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''Review of the Blue Underground BluRay release of [[The Girl From Rio]].'' | ''Review of the Blue Underground BluRay release of [[The Girl From Rio]].'' Updated with a word on the recent 4K UltraHD BluRay, see end of page. | ||
[[File:Rio1.jpg|The Girl From Rio]] | [[File:Rio1.jpg|The Girl From Rio]] | ||
In Rio, the beautiful city and former Brazilian capital (it was replaced by Brasilia in 1960) is the setting for another devious plot by the feminist Sumuru ('''Shirley Eaton'''), who governs a secret city called Femina with her army of female commandos and assassins. In her attempt to conquer the world, she is after the arrival of a presumed millionaire, Jeff Sutton ('''Richard Wyler'''), who seems to have fled prosecution in the USA and is trying to secure his 10 million dollars of mob money. After that money, British mobster Sir Masius ('''George Sanders''') is also after. As Sumuru's chick army captures the | In Rio, the beautiful city and former Brazilian capital (it was replaced by Brasilia in 1960) is the setting for another devious plot by the feminist Sumuru ('''Shirley Eaton'''), who governs a secret city called Femina with her army of female commandos and assassins. In her attempt to conquer the world, she is after the arrival of a presumed millionaire, Jeff Sutton ('''Richard Wyler'''), who seems to have fled prosecution in the USA and is trying to secure his 10 million dollars of mob money. After that money, British mobster Sir Masius ('''George Sanders''') is also after. As Sumuru's chick army captures the millionaire-cum-agent, Masius is going after Sumuru to attack Femina and recover the money. Sumuru however is willing to go down with her entire city before giving up, so a race against time unfolds..... | ||
[[File:Riosumurublu.jpg|right|400px|The Girl From Rio BluRay|link=http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-From-Rio-and-The-Million-Eyes-of-Sumuru-Blu-ray/dp/B01AKUNOAW?ie=UTF8&tag=deuce-20]] | [[File:Riosumurublu.jpg|right|400px|The Girl From Rio BluRay|link=http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-From-Rio-and-The-Million-Eyes-of-Sumuru-Blu-ray/dp/B01AKUNOAW?ie=UTF8&tag=deuce-20]] | ||
I have to say, [[The Girl From Rio]] is a silly movie with none of the charm and low budget inventiveness of its so-so prequel [[The Million Eyes of Sumuru]]. This one just bored the hell out of me, and they didn’t even make great use of the locations. They seemed to have picked only the cloudy sky days in Rio, or maybe the smog was terrible, anyways considering the title and the ample opportunity that a movie shoot in Brazil offers, the movie does not boast much of a | I have to say, [[The Girl From Rio]] is a silly movie with none of the charm and low budget inventiveness of its so-so prequel [[The Million Eyes of Sumuru]]. This one just bored the hell out of me, and they didn’t even make great use of the locations. They seemed to have picked only the cloudy sky days in Rio, or maybe the smog was terrible, anyways considering the title and the ample opportunity that a movie shoot in Brazil offers, the movie does not boast much of a colorful exotic look. It is a very uninspired piece of film-making that for some reason appears as if there was no motivation to make something special despite its low-budget B nature. | ||
Whereas the prequel offered some hilarious cultural elements, crazy wild ambitions and exotic entangling of spy fanfare, that reminds the viewer of [[Enter The Dragon]] as much as it does of James Bond, [[The Girl From Rio]] is auspiciously tame and superficial. The thrills are rare, the frills are few. It does have some impressive architectural shots and an evil plot, some OK acting and a not so bad musical score, it just seems…. bland. I am sorry to judge so harshly a film that certainly did not set a very high bar for itself, but judging it in its context, it just feels less than what it could’ve been. | Whereas the prequel offered some hilarious cultural elements, crazy wild ambitions and exotic entangling of spy fanfare, that reminds the viewer of [[Enter The Dragon]] as much as it does of James Bond, [[The Girl From Rio]] is auspiciously tame and superficial. The thrills are rare, the frills are few. It does have some impressive architectural shots and an evil plot, some OK acting and a not so bad musical score, it just seems…. bland. I am sorry to judge so harshly a film that certainly did not set a very high bar for itself, but judging it in its context, it just feels less than what it could’ve been. | ||
The dubbing could be concealing the villain’s intended name, by the way. It looks to me as if the characters are saying Sumuru but it was dubbed with Zamanda or Sumatra or Samantha. So depending on which language you are seeing or have seen the film dubbed into, it might be more or less of a direct sequel. Written and produced by the Henry Ford of exploitation films '''Harry Alan Towers''' and directed by [[:Category: Jess Franco|Jess Franco]], the movie was released in 1968 at the height of the hippie movement in Europe, and theaters were awash not only in the amazing cinematic masterpieces of that decade, but also of cheap thrills and knock-offs like this one. | The dubbing could be concealing the villain’s intended name, by the way. It looks to me as if the characters are saying Sumuru but it was dubbed with Zamanda or Sumatra or Samantha. So depending on which language you are seeing or have seen the film dubbed into, it might be more or less of a direct sequel. Written and produced by the Henry Ford of exploitation films '''[[:Category:Harry Alan Towers|Harry Alan Towers]]''' and directed by [[:Category: Jess Franco|Jess Franco]], the movie was released in 1968 at the height of the hippie movement in Europe, and theaters were awash not only in the amazing cinematic masterpieces of that decade, but also of cheap thrills and knock-offs like this one. | ||
Nonetheless, it is remarkably naive and of course a child of its time. It's mildly entertaining and of course there aren't all too many Richard Wyler movies out there either. [[The Girl From Rio]] somewhat delivers on its premise and manages to entertain for the approximate | Nonetheless, it is remarkably naive and of course a child of its time. It's mildly entertaining and of course there aren't all too many Richard Wyler movies out there either. [[The Girl From Rio]] somewhat delivers on its premise and manages to entertain for the approximate 90 minutes. For that I am happy I watched it, but it's certainly nothing outstanding. | ||
[[File:Rio2.jpg|The Girl From Rio]] | [[File:Rio2.jpg|The Girl From Rio]] | ||
Outstanding on the other hand once more Blue Underground's BluRay release which includes this one plus the prequel, [[The Million Eyes of Sumuru]] in a relatively stunning HD transfer that really looks way better than the film deserves. The English dub that's contained on the disc is also mighty fine. There's a 15min interview featurette included with contains interview bits with [[:Category: Jess Franco|Jess Franco]], Harry Alan Towers and Shirley Eaton. It gives a few background tidbits on the film, but overall it is a mere 10 minutes and the degree of information you get from these few minutes of interviews is not very high. Some interesting facts though, such as how they shot a sex scene with nudity that is supposed to show Sumuru but didn’t involve Eaton. Franco and Eaton also seem to have very different takes on their place in the business and so on, quite interesting nonetheless. There's a Poster and Still Gallery to round things up. | Outstanding on the other hand once more Blue Underground's '''BluRay''' release which includes this one plus the prequel, [[The Million Eyes of Sumuru]] in a relatively stunning HD transfer that really looks way better than the film deserves. The English dub that's contained on the disc is also mighty fine. There's a 15min interview featurette included with contains interview bits with [[:Category: Jess Franco|Jess Franco]], Harry Alan Towers and Shirley Eaton. It gives a few background tidbits on the film, but overall it is a mere 10 minutes and the degree of information you get from these few minutes of interviews is not very high. Some interesting facts though, such as how they shot a sex scene with nudity that is supposed to show Sumuru but didn’t involve Eaton. Franco and Eaton also seem to have very different takes on their place in the business and so on, quite interesting nonetheless. There's a Poster and Still Gallery to round things up. | ||
[[File:Rio4.jpg|right|400px]] | |||
* Continue reading: '''[[The Million Eyes of Sumuru BluRay Review]]''' | |||
* '''Buy now: [https://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-From-Rio-and-The-Million-Eyes-of-Sumuru-Blu-ray/dp/B01AKUNOAW?ie=UTF8&tag=deuce-20 From Amazon.com]''' | |||
'''Update October 2023 on the 4K UltraHD BluRay''': | |||
Blue Underground released a newly remastered 4K UltraHD BluRay of this (for some reason not yet the first part of the double bill). Equipped with a new 4K screen in my apartment (yay) I embarked on a trip to Rio. And I have to say Uncle Jess' sleaze in the best possible audiovisual quality is always welcome, it accentuates both the artistic merits of his work as well as the imperfections and banality of some of his output. Unfortunately this is one of his lesser works. Powered by a Dolby Vision HDR 4K Restoration from the uncensored original camera negative, this looks quite fabulous even when the source material does not seem to permit that last mile of resolution. Textures do look amazing, the colors are vibrant and there is astonishing amounts of detail down to the film grain. Not bad for a cheap flick like this. Compression artifacts do show in parts of the less heavily restored opening credits and some 2nd unit shots and exteriors, most notably there is a lot of sky in this movie. Not sure if the audio was remastered as well, it does sound perfectly alright, a bit hissy perhaps. | |||
* | Lastly, there are a few new extras as well (in addition to those already present on the previous double bill release): There's now an audio commentary with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth on the main 4k-disc (in addition to the regular BluRay). The commentary is entertaining and informative as always when these two are involved, a novel effort that this movie just doesn't deserve (but they cover more than just what you will see on screen and the commentary is chock full of trivia making it well worth the time). In fact, I would suggest just watching the film with the audio commentary which makes the film actually watchable, haha. The rest of the extras are on the BluRay (which is also based on the newly remastered material). Rocking in Rio is a new interview with Stephen Thrower (Author of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco”) building on the one that was on the previous release called "Rolling in Rio". Another super informative intro by Stephen, that is more than just that, and runs about 40mins. There are additional scenes from German Version (10mins) which - aside from the (superior) opening credits - are a loose assortment of alternative and additional scenes. There should have been an option to watch these re-inserted into the movie, because it's not quite clear where these four or so scenes really fit (German with English subtitles). RiffTrax Edition – THE GIRL FROM RIO Riffed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett & Kevin Murphy (78mins) is basically them commenting along and make fun of the movie, in MST3K style. | ||
All in all another stellar release by BU, even though this movie surely isn't a must-have. It's just too bad overall and not even campy enough to make up for the boredom. I just hope they had a nice vacation in Rio, interrupted by some filming. BU should also restore the first part, which is the superior movie all around, in my opinion. | |||
* '''Buy now: [https://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-from-Rio-4K-Blu-ray/dp/B0C9GZQM1V/ref=as_li_tl?tag=deuce-20 From Amazon.com]''' | |||
{{Seb}} | {{Seb}} | ||
[[Category:Blu Ray Reviews|Girl From Rio]] | [[Category:Blu Ray Reviews|Girl From Rio]] | ||
Latest revision as of 13:48, 16 October 2023
Review of the Blue Underground BluRay release of The Girl From Rio. Updated with a word on the recent 4K UltraHD BluRay, see end of page.
In Rio, the beautiful city and former Brazilian capital (it was replaced by Brasilia in 1960) is the setting for another devious plot by the feminist Sumuru (Shirley Eaton), who governs a secret city called Femina with her army of female commandos and assassins. In her attempt to conquer the world, she is after the arrival of a presumed millionaire, Jeff Sutton (Richard Wyler), who seems to have fled prosecution in the USA and is trying to secure his 10 million dollars of mob money. After that money, British mobster Sir Masius (George Sanders) is also after. As Sumuru's chick army captures the millionaire-cum-agent, Masius is going after Sumuru to attack Femina and recover the money. Sumuru however is willing to go down with her entire city before giving up, so a race against time unfolds.....
I have to say, The Girl From Rio is a silly movie with none of the charm and low budget inventiveness of its so-so prequel The Million Eyes of Sumuru. This one just bored the hell out of me, and they didn’t even make great use of the locations. They seemed to have picked only the cloudy sky days in Rio, or maybe the smog was terrible, anyways considering the title and the ample opportunity that a movie shoot in Brazil offers, the movie does not boast much of a colorful exotic look. It is a very uninspired piece of film-making that for some reason appears as if there was no motivation to make something special despite its low-budget B nature.
Whereas the prequel offered some hilarious cultural elements, crazy wild ambitions and exotic entangling of spy fanfare, that reminds the viewer of Enter The Dragon as much as it does of James Bond, The Girl From Rio is auspiciously tame and superficial. The thrills are rare, the frills are few. It does have some impressive architectural shots and an evil plot, some OK acting and a not so bad musical score, it just seems…. bland. I am sorry to judge so harshly a film that certainly did not set a very high bar for itself, but judging it in its context, it just feels less than what it could’ve been.
The dubbing could be concealing the villain’s intended name, by the way. It looks to me as if the characters are saying Sumuru but it was dubbed with Zamanda or Sumatra or Samantha. So depending on which language you are seeing or have seen the film dubbed into, it might be more or less of a direct sequel. Written and produced by the Henry Ford of exploitation films Harry Alan Towers and directed by Jess Franco, the movie was released in 1968 at the height of the hippie movement in Europe, and theaters were awash not only in the amazing cinematic masterpieces of that decade, but also of cheap thrills and knock-offs like this one.
Nonetheless, it is remarkably naive and of course a child of its time. It's mildly entertaining and of course there aren't all too many Richard Wyler movies out there either. The Girl From Rio somewhat delivers on its premise and manages to entertain for the approximate 90 minutes. For that I am happy I watched it, but it's certainly nothing outstanding.
Outstanding on the other hand once more Blue Underground's BluRay release which includes this one plus the prequel, The Million Eyes of Sumuru in a relatively stunning HD transfer that really looks way better than the film deserves. The English dub that's contained on the disc is also mighty fine. There's a 15min interview featurette included with contains interview bits with Jess Franco, Harry Alan Towers and Shirley Eaton. It gives a few background tidbits on the film, but overall it is a mere 10 minutes and the degree of information you get from these few minutes of interviews is not very high. Some interesting facts though, such as how they shot a sex scene with nudity that is supposed to show Sumuru but didn’t involve Eaton. Franco and Eaton also seem to have very different takes on their place in the business and so on, quite interesting nonetheless. There's a Poster and Still Gallery to round things up.
- Continue reading: The Million Eyes of Sumuru BluRay Review
- Buy now: From Amazon.com
Update October 2023 on the 4K UltraHD BluRay:
Blue Underground released a newly remastered 4K UltraHD BluRay of this (for some reason not yet the first part of the double bill). Equipped with a new 4K screen in my apartment (yay) I embarked on a trip to Rio. And I have to say Uncle Jess' sleaze in the best possible audiovisual quality is always welcome, it accentuates both the artistic merits of his work as well as the imperfections and banality of some of his output. Unfortunately this is one of his lesser works. Powered by a Dolby Vision HDR 4K Restoration from the uncensored original camera negative, this looks quite fabulous even when the source material does not seem to permit that last mile of resolution. Textures do look amazing, the colors are vibrant and there is astonishing amounts of detail down to the film grain. Not bad for a cheap flick like this. Compression artifacts do show in parts of the less heavily restored opening credits and some 2nd unit shots and exteriors, most notably there is a lot of sky in this movie. Not sure if the audio was remastered as well, it does sound perfectly alright, a bit hissy perhaps.
Lastly, there are a few new extras as well (in addition to those already present on the previous double bill release): There's now an audio commentary with film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth on the main 4k-disc (in addition to the regular BluRay). The commentary is entertaining and informative as always when these two are involved, a novel effort that this movie just doesn't deserve (but they cover more than just what you will see on screen and the commentary is chock full of trivia making it well worth the time). In fact, I would suggest just watching the film with the audio commentary which makes the film actually watchable, haha. The rest of the extras are on the BluRay (which is also based on the newly remastered material). Rocking in Rio is a new interview with Stephen Thrower (Author of “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco”) building on the one that was on the previous release called "Rolling in Rio". Another super informative intro by Stephen, that is more than just that, and runs about 40mins. There are additional scenes from German Version (10mins) which - aside from the (superior) opening credits - are a loose assortment of alternative and additional scenes. There should have been an option to watch these re-inserted into the movie, because it's not quite clear where these four or so scenes really fit (German with English subtitles). RiffTrax Edition – THE GIRL FROM RIO Riffed by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett & Kevin Murphy (78mins) is basically them commenting along and make fun of the movie, in MST3K style.
All in all another stellar release by BU, even though this movie surely isn't a must-have. It's just too bad overall and not even campy enough to make up for the boredom. I just hope they had a nice vacation in Rio, interrupted by some filming. BU should also restore the first part, which is the superior movie all around, in my opinion.
- Buy now: From Amazon.com
Sebastian, co-founder and admin of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb). He also started The Spaghetti Western Database (SWDb), The Quentin Tarantino Archives, The Robert Rodriguez Archives, Nischenkino and Furious Cinema. Outside of movies, he works on the intersection of technology and policy. He lives in Berlin, Germany.
