Customer Reviews

That Man From Rio / L' Homme De Rio - with ENGLISH subtitles (Import)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A 4 out of 5: "My favourite action movie from 1964, by Director Philippe de Broca, this French-Italian movie classic, based on a Tintin adventure, The Broken Ear, turns spoof-farce-comedy, with kidnapping, theft from the Trocadero Museum, mysterious and dangerous thugs, a stolen flight to Rio, and echoes of Marcel Camus' superb 1959 all-time Brazilian classic, Orfeu Negro,with its favela backdrop, with Adrien, a superbly fit Jean-Paul Belmondo, in pugilistic mood often, chasing after his fiancé, Agnes, a sultry and flirtatious Françoise Dorleac, down the Amazon - a twist at every bend in the river. Also with Jean Servais, as the dodgy Professor Norbert Catalan and charming Adolfo Celi. Maybe also borrows some ideas from Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville and the Bogard vehicle, Treasure of Sierra Madre. Predates and presages Spielberg/Lucas' 1981 Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and the more recent Laura Croft-series, without the supersonic bangs and techno gimmicks."

I saw That Man From Rio in a New York movie theatre when it was first released and fell madly in love with both stars. When I found this DVD I was delighted but surprised when it arrived and I discovered it was Russian. Even though it came with instructions as to how to get to the English subtitles I was afraid it would be dubbed from French into Russian and then translated into English. This was not the case. In fact the English subtitles were already on the screen and the characters speak French. (Jean Paul Belmondo speaking Russian would have been mind blowing but kind of funny.) The quality is excellent and the movie is still tremendous fun. Age has not diminished it at all.
This movie came out before the Harrison Ford "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series and has a sophistication and charm those movies lacked. Francoise Dorleac is radiant and delightful. The scene with her dancing on the beach in Rio is priceless, as is Belmondo's look of Gallic frustration. Dorleac had a sense of fun and mischief I have never seen in her more serious twin sister. Her early death was a great loss.
Belmondo is perfection. He is a brilliant physical comedian. His character often appears to be almost simple and yet he is indomitable in his determination to rescue Dorleac.
Belmondo moves like a panther. He is still about the sexiest thing on the screen even though there is only one kiss and not much more implied.
I did not remember this movie being so innocent and actually, very sweet, and yet so very, very funny at the same time. The writing is smart, the acting is consistently excellent and I am very glad I hunted down this DVD.

The movie has terrific quality. I have never seen a movie from 1964 with such a good quality. I recommend this movie to people who like adventures as well as beautiful views of Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and even from the favelas!!! Once one sees that movie, he/she will be falling in love with Brazil.

A fun film that I actually saw in a REAL theater at the time of its release . (no kidding!) Belmondo is very nice to look at and hams his way from location to location, including an exciting chase scene through a still being built Brasilia. The plot is as mindless as any James Bond film but the characters are fun and this picture never takes itself too seriously. The point of this review is not to rehash every scene but to point out that this Russian release is a fine crisp transfer that is (apparently) as good as its going to get. I don't know how the aspect ration compares to the original release but it wasn't at all distracting and is certainly better than the VHS. Get it while you still can.

The video transfer was flawless to DVD without any "noise" and the soundtrack was clear. The pressing was Russian, but the sheet provided gave easy instructions to access French language track with English subtitles. This is one of my very favorite movies, with non-stop action and crazy situations. Unfortunately, the video badly needs to be upgraded to digital from analog format; as it is, the images are less than crisp, which unfortunately detracts from the viewing experience. Recommended since this is the only DVD option available.

GREAT MOVIE I AM WAITING FOR THE SEQUEL TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC

Delivery of the DVD was very fast. The DVD is compatible with PAL videos and Region 2 DVDs. The sheet provided as attachment gives you easy instructions to access to French language and on top of this, the quality of the movie really has a good quality.

Fast service,but video rec'd. was Russian import with cyrillic writing. Had explanation jow to load & play. not what I expected.