The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963 aka The Evil Eye/Bava/Arrow U.K. Region B Import Blu-ray)/The Lookalike (2013/Well Go USA Blu-ray)/Michael Mann's Thief (1981/Director's Cut + Theatrical Cut/United Artists/MGM/Arrow U.K. Region B Import Blu-ray Set)

Picture: B/B-/B Sound: B-/B-/B+ Extras: B/C/B Films: B/C/B

PLEASE NOTE: The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Thief Import (limited to 3,000 copies in this double disc edition) Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Arrow U.K., can only play on Blu-ray players that can handle the Region B format and can be ordered from the link below.

Our latest set of thrillers include two versions of the same film from two major filmmakers...

Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963 aka The Evil Eye) followed Black Sunday (1960) and a few non-horror thrillers as the second film in the genre he actually got credit for making, though even here the Americanized cut is a far cry from what he made in his Italian version. The title begs for comparison to Hitchcock's films, yet it is also a springboard for other things Bava was trying to do here and for many, this is the first filmed giallo film. There is enough here that works and still works to make that a valid enough statement.

If he had only made this film, he might have been credited for doing one of the more interesting Hitchcock impersonations at the time, but there are nice touches here that show he might just have more to offer and of course, he did. Nora (Leticia Roman) is visiting her aunt in Italy when she passes away, then gets mugged, all in the middle of what turns out to be a killer on the loose. A friend of the aunt named Laura (Valentine Cortese) invites her to stay at her place after introducing herself at the funeral where Nora finds out more about the murders. When she thinks she may have a lead on them, she contacts her aunt's doctor (John Saxon), but this only leads her closer to being correct about her ideas than she might first suspect.

Arrow U.K.'s Region B Import Blu-ray has both cuts of the film, including the lesser Evil Eye version, included here for study, research and fans, but seeing the original version is the main reason to get this release and see how Bava even knew what he wanted early on and makes smart choices here throughout.

Extras includes a reversible cover and booklet inside the Blu-ray case with a new essay on the film by Kier-La Janisse, while the Blu-ray disc itself adds Alan Jones introducing the film by explaining the difference in the original Italian version and lesser English language cut, all around film scholar and Bava expert Tim Lucas goes even further on the comparison points in another one of his excellent feature-length audio commentary tracks, an International Trailer for the Italian cut of the film, U.S. trailer for the Evil Eye cut and two interviews: All About The Girl has writers Alan Jones and Mikel Koven joined by directors Luigi Cozzi & Richard Stanley talking about the film and how it was once intended as a comedy (!?!) and Remembering The Girl with John Saxon talking about how he got cast in it.

Richard Gray's The Lookalike (2013) is a somewhat gimmicky thriller about a drug kingpin (John Savage) more than infatuated with a gal who is accidentally killed, sending several criminally connected (or nearly connected) lives spinning into a vortex of violence and possibly more murder when a big deal is endangered by said fatal accident. Jerry O’Connell is a former basketball champ and Justin Long a drug addict (both comic actors, it is very hard to take them seriously here, especially in how they are directed) who become entangled along with an actress in the making (Gillian Jacobs) and deaf-but-beautiful gal (Scottie Thompson) who might be able to help the deal, whether they know it or not. However, Luiz Guzman also shows up as a tough guy, Steven Bauer and Gina Gershon are also added to give this urban thriller street credibility, but the actual result is a mess that is all over the place, high implausible and never works. It is bad early and only gets worse, with the introduction of each known actor seeming more desperate than integrated into the narrative. I can see why all signed up, but this is a forgettable romp that will barely register as a curio.

Extras include Deleted Scenes that would barely have helped if some were left in, a trailer and Behind The Scenes featurette.

Michael Mann's Thief (1981, Mann's first feature film) has James Caan as an expert in heists trying to retire with his wife (Tuesday Weld) when his last money-sealing robbery (he can open up just about any safe) is skewed when his contact is killed by Chicago mobsters and slowly, some people start cutting into his wealth, plans and even want to interfere with his personal life. What will he do to fight back, especially if he is not aware of who might be out to get him?

Always an interesting film, I thought it had a few limits and missed opportunities, so 33 years later, Mann seems to agree with me (et al) and created a new version of the film that I think moves better except that he has replaced the decent color scheme with one leaning a little more towards blue that some may not like (or might remind them of Terminator 2) so it is a digital-age version. I am glad that both are available in high quality copies here, even if this set is limited to 3,000 copies. They are both worth your time, but fans who want more than the Criterion Blu-ray version (with a DVD that repeated the Blu-rays content) might want to get this set (and a multi-region Blu-ray player if they do not have one) while supplies last.

The supporting cast is also interesting and includes Dennis Farina, James Belushi, Robert Prosky, Willie Nelson (!), Tom Signorelli, Mike Genovese, William Petersen and some real life thieves that served as technical consultants on the film reportedly!

I am not a fan of revisiting films and altering them like this usually, but in the case of Thief, it turns out not to be a bad idea.

Extras include a feature length audio commentary by Mann and Caan, new separate on-camera interviews with them and Tangerine Dream member Johannes Schmoelling that debuted on the Criterion version of the new cut only, plus an Original Theatrical Trailer. But Arrow has gone wild by adding the original cut of the film restored as noted, a reversible cover on this limited edition, an illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and Brad Steven essay, then the Blu-ray adds an isolated music and effects track on the theatrical cut, the 2001 installment of The Directors: Michael Mann that runs about an hour, Caan on the French series Cine about the film just as he was promoting it dubbed Hollywood USA: James Caan here, writer and critic F.X. Feeney (who wrote the Mann volume of Taschen Publishing series on film directors) with The Art Of The Heist looks at the film and its director (running just over an hour) and another Caan interview done for this set called Stolen Dreams that runs about 14.5 minutes.

The 1080p 1.66 X 1 black and white digital High Definition image on both cuts of Girl can has some minor dirt and slight damage on their respective prints, but the 2K scan of a fine grain interpositive and internegative pay off by yielding very watchable results with some nice detail and depth, especially in the Italian version which is closer to the original shoot and edit. This is some impressive work considering the film needed all the help it could get.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 High Definition image transfer on Lookalike was shot with a HD EPIC HD camera and though we get some good shots, we also get more motion blur and flaws than expected, making this the weakest of the three transfers (!) and a bit of a disappointment.

For Thief, we get two 1080p 1.85 X 1 High Definition image transfers, one of the original theatrical cut with the original, natural colors and a new one in a sort of blue-chrome from 4K scans (which debuted on Criterion Blu-ray a year ago in the U.S.) of the original 35mm camera materials. Fans will like the older version's look, even if the newer cut of the film works a bit better. Either way, both are far superior to all the previous home video editions and while supplies last, you can get both and choose your favorite. Director of Photography Donald Thorin (Scent Of A Woman, Purple Rain, Mickey Blue Eyes) created a very atmospheric film with his original camerawork, but it is debatable to say if the new bluer version of the film is faithful to his vision despite being a new vision from Mann. It would not be possible without Thorin's superior work in the first place, though.

As for sound, the Italian PCM 2.0 Mono on Girl is just that much better than the PCM English 2.0 Mono dub, sounding as good as it ever will. Lookalike and the new cut of Thief sport DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes, but Lookalike I surprisingly weak in the soundfield department and I am not happy with the mix either. Thief has been remastered from its original 4-track magnetic soundmaster (including the popular score by Tangerine Dream) and the results are very impressive throughout. The original theatrical cut offers a lossless PCM 2.0 Stereo mix with Pro Logic surrounds in the mode of its original Dolby A-type analog release, but this is far superior to the harsh DVD version or old even PCM 12” analog LaserDisc 2.0 Stereo sound.

You can order either Arrow U.K. import Blu-ray along with other great releases with extended extras at this link:

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/

- Nicholas Sheffo