27 April, 2007

EUGENIE, HISTORIA DE UNA PERVERSION on Blu-Ray?

An external view of the Ricardo Bofill designed "El Xanadu" (1968) seen in Jess Franco's 1980 version of Sade's infamous story which he previously filmed in 1969 as EUGENIE HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION.* I much prefer this more dialogue free and visually surreal (Dali is directly referenced) version. JE Films was the company of Spanish producer-writer Julian Estaban, who also coproduced ZOMBIE LAKE and Franco's DEVIL HUNTER (both 1980) with Eurocine, Paris. El Xanadu is also a key set in Franco's SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY (1970), THE PERVERSE COUNTESS (1973). My fantasy release would be a Blu-ray disc (could it happen?) which would deluge one with the uncanny atmosphere, vivid colors and Bofill's architecture (more screenshots due later). HD pushes you into a slightly 3D world but I would rather drown in the Blu-ray rendered hallucinations of our delirious visionary. I spent the day being treated to a demonstration of Blu-ray vs HD. Blu-ray is the unquestionably superior technology in my view. The quality of the detail is just breathtaking. It's like being submerged in a tsunami of exquisite tinctures and glittering wonderments. It comes and gets you. But I'm not planning to acquire the Blu-ray system I want. Even if I could afford it virtually everything which is available is material I don't want to see once much less revisit often. That may change. We'll see. Or both HD and Blu-ray will cancel each other out and a new technology will emerge and become the standard. Or they will coexist as niche preferences. But I would go with Blu-ray without hesitation. I bet you thought it was going to happen for a minute... You never know. Now, can you name all the Jess Franco versions of this Marquis de Sade story? Thanks Alex Lindsay for first posting a link to this image on the Latarnia Forum's Franco Lounge. *Exterior: EL XANADU; this building is located in Calpe and houses a number of apartments. Did Bofill have CITIZEN KANE in mind when he named this structure? I'll be rotating more screengrabs and images of Bofill's architectural designs to provide those who haven't seen this or are fans of this film with an ongoing slideshow. (C) Robert Monell, 2007

4 comments:

scott said...

Hope Severin release this one subtitled!! A great one!!

Robert Monell said...

They would be the ideal company to release this if they can find the rights holder. Their DVD releases look as almost as good as HD when upconverted. Tim Lucas did a blog on this recently. Speaking of Blu-ray, don't they have a no Adult films policy?

Anonymous said...

hey does someone know where I can buy or download jess franco's Eugenie(Historia de Una Perversion) 1980 'cause I've already seen Eugine from 1970 and I'm curious how different is it.

Robert Monell said...

This used to be out on NTSC prerecord from MDVC Caliente label back in the 1980s. Some grey markets may have a dub of it.