212 The Valachi Papers

[MichaelB]

THE VALACHI PAPERS
(Terence Young, 1972)
Release date: 18 January 2021
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)

Pre-order here.

Based on the disclosures of mobster Joe Valachi, as recounted in Peter Maas’ best-selling biography and at a sensational congressional hearing, The Valachi Papers tells the story of one man’s brutal journey through the ranks of the Cosa Nostra, and a betrayal that would reveal the secrets of the Mob to the world.

Terence Young (From Russia with Love) skilfully renders the clandestine world of violent gangsters in this stylish European co-production which benefits from thrilling action, a no-nonsense central portrayal from Charles Bronson (Breakout), and impressive ensemble performances from Lino Ventura (The Medusa Touch), Joseph Wiseman (The Garment Jungle) and Jill Ireland (The Valdez Horses).


INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• High Definition remaster
• Original English and Italian mono soundtracks
• Audio commentary with film historian Paul Talbot, author of Bronson’s Loose! The Making of the ‘Death Wish’ Films and Bronson’s Loose Again! (2021)
• New interview with make-up artist Giannetto De Rossi (2021)
• New interview with screenwriter Stephen Geller (2021)
• Valachi: The Violent Era (1972, 7 mins): archival making-of featurette with on-set interviews with Terence Young and Charles Bronson
• On-set Footage (1972, 2 mins): rare behind-the-scenes
• The Valachi Hearings (1963): selection of highlights from Joseph Valachi’s testimony to Senator John L McClellan’s congressional committee on organised crime
• Original theatrical trailer
• TV Spot
• Radio Spot
• Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials
• New and improved subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing for the English soundtrack
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Pasquale Iannone, newspaper reports on Joseph Valachi’s criminal career, excerpts from the source book by Peter Maas, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
• UK Premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies
• EXTRAS SUBJECT TO CHANGE


#PHILTD212
BBFC cert: 18
REGION B
EAN: 5060697920987

[Altair]

Phenomenal cover - almost enough to convince me to buy just on that basis alone.

[domino harvey]

Haven't seen this one, is Lino Ventura dubbed?

[Adam X]

Maybe that's why the Italian sountrack's included?

Though I just noticed this is an Italian-produced film, so maybe not.

[domino harvey]

Lino Ventura is French, so he’d be dubbed there too. Just curious if he spoke English well enough, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a non-French role

[Adam X]

See my comment in the Arrow news thread about this year frying my brain.

(You know, I thought you were right, despite his name, but looking it up he was actually Italian-born. He just moved to France at a young age. Angiolino Giuseppe Pascal Ventura)

[MichaelB]

Lino Ventura is French, so he’d be dubbed there too. Just curious if he spoke English well enough, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a non-French role

He's clearly speaking English in The Medusa Touch, but I believe his voice was overdubbed in postproduction.

Incidentally, that film contains one of the best throwaway excuses for incongruous casting that I've ever heard - the character that Ventura played was British in both the source novel and the first-draft screenplay, but when French co-production funding was agreed, one of the conditions was that the film cast a French star of equal local magnitude to Richard Burton. Lino Ventura was available, but the only part that had anywhere near enough screen time and equivalent narrative importance was that of the detective, so that's what he ended up playing. And how did the film explain how an obvious Frenchman was in charge of a British police investigation? A Common Market job-swap scheme.

[MichaelB]

Haven't seen this one, is Lino Ventura dubbed?

Thanks to Paul Talbot's typically exhaustive commentary, I can now answer this: that's definitely Ventura's own voice on the English soundtrack - as Talbot points out, his accent sounds more French than Italian. It may also be his voice on the Italian soundtrack too - although French would be Ventura's primary language for much of his life, his native and only language until the age of eight was Italian, so there's no obvious reason why he couldn't have dubbed himself.

[FrauBlucher]

Phenomenal cover - almost enough to convince me to buy just on that basis alone.

You're not kidding! That's awesome!

[brundlefly]

It's crotchy. Blu-splay.

[MichaelB]

Final specs confirmed:

[MichaelB]

Mondo Digital.

[MichaelB]

The Valachi Beavers.

[kekid]

There is a marked green tint in DVDBeaver's caps. I don't know if this is how it is supposed to look.

[MichaelB]

CineOutsider.

With regard to Joseph Wiseman's accent, completely coincidentally I subtitled The Valachi Papers and Things Change back to back, and Don Ameche's accent is damn near identical. I don't for one millisecond imagine that Ameche used Wiseman's performance as his sole model (which would make no sense whatsoever), so I have to assume that both actors independently researched what Sicilian immigrants from a certain milieu would sound like after having English as a first language for several decades, and both drew exactly the same conclusions - which would suggest that they were probably the correct ones.