variety or move forward with the Italian PAL-master at hand? Either way was bound to disappoint someone, i.e.: the progressive scan fans or the fans wanting proper the credits and the likes restored. Before deciding on any of this I pulled a DVD off the Italian master and compared it with the Blue Underground on a 42-inch HD TV. I also shot it from a video-projector unto a bigger screen and much to my surprise the Italian master looked...well, "healthier" is the word I suppose. It seemed much richer in saturation and cleanliness, while the BU-transfer by turn looked positively anemic and "thin". Besides horrible, horrible Edge Enhancement the BU also suffered seriously from dirt and scratches polluting its image. My concern that the Italian master would cause insufferable stuttering of image was proven unfounded and I was pleasantly surprised by its overall look and performance.

So we decided to move forward with the Italian master based on my
recommendation to do so. Both for the reasons already mentioned, but also for what I feel were crucial and necessary film historic reasons. Like
any other Argento-fan I´m was not happy with the fact that there is not a single PROFONDO ROSSO-release out on DVD not marred by some defect or another: The US and PAL versions which all share the inappropriate English font and freeze-frame as well as the Italian Medusa disc from 2004 that has some music cues placed incorrectly and only sports an Italian language option. I saw here a great opportunity in finally presenting PROFONDO ROSSO in it´s complete and proper form: For the very first time correcting its start and end credit sequences and in its wake also restoring the English International Export version back to it´s full and uncut form with its correct aspect ratio (another thing that has never been done before). 

All of this work-activity has taken about half a year from April to
October 2008 (on and off) and now we are finally at the end of the trail
with the finished disc ready for reviewing and consumption. Certainly it
would be foolish of me to call this DVD the all time definitive and final
version of PROFONDO ROSSO. Lacking full English subtitles for the Italian
version (due to rights only pertaining to Scandinavia, I´m afraid!) is
already a glaring omission that I regret to concede. Hopefully a newer,
better PROFONDO will rise out of the ashes and greet us on the ever
expanding HD format, but I must point out that it will entail going back
to the original negative or an intermediate positive and doing a
completely new HD scan. Something that is highly expensive in these days of dropping DVD-prices and within the grasp of very few DVD companies (even Blue Underground at this stage, I suspect). So for now I think that this AWE standard DVD is as close to the complete version that we´ll see for some time."

The full-length Italian cut includes Italian mono and 5.1 Italian tracks, as well as the English mono track. As on the AB DVD, the sections never dubbed into English revert to Italian with removable English subtitles. The shorter cut is presented in English only, with both the original mono track and a 5.1 remix. The various soundtracks are in very good condition, really showing off Goblin’s thumping score to its best advantage, but purists will want to stick with the mono tracks.

Extras kick off on disc one with the Italian and US theatrical trailers, as well as a commentary track by Argento buff Thomas Rostock. Rostock, who also produced the disc, speaks very fluently in English and gives some wonderful insights into the movie. Apart from providing some pointed analytical insights, he also shares some great trivia about the production and its locations - including some tidbits new to much, such as the revelation that the great director of photography Aldo Tonti (Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria) shot the bathroom murder scene. It’s a great, lively, informative track, the kind of critical commentary all too rare for films of this nature. Disc two includes the complete “Eye for Horror” documentary produced for UK television, as well as filmographies for Argento, Hemmings and Nicolodi, English-text bios on Hemmings and Argento (here again, with some great tidbits - I never knew Hemmings was originally considered for the lead in A Clockwork Orange!), English-text trivia about the movie, and a still gallery. A Danish-language booklet by Rostock is included, as well.

Dario Argento’s greatest film gets a lovingly produced release from Another World Entertainment. Were it not for a major sticking point with the transfer, it’d likely qualify as an ideal release of this masterpiece.