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Four Flies on Grey Velvet AKA 4 mosche di velluto grigio AKA Quattro mosche di velluto grigio AKA 4 mouches de velours gris (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - United Kingdom - Shameless Screen Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (16th April 2025). |
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The Film
 Dario Argentodescribes FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET as a deeply personal exploration of his inner turmoil: “I decided to let loose, go crazy, and unleash all my creativity and personal nightmares. Psychoanalysis plays a major role in the film because it’s partly autobiographical – rather Freudian, in fact.” Both Argento and lead actor Michael Brandon, in exclusive interviews for this edition, reveal how the director found his alter ego in Brandon, channelling his own paranoia to create an unsettling psychological thriller. The result is a shocking, knife-edge whodunit with a stunning twist. Introspection becomes art in Argento’s hands, making FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET essential viewing for anyone seeking a glimpse into the director’s psyche. It concludes Argento’s iconic ‘Animal’ trilogy, paving the way for ‘Suspiria’ and his later expressionistic masterpieces that earned him the title ‘Master of Horror.’ Celebrated rock musician Roberto Tobias (Michael Brandon) is thrust into a nightmare. Framed for a brutal stabbing, he soon finds himself ensnared in a web of senseless murders. The only clue to the deranged killer lies in a cryptic image captured on a victim’s retina. Roberto’s desperate search for truth will push him to the brink of madness, culminating in a shocking climax. With Argento’s signature blend of terror and visual opulence—and Ennio Morricone’s haunting score— FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET reaches an unforgettable slow-motion finale in breath-taking cinematic style. This 4K-UHD HDR edition, is encoded from the 4K-restoration of original video and audio materials, finally presenting Maestro Argento’s vision as he wishes it to be experienced - preferably in a completely dark room! Restoration of both original Techniscope camera negative and the Italian sound negative was carried out at the ’Immagine Ritrovata' laboratory at Cineteca di Bologna. The colour grading was carried out under the supervision of Argento’s legendary Director of Photography, Luciano Tovoli. Additional colour correction and HDR Dolby Vision grading by LSP Medien.
Video
I first saw this film at a rare cinema screening (circa 1996) on a double bill with The Cat O'Nine Tails (1970) at the Bradford Playhouse which at the time was being used by The Bradford Museum of Museum of Photography Film and Television, known in 2025 as The Bradford Science and Media Museum. At the time, Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) was a very rarely seen film. The word on the street was that rights were tied up with Paramount Studios (who distributed the film in the USA). My comments here apply to both the 4K UHD BD and the BD both of which I've been sent to cover. Four flies in Grey Velvet has always been a good looking film (one of Argento's trademarks) and prior digital editions have generally been decent; there was a German Grindhouse style DVD that used a vintage print being the sole digital exception). However, the recent 4K editions in the USA and Germany have used the same restoration that we have here from Shameless. Their booklet has the following notes: The 4K restoration of "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" was carried out by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, in collaboration with Surf Film, starting with the original Techniscope camera negative and the Italian sound negative made available by Reel One on behalf of Surf Film. The colour correction was carried out under the supervision of the Director of Photography, Luciano Tovoli. The processing was carried out at the L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory with additional colour correction and HDR Dolby Vision grading by LSP Medien. The restoration was carried out with the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.Colours are vibrant with very warm fleshtones that really pop in the HDR and Dolby Vision grades lending everything a more lifelike depth (check out the closeups of Brandon and both Brnadon's and Racette's naked bodies in the bath scene). Reds are strong when they appear, browns are warm and healthy. It's a vivid looking film. Black levels and contrast are textured and layered nicely with again the HDR variations lending greater depth that adds more of an empathic level to the visual texture. Shadow detail is good or as good as can be given how the film was original shot with no unintended crush in evidence. Obviously, the 4K has greater range than the 1080p24 version but both look great for their respective formats. I don't have the American or German 4K discs and only have the 2012 Shameless BD to compare. This is a night and day improvement when set against the UHD BD, less of a big boost with the 1080p24. The big improvement is in the extra 40 seconds of footage that on the 2012 transfer was upscaled due to the film elements not being available. Here they are all from film and look as good as the rest of the footage. An excellent presentation of 2-perf Techniscope material ('A' for both UHD BD and BD respective for each format). 2160p24 / HEVC / BD100 / 2.39:1 / 103:25
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) Subtitles: English (for the Italian track), English HoH (for the English track) Both mono tracks are presented here with optimum fidelity with only some minor hiss typical of analogue tracks and some mild sync issues also typical of Italian dubtracks, although those presented here are among the best I've encountered. I obviously watched the film in English as it was the language spoken by everyone on set and Michael Brandon, Mimsy Farmer and Francine Racette all did their own ADR and it's their voices on the English dub track. Italian films of this era were shot without production sound and the entire soundtrack was created in post production. Dialogue is always clear, the music sounds undistorted and sound effects are well reproduced. Good tracks; about as good as they can be shy of a total rebuild from the sound stems. Both subtitle tracks are excellent, at least on the sections I checked ('B+'). (The English tracks cut to the Italian for the 40 seconds of footage missing from the original English language release with subtitles translating)
Extras
"Behind the Velvet Curtain with Dario Argento" 2024 interview (31:07) Argento gives us an interesting, if rambling, lowdown on the creation of Four Flies on Grey Velvet. He set out to unleash his full creativity, to top his two prior efforts - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and The Cat O'Nine Tails - which explains the more fanciful concepts at the heart of Four Flies. He feels it's one of his most personal films; he definitely set out to be more autobiographical in a freudian sense. For his third film he looked to Edgar Allen Poe , Renaissance paintings, Nouvelle Vague and camera movement ala Dziga Vertov (1896-1954) for inspiration. He also has some diversions discussing working with Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci on scripting Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). The physical making of is looked at with talk of the special ultra slow motion camera - that came from the University of Dresden and was used for the filming of the fusion of metals - used in the car crash ending. He was also interested in achieving an "absolute black" (ala classical painting) in the colour values, which he later attempted again in Suspiria; which he wants this film viewed with all lights off. Also interesting is how he built his own city by cutting together disparate locations (from parts of Rome and Turin). He got on very well with Michael Brandon, liked working with him and that Brandon understood well that he was playing .argento himself. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 224Kbps) with optional English subtitles. "Michael Brandon: The Velvet Chronicles" 2024 interview (40:44) Excellent, very detailed interview with star Michael Brandon; most famous for three series and 30 episodes of TVs Dempsey & Makepeace (1985-86) and for originating the role of Jerry Springer in Jerry Springer: The Opera (2003). Here he goes into masses mounts of detail about how he was cast in Argento's film. Filled with fascinating trivia and anecdotes and plenty of humour. Bud Spencer, Dario Argento, Mimsy Farmer, Francine Racette, Jean-Pierre Marielle all turn up in the anecdotes along with other members of the behind the scenes crew. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 224Kbps) with no subtitle options. "The Art of Murder: Luigi Cozzi on 4 Flies on Grey Velvet" 2011 interview (41:27) A legacy extra taken from tje initial 2012 BD of Four Flies on Grey Velvet from Shameless. Cozzi worked on the film and tells his tale starting with how his career got going, his early work (including Four Flies) and covering his other work since. There's an interesting bit where Sergio Martino comments that the cemetery scene in Four Flies was copied from his earlier The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1970, also on BD from Shameless) which Cozzi refutes. To be honest, once you have a woman heing stalked in a cemetery and then murdered there only so many ways to do it. That said, Argento does the more considered and elaborate variation (much as I loved Martino's film). Both seem inspired by a Cornel Woolrich book, which is the conclusion Cozzi comes to. Also, the way the final car crash was shot is also very amusing and interesting covering how difficult it was and how the film got damaged by the process. Presented in upscaled 2160p24 1.78:1 with uncompressed Italian LPCM 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 16-bit) with optional English subtitles automatically switched on when you play the interview. They can be switched off via the remote. 2024 introduction with Luigi Cozzi (0:38) 2024 introduction with Michael Brandon (0:12) Two brief introductions, hardly worth mentioning as they don't impart much beyond enthusiasm. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 224Kbps) with no subtitle options. English Opening & End Credits (5:09) The opening and closing credits from the English language version presented in 2160p24 2.39:1 with uncompressed English LPCM 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 16-bit). English Theatrical Trailer (2:20) Italian Theatrical Trailer (2:38) English TV-Spot (1:01) Vintage promos in 2160p24 2.39:1 with a vintage TV spot in panned and scanned 1.37:1 all with uncompressed English or Italian LPCM 2.0 mono (48kHz, 16-bit for the English trailer and TV spot, 24-bit for the Italian trailer). Photo Gallery (5:39) Slideshow with promotional stills, behind the scenes stills, artwork and press-book pages in HD set to Morricone's score in uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mono (48kHz, 16-bit). Startup Trailers: - Suspiria (0:52) - Opera (1:05) Argento introduces Suspiria and we then get brief Cult Film's produced trailers. Presented in 1080p24 2.39:1 with uncompressed Emglish LPCM 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 16-bit) sound. 4K UHD BD ONLY! ... Fold out poster with original key art Slightly larger than A4, slick full colour and it's of the original Italian key art. Two double-sided postcards with four different artworks One is of the French poster, one is of the Shameless BD cover sleeve of the eye with flies on it, the final two arts are (I think) alternate European key arts. 32-page perfect bound booklet "Flies on the Wall: The Inside Stories": An excerpt from 'Profondo Argento, the Man, the Myths & the Magic' by Alan Jones, courtesy of Harvey Fenton at FAB Press. Also contains notes on the restoration, cast and crew listing and notes on the production from Profondo Argento A lovely perfect bound book which essentially reprints a version of the chapter on Four Flies on Grey Velvet from Alan Jones superb book. Jones is one THE go-to writers when it comes to Argento; he's been on every film set since Tenabrae (1982) and counts the great man a friend. He's a true fan of the genre as well and knows his onions.
Packaging
A slimline clear BD Keepcase with an outer key art card slipcase.
Overall
Shameless upgrades their 2012 BD with separate 4K UHD BD and BD releases porting across prior extras from their earlier disc and adding some fabulous new interviews with Argento and Brandon. Image and sound are an improvement on older transfers with the UHD BD obvious.y getting the nod for those with UHD capability (and HDR and Dolby Vision), but the underlying image and sound are the same on both new discs. Highly recommended (I give both overall 'A' but if I was having to compare side by side the UHD BD would get an 'A' and the BD a 'B+' only when set against the UHD disc.
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