THE BLACK TULIP (Kino Lorber)

The Black Tulip - Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: 1080p HD
Audio: 5.1 (with a 2.0 option in the Audio menu)
Subtitles: English CC

Buy it HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

The Movie: Good

The Black Tulip opens with a voice-over explaining that the titular Black Tulip is an unknown figure from the French Revolution, ignored by history. Coincidentally Alain Delon, who plays the Tulip, passed in 2024 and was similarly overlooked by the In Memoriam segment of the 97th Academy Awards on March 2nd. "But Fortunately," the voice-over continues, "the cinema is here, with its camera that explores time, its lens that pierces the night of centuries. Thanks to it, this great, unknown figure will finally be revealed to you. Justice will be done to it." Amen.

Here, Delon plays Guillaume de Saint Preux, an aristocrat who moonlights as a proletariat vigilante, a bit like Batman, or Zorro (whom Delon would go on to play in 1975). After falling for a decoy carriage set-up, and receiving a facial scar from the Baron La Mouche (Adolfo Marsillach), Guillaume sends for his identical twin brother Julien (also played by Delon) to pretend to be him while his wound heals. The film then balances the swashbuckling action with a fish-out-of-water romance as the naturally more libertine Julien finds his way as a new nobleman and eschews Guillaume's numerous female companions, instead falling for the tomboyish Caroline (Virna Lisi) after they have an honest-to-goodness meet-cute!

According to the commentary track from author and film critic Simon Abrams, Delon wanted to play a swashbuckling hero after seeing fellow French leading man Jean-Paul Belmondo's success in Cartouche in '62 (the trailer for which is included in this release) and he used to dual roles of Guillaume and Julien to flex his skills as an actor. The Black Tulip would go on to become the 10th highest-grossing film at the French box office in '64, as well as earning a tidy sum internationally.

I was a big reader as a kid, and early on, a good amount were the kind of swashbuckling, historically-based (if not exactly historically accurate) adventure tales that get polished up and presented to kids: Robin Hood, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, etc. The Black Tulip is of a kind with these stories. This film is attributed to Alexandre Dumas, who wrote both Count of Monte Cristo and Three Musketeers, but this credit is in name only. Dumas' The Black Tulip is a story of betrayal and competitive tulip cultivation, set against the backdrop of Tulip Mania, which gripped the Netherlands from 1634-1637. I have not read it, but as far as I can ascertain, there is no swashbuckling, no identical twin shenanigans, and no sticking it to the aristocracy.

But if there had been a book of the Black Tulip's exploits, with all the swordplay, authority-baiting, and lighthearted romance featured here, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.

The Packaging: Average

Average for Kino Lorber is still generally better than your run-of-the mill offering. The cover art is reproduced on a cardboard slipcover and features a dashing illustration of Guillaume (or is it Julien?) both masked and unmasked, and in action, mid-swordfight. 

The Video: Excellent

I could not believe how beautiful, crisp and clear this film was. The colors are bright, the shadows have depth, and the action scenes, notably the opening carriage heist and the big, multi-part battle at the lumber camp, look exactly like you would have imagined; sun beaming down, footfalls kicking up dust surrounded by green forest under bright blue skies.

My one quibble is the day-for-night sequences. Shooting day-for-night, if you're unaware, is a technique where sequences filmed in bright light are underexposed, and usually tinted blue, to simulate being filmed at night (as it's much easier to shoot during the day for numerous reasons). When it's done well, you might barely even notice. In The Black Tulip, most of these sequences were still prohibitively dark with black shadows and the Tulip's signature black apparel sometimes barely visible against dark indigo skies.

Given how legitimately breathtaking the rest of this film looks in this edition, I'm willing to give Kino the benefit of the doubt and guess this was just the best that could be done. What these sequences lack in clarity, they make up for with some interesting, almost surrealist visuals: a cerulean blue splash swallowing a near-silhouette as La Mouche falls into a river, for instance. The occasional drop in visual acuity doesn't harm the story any, for what it's worth.

The Audio: Good

I utilize a three-channel soundbar, simply to spare my TV's speakers, and I found the audio balance to be perfectly adequate with no glaring weak spots. Keep in mind, the film is presented in French, so I was reading the dialogue via the English subs more than listening to it. The music and sound effects were mixed and balanced quite well also.

The Special Features: Average

There's nothing mind-blowing included here, but I was not disappointed. The commentary with Simon Abrams does a deep dive into the careers of Virna Lisi and star Alain Delon, including interview excerpts and an anecdote from a Delon appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. The theatrical trailer for The Black Tulip is specifically noted as being "(Low-Res)" and buddy, they ain't kidding. It's almost a work of pointillism, but I appreciate its inclusion here all the same. The other trailers, it should be noted, are perfectly fine. Not gloriously upscaled, but fine nonetheless.

• Audio Commentary by film critic and author Simon Abrams
• Trailers
• The Black Tulip theatrical trailer (Low-Res)
• Joy House (Les félins) (1964)
• Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)
• Un Flic (A Cop) (1972)
• Farewell, Friend (1968)
• The Widow Couderc (1971)
• Armageddon (Armaguedon) (1977)
• Cartouche (1962)

In Summary: Grab it on sale

The Black Tulip may not be an especially noteworthy offering, aside from its star's legacy as an international leading man, but you'd be hard pressed to find a more sure-footed example of this kind of film. These historically-dubious adventures were the blockbusters of their day, and for good reason: they have it all. Exotic locations, derring-do, beautiful people, exciting stunts and choreography, and romance, often found wrapped in a story of one person's fight against the corrupt powers that be.

If classical adventure movies or the works of Alain Delon are your thing, or you know someone for whom they are, I absolutely recommend picking up a copy of The Black Tulip. If, however, you're hesitant on either front, wait until you can find it on sale and then kick yourself for not picking it up sooner.

SPIRIT RISER (Alpha Video)

Spirit Riser - Alpha Video

The Stats:
Video: 1080p High Definition
Audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

The Movie: Good

Attempting to describe the plot of Spirit Riser feels like trying to describe the plot of a dream, or a week's worth of dreams (complimentary). A patchwork of scenes, ideas, characters, and seeming in-jokes, the film is carried along by the vibes. The music, the editing, and the effects all contribute to the infectious energy of the thing, giving it the feeling of a crazy party you find yourself at. But, folly or not, I'll try to explain:

Sydney (Summer Greenberg) and her sister Ingrid (Amanda Flowers) are separated by a mysterious force, setting them on journeys beset by supernatural obstacles, each from opposite sides of the country. While Ingrid attempts to recover the memory of who she was and where she came from, Sydney learns she is one of the mystically powerful Spirit Risers and is pursued by The Man from the Dark and Lonely Place (Whitney Moore) who seeks to eliminate her and be the only Spirit Riser. Along the way there are goofy gang fights, appearances from powerful uncles, musical interludes, and a sizable nod to Ghostbusters 2.

What it lacks in a clean elevator pitch, it more than makes up for in heart; that DIY / "get it done at any cost, however you can" spirit. This will absolutely not work for everyone because it is admittedly very amateur and eclectic, but if you give it a minute, I think it might grow on you. Stylistically this has a lot in common with a Troma Films offering-- Troma papa Lloyd Kaufman even has a few scenes-- but tonally, is eschews the intentionally and sometimes juvenile provocateur aims that many Troma films can have in favor of a tone not unlike filmmaker David Lynch or author Grant Morrison, all achieved through the lens of the kind of digital Dadaism of something like The People's Joker.

Spirit Riser is chockablock with puppets, miniatures, 3D models, abstract backgrounds, onscreen text gags, obvious usage of green screen and stock footage, sporadic narration from Michael Madsen, and it's all allegedly inspired by a poem from Edgar Allen Poe. Yet somehow all these seemingly disparate elements add up to a film that's as fun as it is rough.

There are probably too many half-baked ideas all thrown together without giving the time or bandwidth for the audience to process it all. But. I think it ultimately comes together to make a highly-ambitious film that is all the more charming for its obvious rough edges. You'll never look at a lemon or a pineapple the same way.

The Packaging: Average

I received the bare bones DVD, which is perfectly acceptable and features a collage-style cover built from the film's imagery. However there is a Blu-ray version available which also features a slip-cover with new artwork.

The Video: Fair

No one is-- or should be-- purchasing this disc if presentation quality (visual or audio) is a top priority. If this were the quality of your averaged film, I would rate it Poor, but the lack of technical polish only enhances the bizarre DMT Pee-wee's Playhouse aura of the entire experience for me.

As an example: the opening credits are not cropped correctly, leading to Michael Madsen's narrator credit reading IICHAEL MADSE. But did this affect my enjoyment? Not at all. Given how erratic the entire film is as a whole, I can't actually believe there would be a single straw that breaks the camel's back; you're either going to like the entire package or you're not.

The Audio: Fair

As with the Video section above, I might rate this Poor if it were a Hollywood film, but as it most definitely isn't, I rated it accordingly. If pristine audio quality is a priority for you-- no judgement, obviously-- you would do best to skip this one. The actual audio is as unpolished as any other aspect; the overall quality-- including hiss and general wild sound room noise-- varies from scene to scene, moment to moment.

That said, things are otherwise very clear and well-balanced through my audio set-up-- I have a three-channel soundbar purely to prevent my tv speakers from vibrating themselves apart. There is a lot of music throughout the film-- all very synthy/surfy/spooky-- but at no time did that or the film's sound effects overtake or obscure the dialogue.

The Special Features: Average

As a heads-up: There is a discrepancy between the special features on the DVD and the Blu-ray, with the Blu-ray featuring a full length commentary, a couple of interviews, a music video, a short documentary about director Dylan Mars Greenberg, and a different assortment of short films than the DVD.

That aside, I found the special features on the DVD, comparatively slim though they be, were enjoyable. The short film Sir Isengord and the Thoery of the Magnificent Spinning Quanto Quasi Table, while still as bizarre as anything else on the disc, is sincerely one of the funniest and most enjoyable short films I've seen in quite a while. It just hits the smart/stupid sweet spot perfectly for me.

• Short film: Sir Isengord and the Thoery of the Magnificent Spinning Quanto Quasi Table (2023) - 30 mins
• Short film: The Bathtub (2020) - 15 mins
• Trailer

In Summary: Grab it on sale

Grading on the curve that this is a specific flavor of film on the whole that will not be for everybody, I'll say this: Presumably, you know yourself and have an idea of what you like. I imagine that, if Spirit Riser doesn't sound like something you can see yourself digging into, nothing I can say will sway you. If however, you're on the fence I would advise you to check it out.

I am nothing if not a proponent for filmmakers making their films. I love a good, big budget, polished and professional flicker as much as the next person, but I also love to see somebody doing it on their terms. The recent passing of David Lynch has made me consider how blessed we were that he was repeatedly able to make his films his way on the scale and with the quality of resources available to him. That's what Dylan Mars Greenberg is doing here, she just doesn't have David Lynch clout. Yet.