Camille 2000 (1969)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The Lickerish Quartet
Rating
Year Of Production	1969
Running Time	116:31 (Case: 119)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Radley Metzger
Studio Distributor	Audubon Films Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Danièle Gaubert Nino Castelnuovo Eleonora Rossi Drago Roberto Bisacco Massimo Serato Silvana Venturelli Zachary Adams Dominique Badou Peter Chatel Virginia Rodin Enzo Fiermonte Graziella Galvani Philippe Forquet
Case	PUSH-1 (Opaque)
RPI	?	Music	Piero Piccioni

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.93:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Radley Metzger's Camille 2000 is an adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas fils novel, La Dame aux camelias by screenwriter Michael DeForrest. This literary work was also the basis for the 1936 film, Camille, which starred Greta Garbo. While still loosely based on the same story, Metzger's 1969 version is subtle in erotosim and lavishly elegant.

    Armand (Nino Castelnuovo) lives a self-indulgent lifestyle, totally supported and controlled by his domineering father (Massimo Serato). While visiting Rome, Armand meets and becomes infatuated with Marguerite (Danièle Gaubert). Marguerite enjoys a flirtatous lifestyle and engages in wild parties, while using drugs on an invariable basis.

    Her initial resistance to form a relationship of substance with Armand slowly disintegrates, and they soon begin an intense and loving relationship. Unfortunately, Armand's father wrongly believes she is manipulating his son for his money. He reveals himself to Marguerite when Armand is out one day and confronts her with his beliefs. Margurite is shattered by his accusations. With her spirit totally destroyed, she decides to let Armand go.

    Without telling him of her conversation with his father, she terminates the relationship, leaving Armand perplexed as to the reasons why. They both flirt with other relationships, but secretly still harbour strong feelings for each other. As their jelousy and stubborn attitudes conspire to keep them apart, Marguerite's ever increasing intake of drugs is sending her on a tragic spiral of decline.

    Camille 2000 features stunning art direction by Enrico Sabbatini. The lavish sets and decadent locations enhance the films surreal atmosphere. Also adding to the surreal nature of the film is Metzger's trademark use of reflective surfaces, which provides an extra dimension to Ennio Guarnieri's cinematography.

    Camille 2000 is presented as part of a three disc collection of Radley Metzger films, The Sexadelic Collection.

Video

    The video transfer of Camille 2000 is adequate.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.93:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The film's original aspect ratio is 2.35:1.

   Foregrounds and close ups exhibited a reasonable amount of sharpness, although softness was evident in varying scales throughout the film. This is possibly inherent in the source material and not a transfer issue. Blacks were clean and bold, while shadows were generally low in the quality of detail they displayed.

    Colours were consistantly soft and subtle, which is a direct result of the three-strip Technicolor photography used for the film. Colours were generally well rendered and showed no obvious signs of oversaturation.

    MPEG artefacts were well controlled. There were a few issues with aliasing, mainly on window shutters. These instances, although easily noticeable, were not overly problematic. Minor telecine wobbles were also quite common. Film artefacts were the biggest blemish on the this transfer and were most noticeable at the beginning and end of each reel. They consisted of hairs, scratches and marks of varying degrees. Reel change markings were also evident throughout the film, at approximate twenty minute intervals.

    There are no subtitles available on this DVD.

    This is a single sided, single layer disc, so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer is reasonable.

    There is one audio track on this DVD, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s).

    Dialogue quality is relatively clear and audible throughout the film. The transfer has some spasmodic problems with post audio sync, giving the appearance of a badly dubbed forgien language film. Thankfully though, these problems are not continuous. Although audio sync is never quite spot on, in general terms, it shouldn't be overly annoying to the viewer. The audio transfer also suffers from frequent clicks and pops, occuring mainly around reel changes.

    The music score by Piero Piccioni is an excellent mix of slow and sentimental, through to the vibrant, hip band sound of the sixties. It is an excellent accompaniment to the action on the screen and is a wonderful retro soundtrack.

    The surround channels carried music and dialogue without much in the way of distinct separation.

    The subwoofer came to life in a couple of instances throughout the film. Although a minor player, the subwoofer was used for music and some bass effects, such as the rumbling engine of a sportscar.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The selection of extras is basic.

    The main menu is themed around the film and features music by Piero Piccioni. All menus are 16x9 enhanced.

Deleted Scenes

• Armand And His Sister (2:26)
• Armand And Gaston Pick Up A Girl In Traffic (1:26)
• Camille And Prudence On The Boat (2:02)
• Fight Scene (1:37)
• Camille And Lover In Front Of Mirrors (3:33)

Theatrical Trailer

    Camille 2000 (2:14)

Umbrella Trailer

    The Lickerish Quartet (2:43)

    There are two R1 versions of Camille 2000 available. The first is a stand alone R1/R2 DVD, which appears to be very similar to the all-region version. The differnce being, the R1/R2 version is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and has a NTSC transfer. The featured audio on this disc is Dolby Digital 1.0 mono.

    The other R1 version is a part of a boxed collection titled, Radley Metzger Collection Vol 1. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is pan and scan. It features Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio and a NTSC transfer.

    There are no extras on either of these DVDs.

    I would stick with this all region version, due mainly to the PAL transfer and the included, deleted scenes.

Footnote - 23rd Sept 2007: One of our readers has kindly provided some additional information on the second R1 release. With his permission, I have added his comments below.

I have the First Run disc of CAMILLE 2000 (the second R1 release) and it is 2.35:1 (non-anamorphic) not 1.33:1. I think its the same transfer as the Image Entertainment R1 release. It also features the 4m of deleted scenes and a second still gallery of Enrico Sabbatini's costume designs (actual posed photographs not screengrabs from the film) in addition to a production stills and poster. Film notes are also available on text screens. The static main menu screen is also scored with the music score in stereo. The only thing missing unfortunately is the film's trailer which was present on the Image release.

    Camille 2000 should delight fans of retro cinema of the sixties. The film is subtlely erotic and suitably elegant, with some wonderful production design and art direction. The film is, indeed, a visual feast for lovers of sixties pop culture.

    The video transfer has some problematic issues.

    The audio transfer is reasonably good, despite the sync problems.

    The selection of extras are basic.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall