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-   -   SHAM010 - The Frightened Woman (Femina Ridens) (https://www.cult-labs.com/forums/frightened-woman/181-sham010-frightened-woman-femina-ridens.html)

Philo MacDuff 13th December 2007 07:18 AM

FEMINA RIDENS (aka The Frightened Woman)
 
Greetings,

I just learned you were releasing this film in February. I'm a big fan and have made a detailed shot by shot comparison between two versions of the movie, the Radley Metzger Audubon Films English language print entitled "The Frightened Woman" released on DVD in the U.S. by First Run Features and the Italian language VHS print bearing the title FEMINA RIDENS.

I posted my comparison on the DVD Maniacs forum. It can be found here.

In short, I found that neither release represents a complete version of the film (or as complete as it could be anyway.) There is footage on the Italian FEMINA RIDENS print that is missing from the Frightened Woman DVD and the reverse is also true, footage is missing from the Italian VHS that can be seen on the DVD.

In my comparison I found approx 3 min 30s extra footage included on the Italian FEMINA RIDENS print not included on the DVD.
On the other hand I found approx 2 minutes of footage on the DVD not included on the VHS. There are also music differences, some on account of the edits made, others are complete substitutions.

I'm aware of the VHS released from Salvation Films that was initially cut 16 seconds by the BBFC. I think that even with those 16 seconds restored the film will still be missing footage. Even with those extra seconds added in the Italian VHS only differs by 12 seconds.

I'd love to know more about the print you have for your release. Does the fact you're using "The Frightened Woman" title mean it will be the Metzger print or will the film itself carry the FEMINA RIDENS title in the credits? I assume it won't suffer from the awful washed out lack of color that is on the print used for the First Run Features DVD. Were you able to find a print that is the most complete version released to this date? Do you have its runtime?

It would be amazing to see a FEMINA RIDENS release that includes all the existing footage from both versions and restored to full vibrant color. I realize this may not be possible but I thought I'd share the results of my fascination with this film in case its of any benefit for your future release.

Almar@Cult Labs 13th December 2007 11:44 AM

Hey Philo,

For this I'm going to grab the guy overseeing this and get him to reply. We also have our own documents of cuts, differences and more. This is proving to be a painful experience so far but we adore the film and are trying to make the best decisions with regards to it. We're pretty struck by the quality of the master - it's got those vibrant colours we're all dying to see! The problem is it's not anamorphic - a source of complaint on our New York Ripper release. If we 'arc' the release to make it anamorphic we stand to lose up to 30% of the image (12-15% top and bottom) which we think would be awful as it's such a stunningly well composed film in visual terms. The other solution is to go back to the negative and create a new master but the cost of that will kill us as UK sales in this incredibly tough market are awful for cult movies.

Mind you if we could get any idea as to how popular this release would be maybe we could better judge what could be spent on it... We love Femina Ridens or even The Laughing Woman if we're to be correct - right now though she'd having the last laugh as we wade through all the stuff that could be done with this release!

Philo MacDuff 14th December 2007 04:59 AM

That sounds like a dream. It's great to hear you're fans of the movie too. I can only imagine what materials you've looked through. I really have no idea what's out there to choose from. Funny you mention "The Laughing Woman" as I just got an old copy of the paperback that Aububon published. Judging from the back cover it sure looks like Audubon planned to use that title but changed it for some reason.

I can understand people wanting anamorphic but personally I'd rather have the frame preserved most of all and like you say the composition is so beautifully done. I don't know how much of that is due to the cinematographer, director or both of them working perfectly to take advantage of the creative set design and even how the actors stand in relation to the camera. There's been dozens of times when watching on my PC where I've had to stop and save the image.

Thanks so much for your reply. I look forward to hearing more.

Marc Morris 6th February 2008 10:34 PM

Hi Philo,

You can rest assured that this will be the best and most complete looking version you've ever seen. I completed the restoration the other day and it's looking damned fine. And it's 16:9 anamorphic ;)

Almar@Cult Labs 7th February 2008 12:01 AM

Yup anamorphic eh... It's why we got Marc along because after NYR we thought everything needs to be anamorphic and Frightened Woman materials were anything but but looking at the paper trail for all the other titles we confirmed as owning 16.9 materials it seems the one that was missing turns out to have been Flavia. Well moving swiftly on...

Marc how about those running times on Frightened Woman - care to tell the good people?

Marc Morris 7th February 2008 04:07 PM

The run time of the restored FRIGHTENED WOMAN (Femina ridens) is 86m 04s (that works out at 89m 45s for NTSC video).

As a guide:

The previous UK video release (on the Salvation label) was 84m 29s (with 16s of cuts). Shots of women in torture posed photographs were removed.

Salvation later re-issued it using the uncut master by mistake. This video release was 84m 39s (88m 16s NTSC).

The Spanish video runs for 85m 11s (88m 49s NTSC)

The Italian video runs for 84m 32s (88m 09s NTSC)

And finally...

The American First Run DVD runs for 86m 31 at NTSC speed (that's 82m 58 PAL). Anybody who has seen this will confirm that the quality is very poor.

Making the upcoming 16x9 enhanced Shameless DVD the out and out winner by far ;)

Angel 7th February 2008 05:15 PM

So the previous BBFC cuts have been waived then, Marc?

Marc Morris 7th February 2008 06:39 PM

It hasn't been submitted yet. I'm sure it will be OK now though.

Almar@Cult Labs 7th February 2008 06:40 PM

Ah now the BBFC have not yet had a chance to deliver their verdict but this'll be the longest version they'll ever have had to play with.

Angel 7th February 2008 07:03 PM

Cheers Marc & Almar. Sounds good :)


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