Customer Reviews

Two Women (La Ciociara) [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

'Two Women' is a stark film from the neo-realism school that still packs a solid punch. Sophia Loren plays a beautiful widow who seeks to protect her teenage daughter from the ravages of World War II Rome. She's proud, opinionated, but protective and loving toward her daughter Rosetta. The two women flee to the widow's village, where they meet an idealistic young man to whom they are both attracted. The tragic events occur quite late in the film, but by the time they do, we really know who these characters are, making the film extremely powerful.

Loren looks stunning and acts wonderfully, but all the actors in the film are wonderful as well. But Loren had (and still has) that quality that makes her the center of all attention every time she is on-screen. A stunning actress in a stunning role.

I cannot finish this review without commenting on the abysmal video transfer to DVD. This is without a doubt the worst looking and sounding DVD I have ever seen since the medium was invented. I wish Sophia Loren would sue this video company for the travesty they have done to this fine film. How in the world with all the technology at our disposal can such a poor product be released on the market? I only hope a proper version can be released soon. This is criminal.

99 minutes

The film and Sofia Loren's performance are 5 stars. The video quality is 0 stars. I expected less than perfect quality based on the previous reviews, but thought I would take a chance for 4.99. Sorry I did - I was unprepared for just how bad this is. Faces are just blurs. It doesn't track right in my VCR. It was poorly recorded in EP mode. What a waste - this film deserves better. Don't buy this - the "Madacy Music Group Inc." manufactured and distributed this video and don't deserve the profits. Included with the video is a brochure of other "Hollywood Classics" they have given this poor treatment. There is no excuse for this.

Acting doesn't get any better than if your watching a Sophia Loren film. She's beautiful, smart, witty and one of the greatest actress ever to grace the motion picture screen.This movie is very serious drama with some light moments but you'll see termendious acting by everyone. This is a rare reminder of the terror of World War II, the stuggles, the hardship that people had to endure.My only problem with the DVD is the audio. I don't want to discourage anyone from buying this great motion picture but the sound is TERRIBLE. I don't understand how the studio could let something like this be sold with such a terrible audio track. It's scratchy and tinny in sound. Other than that the picture quality if pretty good but is still worth owning. It's a great Italian movie.

Amazon should not even be selling this horrible DVD.
TWO WOMEN is in the public domain, and a cheapo Canadian company [Madacy] took advantage of that unfortunate reality to market a crummy Region 1 DVD. They simply copied a 16mm subtitled print through a telecine, the worst possible way to create a video master. It provides a cropped image [1.33:1] rather than the 1.78:1 film intended by the great director Vittorio de Sica.
Sophia Loren won an Oscar for best actress, the only time this award has gone to a 'foreign' film.
Sorry folks, I couldn't force myself to sit through this monstrosity of a DVD.
If you understand Italian, you can order the unsubtitled Region 2 PAL DVD with the correct aspect ratio. It's made by Medusa.

Wonderful film is almost unwatchable as presented here. Quality is worse than bad VHS tape, which must have been the source for this "digital transfer". Wait until another source is available.

This is an excellent film and one of Sophia Loren's very best. The quality of the recording was so bad I could only watch a few minutes of it before tossing it in the trash. It's unwatchable and should not be for sale and I would reccomend no one buy it until a better quality recording is made.

The quality of this particular video is, in a word, LOUSY! How could any fan of the lovely Sofia Loren stand to view this blurry piece of garbage? What a let down. I demand a refund......

This review is about the DVD by KOCH Vision.

Oh, boy! The movie is of 1961, but I have seen better quality TAPES by early Charlie Chaplin. Not just KOCH spent no time cleaning and re-mastering the original, it also seems that they have used the worst original available. On the top of it, the box says it's black and white - what a lie! It is, actually, green and yellow. What else? I could not move further then the scene 8, then the picture stalls, surrounded by yellow squares.

My advice - do not buy this one, just waste of money!

While the original film itself is perfection, the quality of this particular video recording is the absolute worst. It's a crime to market such poor quality goods in this day and age.

The movie is beautiful, but (as all other reviewers mention) the DVD is almost unwatchable. The image quality is awful, and the subtitles actually are **ridiculously inaccurate** (I AM Italian, so you can believe me...). And I couldn't even turn them off, so even if you speak Italian there is no way you can avoid being bothered by them!! The sound is very poor too. Even for an Italian, it's not easy to follow the dialogues, and it's not because of southern accent, it's just that the sound is awful. But, after all, it's cheap, and nowadays you can't expect a good DVD for such a low price...