I do hope you are able to get a copy of the Forgotten Films edition of this film on blu because I think it looks spectacular. I’m picky when it comes to established brands and I was very skeptical of the Forgotten Films release, but the print itself was fantastic.

For me, the only reason I can’t watch the FF release is due to some missing seconds in at least one scene where Barbara and Ben are talking-there is missing dialogue as well as a cut where one moment Barbara has her jacket on, the next second it’s off (in the film we see her remove it).

I don’t think the missing moments in the FF release add up to the amount missing in the Network release, but because I’ve seen this film SO many times and ‘know’ the dialogue and it’s too bothersome to watch with any version with missing dialogue. Otherwise, the Forgotten Films release would be my absolute favorite print.

If they would fix the missing seconds, I’d gladly re-buy it (I sold the one I had bought because the missing seconds and dialogue were too much of a distraction). But the picture quality was very, very good. Wish I still had my copy to send to you.

I’d say for someone not as familiar with the film or who wouldn’t be put off my a few missing seconds of dialogue, the FF version is the way to go.

Interestingly, there are a few Mexican genre movies I know from this period that use real locations instead of sets, which works very well when any set a film could afford would basically have to be made out of cardboard. These films were often shot in Guatemala, though, which I don’t think LAS LOBAS was.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be passing on this. Thirty bucks is just too much for something that looks so…middling. I understand the trouble gone through to do the restoration and that what we get will always be limited, but I feel a new scan would’ve yielded much better results.

(I usually use an HTPC for imports, too, but I had to gut it this weekend after a PSU failure left me without a working heat-sink… Ai yai, it’s been quite a week!)

Glad to see I’m not the only one who was taken aback by how “gray” the often pitch-black photography of the film was. I understand the want to preserve shadow detail as much as anyone, but when the print itself (not the matte bars to either side) never fades to black, not even when a character’s face is covered in shadows, you’re clearly not doing it right!

As I’ve said elsewhere, these results – middling as they are – still seem to outshine the vast majority of Arrow’s output. I didn’t want to pre-order without seeing caps, and having seen them, I’m still torn… I’d pay $30 for the two of them looking the way they do, but $50! for the “Limited” editions with the comics and everything else, AND they’re region locked to boot? Eugh…

(Say, those bonus features aren’t PAL format, are they?)

But this… what the hell happened here?! Kevin, are the films alone worth the investment? I don’t like paying for crumby work, but there’s something lovable in Lewis’ grotesque side-shows and I can’t imagine the 12 year old DVD is a “better” option.

Still, if this is what we can expect going forward I think Kino will end up getting every dime I can spare. Go friggin’ figure, huh?

Regarding the Blu-ray, I still don’t know what you’re experiencing, but the Israel score is perfectly synced on my copy. I don’t mean a little early, or a little late – the gunshot sound effect matches the image precisely. If it were anything less I’d have noted it in my article.

I can CONFIRM, however, that the DVD has the problem you described. The sound effects were a good way (and I mean a GOOD way) ahead of the image, which is pretty obnoxious in playback.

Professor: I think you are right. I was pretty relieved when the film stopped being quite as campy as it started out (though I did love Michael Ripper’s “matey” obsession), but I did enjoy it more than not in the end.