Below are some screenshots from the new German DVD of Mario Bava's GLI INVASORI. To my knowledge, this particular film has never been available in decent quality, or even widescreen, so this release is quite the revelation.* My only previous reference was a full screen VHS so faint and foggy one could barely make out the actors' faces. Unlike the VHS, this transfer has Italian title credits, except that the clunky "twenty years later" insert is still there. The presentation comes with the choice of a German, English or Italian soundtrack, no subs. One hour into the film, there is a line spoken by Cameron Mitchell’s character that is dubbed by a different voice, incongruously light and hardly made by a voice actor: "I'll find them wherever they go, very soon." On the VHS, this bit was silent, so the English soundtrack must have been lifted from the same source. As in so many other cases with these films, the sound editing is sometimes terrible; music is abruptly cut off as if someone is pushing a pause button. Enter an insert card with electric hum in the background. What's up with that stuff? Other than that and some harsh "s" sounds, the sound is fine. The picture quality is among the best of any Bava home video release.

I've never ranked GLI INVASORI very high in the Bava oeuvre, but at least it now stands fully revealed as a beautifully shot motion picture. Cameron Mitchell and Giorgio Ardisson are both fine as Eron and Erik, but Andrea Checchi steals the show as the villain Rutford. However, as much as I enjoy SPARTACUS and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, I never get the same thrill from the bombastic dialogue and noisy battles of Bava's historical action dramas that I get from his horror movies. Plus, an 86 minute running time and "epic" seem like a paradox. The most notable Bavaesque element in the script is the magic of repetition and how it relates to the ever present fatalism in Bava’s work. The worst part of the movie is the nearly fatally dull opening; after the 1m45s title credits follows an excruciating 90 second voice-over accompanied by a static image of a map! By the coronation sequence 25 minutes later, though, the movie does look like a big budget production (except that I always cringe at those goofy horn blowers). The action scenes are well put together, but they are never as impressive as the moments of peace and serenity. Bava"s forte was not action, but reaction. GLI INVASORI is a good film, but it would be until the opening shot of "Il Telefono" before Bava found himself completely as a director.

The documentary featured on this disc is alone worth the price of admission. Of course, it covers Bava's work mainly as a special effects man. What I love the most about Mario Bava's films are the slow, pensive interludes of suspense, as noted by Barbara Steele in this docu.

Now, if only Anchor Bay would release SIX WOMEN FOR THE MURDERER, KILL, BABY... KILL! and FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON in this quality, I'd be very happy.

Question: Has the wonderful theme music from "L'Ospite delle due" ever been released on CD? There are heaps of music library collections out there, but I've never come across this tune.

* Writing this post, I stumbled across this, a 2006 Italian release I wasn't aware of: http://www.internetbookshop.it/dvd/ser/ser...e=8031179917174

I'm excited, the documentary as a major lure.

Not that I need to be lured with extras to see another Bava Viking film. Henrik, have you watched Image's KNIVES OF THE AVENGERS (also starring Cameron Mitchell)? You don't mention it, but it's worthy of note as another fine transfer of Bava and a possible corrective to the notion that Bava's sword and swash epics are all secondary workmanlike assignments.

It's a swift, colorful, bravura excercise shot on the same stretch of beach as GLI INVASORI, and it's surprisingly moving at times as well as moving surprisingly fast (knives being flicked at their human targets setting the pace very nicely, the tempo seemingly borrowed as well from contemporary Spaghetti Westerns which this very much resembles).

I recommend it.

Tim Lucas has his own remarks about the German dvd here.

James, I have the KNIVES disc as well. I like it. It's an interesting entry in Bava's oeuvre with its unconventionally warm and intimate story, but it's not a film I can't live without.

We're arguing shades of excellence, I think. I suppose life would go on without a pristine DVD of KNIVES OF THE AVENGER, but it would be a little less rich and meaningful B)

May be slightly lesser Bava, but it's still top drawer Italian genre, a treat. As is this one, it would seem (your screengrabs shout as much), and the Luigi Cozzi TV show Bava found-footage featurette with accurate subs attached just clinched the deal for me.

Xploited Cinema in the US is now selling copies of the Region 2 DVD.