Awful News About the German ORLOF

Over the past year, the German company Edition Tonfilm has issued a couple of wonderfully worthy Jess Franco titles, namely MIDNIGHT PARTY (as HEISSE BERUHRUNGHEN) and the first Franco Blu-ray, CELESTINE - AN ALL ROUND MAID (as CELESTINE - MADCHEN FUR INTIME STUNDEN). Unfortunately their latest release of Franco's THE AWFUL DR ORLOF (as SCHREIE DURCH DIE NACHT) marks the first disappointment in an otherwise exciting, and therefore promising, list.

The appeal of this single-disc offering is that it is the first to include both the Spanish and French versions of the film. The Spanish version (never released here in the States) is 11m longer than the French version we know, and it consists almost entirely of extended dialogue scenes between the police, the crime witnesses and their suspects that adds to the weirdly comic tone of the picture. Even though the extra footage doesn't help the film, it would be nice to have... especially in that it includes the surgery scene as Franco clearly intended it to be seen, without the sexing-up added to the French version. Alas, the Spanish version is presented by Tonfilm with the English dubbing track on all the footage shared with the French version, along with German subtitles, with the Spanish audio kicking in only when the footage exclusive to the Spanish version appears... and again, that footage is subtitled only in German. So the English-speaking viewer is cut off from the experience of seeing this version when it counts most, and it also compromises the integrity of the Spanish version for German viewers. The 1.33:1 image is cropped differently, more tightly, than the bonus 1.66:1 French version, which is non-anamorphic and, again, offers the film only in English with German subtitles, detracting from its authenticity as the French version. What is worse, the French version is incomplete, including only one of the nude inserts shot for the film. It lacks the crucial insert of Morpho ripping away the bodice of Diana Lorys' heart-embossed dress and grabbing the breasts of her stand-in.

I'm presently scripting an audio commentary for Redemption's upcoming Blu-ray release of THE AWFUL DR ORLOF. I wish I could tell you that it was going to right all these wrongs, but unfortunately it won't include the Spanish version, which I would love to see properly released here someday. On the other hand, it will present the French version complete and looking more lustrous than it has ever looked before, and I'm giving the commentary my best effort.