Well, it’s time for a quick look at what Bella Cortez films are available on DVD at the moment… and, well, the answer’s not many of them. I’ll update this as I get the chance to do more research…
Retromedia DVD of The Giant of Metropolis
This is probably the best represented film of Ms Cortez on DVD (and it also happens to be just about her best films as well). Released by Retromedia in the US, it can be picked up easily for under $10. Unfortunately, you get what you pays for, as, to quote from a reviewer on Amazon:
… It is extremely grainy, washed-out, and just plain bad-looking. The image is windowboxed since the sides of the screen look to be damages from the film being exposed to some sort of chemical build-up on one side. On the whole, it looks like it was left out in the sun for an extended period of time, with the only colors left being mostly ugly faded blues and browns. On top of this, the sound is out of sync which makes the dubbing look even worse than usual. Almost every sound comes about .5 seconds after the event takes place visually.
It has also been released in an equally cheap version by Alfa Video (both on a double bill with Hercules and the Princess of Troy and as part of the 50 title Warriors set), but apparently the print is even worse. I guess that, if you haven’t seen it, this is fine, but it’s the kind of film that would really benefit from decent presentation.
This has been released on one of those ‘free with a magazine’ type DVD affairs in Greece, and you can generally get copies on Ebay for about a fiver. You never quite know what you’re getting with these things – sometimes they can be very good quality, sometimes less so, and they always share the disc with a Greek film – and it’s in Italian language with Greek subs. If anyone can provide more information about this, please do. It’s probably better quality than the version that’s available in English, again as part of the Warriors pack and as a double-bill release from Alfa (with The Fury of Hercules).
Complicating matters further, this is also available in another English language / US version from Sinister Cinema. This would also appear to be pan and scanned, but whether it’s better than the Alfa version I can’t say.
Well, this one is even more obscure… it does appear to have been released in Spain as part of the ‘Cinema Colossal’ series, under the title Torno a muerte. Again, you can pick up copies on Ebay, but it can be a bit pricey and I haven’t the faintest what the quality is like. And it’ll be in Spanish…
Meanwhile, it also features on a double bill with Marino Girolami’s The Fury of Achilles. This is yet another Alfa release, so I wouldn’t expect a widescreen, remastered version.
Thanks for your interesting information about Bella Cortez. I was looking for ” The Giant of Metropolis” in my 50 Warriors set, but it’s not part of the set. For all who are interested, Sinbad/Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens is part of 50 Warriors set.