14-16 Cosa nostra: Franco Nero in Three Mafia Tales by Damiano Damiani

[yoloswegmaster]

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The most American of directors according to celebrated critic Paolo Mereghetti, Damiano Damiani (A Bullet for the General) nevertheless surveyed his own country’s mafia history unlike anyone before him, to critical and box office success. Three such classic films are collected in this Blu-ray box set, presented from new restorations.

The Day of the Owl stars Franco Nero as a police chief who, while investigating the death of a construction worker, goes up against corrupt officials and a ruthless mafia boss (Lee J. Cobb). Adapted from the celebrated novel by Leonardo Sciascia (Illustrious Corpses, Todo Modo), The Day of the Owl was the first book to openly deal with organised crime in Sicily. A prestigious production, it was in the running for best film at the Berlin Film Festival and found wins at home in the David di Donatello Awards for Claudia Cardinale, Nero, Damiani, and Best Production.

Nero portrays a simple man thrown in jail for a misdemeanour in The Case is Closed: Forget It. Inside, he sees the grim reality of life behind bars, where the mafia controls everything. A powerful production with Nero in top form and supported by a strong cast including Riccardo Cucciolla (Rabid Dogs) and John Steiner (Tenebrae), the intensity of Damiani’s film places it among the finest prison dramas. Presented in Italian and for the first time with the original English dub.

In How to Kill a Judge, Nero plays filmmaker Giacomo Solaris, whose latest film features a judge corrupted by the mafia and who is later found murdered. The real judge the character is based on seizes the footage, but is later killed in the same way. Feeling a degree of responsibility, Solaris investigates, but as the assassinations increase around him, will he reach the source of the conspiracy? Full of twists and a fascinating meta-commentary on cinema, Damiani points the camera at himself and the genre as he investigates the social impact of mafia violence, a fitting end to this survey of Damiani’s Cosa Nostra.

Blu-ray Limited Edition Box Set Special Features:

2K restorations of The Day of the Owl, The Case is Closed: Forget It and How to Kill a Judge
New and archival extras for each film
Limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing on the film by experts on the genre including Andrew Nette, Paul A. J. Lewis, Nathaniel Thompson and more to be confirmed
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in a rigid box with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

The Day of the Owl

2K restoration of the film from the original negative presented in Italian and English audio options
Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
New interview with star Franco Nero
Archival interview with Franco Nero, writer Ugo Pirro and production manager Lucio Trentini
Archival interview with Claudia Cardinale from French TV in which she discusses her long and storied career
Identity Crime-Sis: filmmaker and Italian crime cinema expert Mike Malloy discusses The Day of the Owl in the context of the formation of the Italian crime film genre
Filmmaker Howard Berger looks at the late Italian career of actor Lee J. Cobb
Trailer
Optional English subtitles for Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
Reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters

The Case is Closed: Forget It

2K restoration of the film from the original negative presented in Italian and, for the first time, English audio options
Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
New interview with star Franco Nero
Archival documentary on the making of the film featuring actor Corrado Solari, assistant director Enrique Bergier and editor Antonio Siciliano
Video essay on the career of Damiani Damiani by critic Rachael Nisbet
Trailer
Optional English subtitles for Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters

How to Kill a Judge

2K restoration of the film from the original negative presented in Italian and English audio options
Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
New interview with star Franco Nero
New interview with Alberto Pezzotta, author of Regia Damiano Damiani
New video essay on the film by filmmaker David Cairns
Trailer
Optional English subtitles for Italian audio and English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for English audio
Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
This item is included in the Bundle Packages "UK-unique Bundle" and "Jun-Dec 2023 Bundle", you do will receive this release by ordering one of these bundles.

[black&huge]

Holy moly what a release

[therewillbeblus]

The little blurbs on the cover are a hilariously campy and fun addition

[feihong]

Is How to Kill a Judge based on that real-life killing that seemed to have been inspired by a Leonardo Sciascia novel? I believe Sciascia is the source of adaptation for The Day of the Owl, also.

[videozor]

At the very least this is a questionable decision not to include in the Damiani/ Nero/ Mafia set what is probably the best movie of the kind - The Confession of a Police Officer... A Day... was, of course, the very first in the series. Case Closed... is a reworking of The Confessions. How to Kill... not even worth a look at

[Glowingwabbit]

Just fyi, this was confirmed to be a US release as well.

[TMDaines]

Great looking set.

[criterionsnob]

Beaver

[tenia]

I just received the French set, which contains Goodbye & Amen, The Case is Closed: Forget It and How to Kill a Judge (The Day of the Owl has been released separately, by Studio Canal). Goodbye & Amen clearly is the weakest looking of the 3, while The Case is Closed: Forget It seems to be the best looking one. Goodbye and Amen looks very filtered, like an old HD master with lot of DNR on top of it. The Case is Closed: Forget It on the other hand looks like a proper recent 2K restoration, a bit soft but natural looking. How to Kill a Judge is kind of in-between, though rather on the filtered side of it. It's interesting because Beaver caps look a bit grainier than the French disc, so I'd need to check if both sets are using the same master or not.

Day of the Owl looked very good already in the Studio Canal release, though I'd be curious to see if Radiance performed any additionnal color-correction to it.

[Stephen C. Horne]

Day of the Owl looked very good already in the Studio Canal release, though I'd be curious to see if Radiance performed any additionnal color-correction to it.

No additional colour correction to Day of the Owl, but both Case is Closed and Judge were colour-corrected.

[yoloswegmaster]

The U.S. and U.K. releases have been delayed due an issue with one of the discs and replacement discs have been issued.

[What A Disgrace]

What is the new release date?

[swo17]

3 July?

[What A Disgrace]

Ha, well, that wasn't there this morning! Thank you.

[zedz]

I received some discs from Radiance today. This set wasn't included, but postcards for How to Kill a Judge were. Some detective work required, as the three posters amongst them (French, German and Hungarian) had titles that bore no resemblance to the Italian or English title. Roughly: We Are All Out on Bail, Terror Directs, and Like an Owl by Day - the latter easily the best alternative title.

[unclehulot]

The three films are now streaming on Arrow Video’s streaming channel

[Rayon Vert]

Received the set this week. Two extra dics (The Case Is Closed and The Day of the Owl) come in slim DVD cases. I'm gathering these are the replacement discs and I can get rid of the ones in the sealed box?

[joshua]

Received the set this week. Two extra dics (The Case Is Closed and The Day of the Owl) come in slim DVD cases. I'm gathering these are the replacement discs and I can get rid of the ones in the sealed box?

Yeah, I had to pull out a magnifying glass to see it, but there is an "R2" at the end or the writting on the outer edge of the replacement discs.

[M Sanderson]

How soon are they expecting to sell out of this set? I've noticed that a few Radiance titles have quietly sold out. Wondering if I should show a bit more urgency with this one...

[criterionsnob]

It was 50% sold out according to yesterday's Radiance newsletter.

[M Sanderson]

It was 50% sold out according to yesterday's Radiance newsletter.

thanks. I'd had a very quick look on their website and couldn't see where to subscribe to their newsletter.

are these worth getting for admirers of the Years of Lead type of films? Or perhaps fans of Francisco Rossi, whose films explored the link between crime, state and Church?

[Graham]

It was 50% sold out according to yesterday's Radiance newsletter.

thanks. I'd had a very quick look on their website and couldn't see where to subscribe to their newsletter.

are these worth getting for admirers of the Years of Lead type of films? Or perhaps fans of Francisco Rossi, whose films explored the link between crime, state and Church?

Yes - they’re pitched somewhere between the two, being more serious-minded than the films in the Years Of Lead box but not quite as intellectually realist as Rosi’s films.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

My copy from Deep Discount arrived and the Day of the Owl and Case Is Closed discs are printed RAD014BD-US R2 and RAD015BD-US R2 respectively.

[DeprongMori]

My copy from Deep Discount arrived and the Day of the Owl and Case Is Closed discs are printed RAD014BD-US R2 and RAD015BD-US R2 respectively.

Thanks. I received my copy a few weeks back from the UK, and they check out with the “R2” marking. Relieved.

[domino harvey]

Il giorno della civetta is a strong (if peculiarly-named) film, though it's a little too familiar to have the impact it could. Though the different running times meant I opted for the Italian version and was deprived of his inimitable voice, Lee J Cobb is terrific as the local Don who spends most of the movie calmly perched on the balcony of his apartment, looking directly into the offices of the local head gendarme. I liked how the film focused small-scale on one town's insular mafia and the fleeting glimpses at how most occupants seemed perfectly fine with it. While I admire a film like this keeping its "What's the point" defeatism without sliding into outright fatalism, it nevertheless ends up feeling a bit like "What's the point" narratively as well, though the final scene hints at what could have been a more unconventional tale

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With Cobb ruefully disappointed that Nero has acquiesced to his pressure and he no longer has a sparring partner he deems as an equal. That's a great idea that the film had supported here and there in the lead-up, but this is where a better film would start!