Richard, don't you know people at NoShame films?

Anyway I send them a correspondence today - this would be mighty welcome:

Dear NoShame films,

How about a quality box set of Barbara Steele's Italian Gothic's never released on NTSC Region 0 or 1 like:

The Horrible Doctor Hitchcock
The Long Hair of Death
An Angel for Satan

and better quality releases of such films as

The Ghost
Nightmare Castle
The She-Beast
Terror Creatures from the Grave

and what ever else I may have missed - there's a big market out there for these. I think it would be a huge success.

Thx,
Dave

The uncut Retromedia disc of this title, called THE FACELESS MONSTER, suits me just fine. I would rather NoShame released Barbara's comedy with Lucio Fulci, I MANIACI.

Otherwise I'm with you Dave. Thanks for writing that letter. :)

Isn't there some awful phantom audio track on that disc for the first 20 minutes or so? I remember watching it and being really annoyed with a recurring wind and dogs barking noise (repeated over and over when there should be nothing there). I believe a review of the disc (possibly in Video Watchdog) also mentioned this annoying anomaly. I think it goes away after 20 or so minutes, but it was really quite distracting while it lasted. We definitely could use an upgrade here.

Yes, it's dogs and wind: Retromedia's "watermarking" of their version to keep bootleggers away. Annoying though.
From what I've heard and read over the years, the problem with the Steele films is the exorbitant prices the rights holders ask.

Besides the sound watermarking, they also replaced the title and cast list (the tech credits are the originals). Are the woodcuts used in retromedia's part of the titles the ones used in the original sequence?

The complete original version was released on DVD in Japan, and I would guess it's where Retromedia sourced the majority of their presentation. It does not include a English language track or subs though.

Miles

If so, they did it from a tape copy as VHS dropouts are evident at several points. The "watermarking" of the soundtrack is extremely annoying. I wish the reviewers who covered the disc early on had stated exactly what the problem was, instead of just saying that there was something wrong with the audio. It seems pretty obvious what happened here but, thankfully, Retromedia has been a bit more subtle in regards to this sort of thing on later releases.

Thanks for correcting me, John. Then I guess I should ask why didn't Retromedia simply use the Japanese DVD a source for the image? Perhaps not entirely ethical but now common practice, and not illegal it seems.

I would rather NoShame released Edwidge Fenech and Rosalba Neri in THE SEDUCERS/TOP SENSATION

Is there any kind of petition we could generate to forward along to NoShame?

Myself, I'd like to see a massive box set of Laura Antonelli sex comedies. :P

Oh I wouldn't say it's exactly "legal", but until somebody sues him, Fred's in the clear.
I'm guessing the VHS was ten or more dollars cheaper than the Japanese DVD ;) , but in all actuality they were probably unaware of the Japanese disc when they ripped the videotape.

I don't know that a petition will do anyone any good, as there's no indication that No Shame own the rights to any of the Barbara Steele films (which are not public domain, btw), know where to track down usable elements or that they are even releasing any new discs. I haven't seen a new title in a while, and haven't seen any new titles announced in the first three Ryko catalogs for 2007, but there are some resolicitations.

There was a French only disc of LONG HAIR OF DEATH announced a while ago so there must be sourceable elements for that one.