Lethal Ladies Collection V2

This review is from Gary Tooze,

In the spirit of the Women In Cages Collection triple feature package released in 2011 Shout! Factory are continuing with more Roger Corman Cult Classics (see The Ron Howard Action Pack, other 'Double Features': The Evil / Twice Dead, The Terror Within / Dead Space, Up From the Depths /Demon of Paradise etc.) and are following-up their woman-sploitation Lethal Ladies Collection with a #2 containing the higher bank-roll production The Arena from 1974 on the first dual-layered disc and a second with Fly Me (1973) and Cover Girl Models (1975). There are plenty of the stand-by Corman gals.

The Arena (on disc one alone) and starts with the message that two small scenes are missing from the print they transferred for this new DVD release. In an effort to give you the complete film, they have replaced the two missing scenes, but they are from a 'full frame' master and not in anamorphic widescreen,but still squeezed on the print,so no distortion This occurs only twice, and briefly, during the presentation. The image quality for that feature is very acceptable. There is some frame-specific damage (see sample) but the 2.35:1 visuals are progressively rendered and look pretty good.

Fly Me and Cover Girl Models share disc 2 - also dual-layered and progressive in the slightly bastardized 1.78 aspect ratio. Fly Me has those prominent vertical scratches that were purposely put in Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse films Planet Terror and Death Proof. I am not complaining. Cover Girl Models is very clean and consistent - no issues to speak of. I don't know why - but I wasn't expecting the crime/kidnapping/espionage-esque factor in the last two films. It added some pleasurable entertainment.

The bottom line - these 'new transfers' are completely watchable. Fans of Corman and this guilty-pleasure genre won't be complaining about the image. For 30-25-year old 'kitsch' films these look better than I anticipated.

Audio is flat and unremarkable - no prominent sync issues or dropouts. Dialogue is occasionally scattered via the production but easily discernable. There are no subtitles on the region 1 - NTSC discs.

Decent extras with an audio commentary from director Steve Carver on The Arena. It's light and about what you might expect - anecdotes etc. It's quieter mixed than the film-only volume - sample quotes 'That's a real weapon in Pam's hands...' . Plus there is a 20-minute Making of... entitled Into the Arena with Corman and a host of others giving input. Its quite informative. There is a 3-minute theatrical trailer and on disc 2 is a 1/2 minute TV Spot for Fly Me.

I am a definite fan of this stuff and, strangely, it doesn't grow tiresome - it is only more addictive. The Arena approaches decent production values - but still has the schlock signature - that we have come to appreciate. None of the three are afraid to add a pinch of T+A and the plot weaknesses hold more charm than inspire derision. That's too easy. I think I was as entertained by this Triple Feature as much as the First boxset. Enjoy!

- Gary Tooze Thanks Gary for the review.

It is good to see Pam Grier's The Arena in its widescreen format, but this is not a particularly good transfer. This movie is the only reason I bought this set. At least Shout! put it on a single dual layered disc. But still, was hoping to see a better image of this drive-in classic. The other two films are pure filler. They, too are not very good transfers. Fly Me is from a bad print that is faded and has heavy lines all over the image (can you say grindhouse?). I feel bad giving this set such a low score, but I feel I need to pass on to the consumer what I really think. And I love The Arena and wished Shout! would have treated it better (like their other Pam Grier movies) with better transfer. I am still a fan of Shout! releasing these classics from the '70s but I can't recommend this particular purchase. I guess they all can't be winners. Buy at your own risk.

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars