Customer Reviews

Marriage Italian Style [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Hands off - this great movie was transfered to DVD in the worst quality I've ever seen. The whole item is simply garbage.
I was really looking forward to the release of that film, but the result is not only disappointing but also a disaster. Of course, one can not always demand a transfer quality on the level that criterion has established with its releases ("divorce italian style", to cite just one example of that great collection), but there is a minimum of quality standards to be followed.
Although amazon is neither responsible for the content nor the quality standards of the offered products, they should be able to find a way to rate new products in the DVD section initially. Especially from a point of view that has its focus in reviewing the picture transfer, audio quality, language and subtitle options.
Considering this item, I would recommend to delete it from the sales list. In my humble opinion, customer service means, to prevent people from purchasing products like that one.....

Avoid this until a legitimate version is released. The English subtitled version is pan and scan from a dupey print with limited subtitles and grain the size of boulders. PLEASE save your money. The Italian only is a hair better in that it is anamorhic, but still a subpar picture (and no subtitles). Assume film is Public Domain for this is the worst DVD I've ever purchased.....

I saw the last 20 minutes of this movie on TV several years ago and have been waiting for it to become available on DVD ever since. What a disappointment! As other reviewers have stated over and over, the quality is terrible. So why did I give it 2 stars instead of the lowest rating? First it is a great movie. Second, for reasons which I do not understand, the quality is good if you do not use subtitles. So if you understand Italian I can recommend it. Otherwise, don't waste your money.

Others have commented on the film's classic status so I won't repeat those comments here. Instead, I just want to warn potential purchasers of the video quality. The picture lacks resolution and colors are smeared with poor edge integrity (meaning the colors of objects smear into adjacent areas). The colors are also artificially intense. Overall, the copy quality is about on a par with that of real-time dubs using home VHS equipment. Given that we now live in a world of high quality [price]tapes from the major studios, the quality of this tape given its extremely high price is ludicrous. The rating is three stars: 4 for the movie and 2 for the tape copy (I have seen poorer quality tapes but at least the sellers charged a price consistent with the quality of the tapes).
Note: For future readers, this review applies to the videotape copy of the film sold by Jef Films during the year 2001 ...

Totally agree with other reviews- this is a rubbish reproduction, an insult to a great movie. SO why dont Amazon act and a) stop allowing it to be peddled and b) help customers get refunds. Has anyone got their money back?

Terrible quality. I cannot believe someone would have a nerve selling this. What a pity, because this is a great, great film.

I've been patiently waiting for a decent version of this movie to come along and FINALLY an excellent one has arrived in this DVD, wide screen and all. The picture is clear and crisp, colors are rich and bright and the sound is excellent. It would have been nice to have extras, like old premiere footage, commentaries by Loren, etc., but who's complaining we have the real deal- the movie. After all, this is a film that brought Sophia her second Oscar nomination, a David Di Donatello award (Italy's Oscar), a Moscow Film Festival Award and other international awards. In my humble opinion, this is without a doubt Sophia Loren's finest acting performance, it even surpasses her greatest performances in "Two Women" and "A Special Day" and I say this because it is such a well rounded role, allowing her to run the gamut from comedy to drama, and she does so with great depth. No one laughs, suffers or cries more convincingly on the screen than the divine Loren, and director Vittorio de Sica knew how to extract the best that she had to give. The story is told through his and hers flashbacks and takes Sophia (Filumena) from her late teens to a middle aged woman,so multi faceted, running Loren from naive prostitute in worn torn Italy, to savvy kept woman, to conniving business woman to being a faithful mother;young or old, she shines and looks beautiful, commanding the screen with a fire and poignant dignity that leave you breathless. Add to this her wonderful partner Marcello Mastroianni and you have a solid if unusual love story which tugs at the heart Italian style. There is a scene were Sophia has to sign a lease to her first apartment, she is so gleeful and happy that she will finally have something of her own, and it is comical and heartbreaking at the same time, seeing her with great pride trying to form the letters to her name as she signs the document with almost child like innocence, it is here where you see the majesty of her comedic talent, seamlessly crossing the fine line between comedy and pathos and pulling it off with poignancy and truth. A true classic of Italian cinema, it opened to critical raves in 1964 and should be forever treasured by audiences young and old. Acting and directing don't get any better than this folks- BUY IT and savor this very fine film, I couldn't recommend it more. If you would like to see a photo montage video preview, please check out my tribute video of this film on everyone's favorite video website (which I rather not name), it features chronological photos of the plot set to the romantic song from the movie...just look up videos by boopkid.

Sophia Loren is at the top of her game in this 1964 film by Vittorio de Sica, and she and Marcello Mastroianni display real chemistry acting together. The story is much more than just a slick comedy, and can keep you guessing what's coming next.

Most of the reviews here complain bitterly about the poor quality of the DVD transfer. Well, it isn't great, but I've seen far worse. And it's really only in the first few minutes of the movie that the video quality is especially poor; it improves considerably a little further on, and then remains that way.

At least one reviewer has remarked that without subtitles the video quality is much better. There's a simple explanation for this. There are actually two separate complete copies of the movie on the DVD, taken from different sources. If you'll notice, the Carlo Ponti Italian release (without subtitles) begins with red curtains, whereas the Joseph E Levine American release, with burned-in subtitles, omits that intro. The original Italian copy that was used for that portion of the DVD was in much better condition than the original of the American release.

The bottom line is, if you care more about how sharp your picture is than about the qualities of the movie itself, then this is definitely to be avoided. But if you're able to excuse a less-than-pristine copy of an important film, or alternately, if you can manage some Italian without subtitles, then go for it.

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EDIT: One previous reviewer complained that the movie is dubbed, and another complained that the English version was wanted but the Italian version had been sent.

Neither of the two different copies on this DVD is dubbed into English; both are in the original Italian. I'm not aware of a dubbed version ever having been made. The American release of the movie has subtitles in English (granted, not the best or most complete job of subtitling possible, but not at all bad -- they're in the film stock itself rather than being added for the DVD, and are exactly the same as what you would have seen in a theater in 1964), while the Italian copy does not.

I sense a bit of piling-on in these reviews -- something doesn't meet your highest expectations, and then you find all these 1-star reviews here, which just reinforces your own disappointment, so you add another one instead of putting the situation into perspective. Many of these old Joseph E Levine releases of foreign films are in fair-to-poor condition, and the DVD issuer used the best copy they could find; they didn't screw it up just out of laziness or to annoy people. It's true that with a lot of expensive equipment and an enormous amount of time and labor a film can go through a restoration process where each frame is digitally cleaned up, and perhaps eventually an outfit like Criterion may turn their attention to this one. In the meantime, this is what there is.

So don't buy this DVD unless you're willing to watch a great movie with less-than-perfect video.

Simply and plain... this product is "pirate" quality and tell me about it, i'm from Mexico and I know about piracy.

The box looks like a cheap color copy, the DVD just some black&white letters (i.e. no CD cover) and that's it for $27 bucks (what I paid).

I speak Italian and the quality of sound and picture is good, but for everyone else the english subtitled version has the worst picture & sound quality ever (not to mention the crappy subtitles ho ho ho)

I have seen this movie several times over the years and have always wanted a copy of it. i have several other movies with Sophia Loren, but this one has to be her very best. i will definitely buy this movie when the price comes down. Larry