much more conflicted and the actress effectively delineates Chun’s collapse in the second half. The production itself is handsome, but not nearly as mesmerizing. Neither the art di- rection nor the cinematography seem as carefully executed and one misses the more seductive and enveloping atmosphere of the original. In keeping with the times, the sexuality has been noticeably increased, along with an overt equating of sex and swordplay, orgasm and death. The supporting players include Chan Shen (the only cast mem- ber to return from the first film, though he has a much smaller part this time), Cho Tat-wah, Lee Hoi-sang, and Yuen Wah (who also choreographed the action with Yuen Bun). Incidentally, while LUST’s gross was more than twice that of INTIMATE CONFESSIONS, it was not a success in terms of the adjusted 1984 boxoffice and apparently did not enjoy the same interna- tional exposure.
There is much use of filters and other forms of diffusion in the cinematography, but this Hong Kong import (which would run 91m 38s at 24 frames-per- second) largely avoids the soft- ness that marred the original’s transfer, delivering a clean and colorful 2.38:1 presentation. The audio is not as impressive, with the Mandarin version rather thick and flat; the Cantonese track is crisper but marred by omnipres- ent surface noise. The English subtitles are less than graceful, with frequent use of “ain’t” and unintentionally amusing expres- sions like “Oh, heck” (subtitles in Traditional Chinese, Malaysian, and Indonesian can also be ac- cessed). Supplements consist of two small photo galleries, bios/ selected filmographies, and video promo spots for this and other Shaw Brothers titles.
LE TESTAMENT DU DOCTOR CORDELIER
1959, Studio Canal, DD-2.0/+, 20.98, 92m 10s, PAL DVD-2 By Kim Newman
In 1959, Jean Renoir—an ac- claimed master of French cin- ema—was finding it hard to get anything in production while all eyes were on nouvelle vague newcomers. He was persuaded to make a film for television: the opening sequence shows maître Renoir arriving at the studio to begin work and explains the new-fangled techniques in- volved. Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier was shot like a live broadcast, with the cast rehearsing as if for a stage play and each scene covered by up to five cameras so the director could make editing decisions while filming was going on. Even the scenes shot not on sets but on everyday Paris locations have an effectively makeshift look, reminiscent of the film inserts in early British thriller shows like DIXON OF DOCK GREEN or even the first QUATERMASS serials, with surprised passersby rather than drilled extras sometimes getting in on the action. As in Der Januskopf, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and I, MONSTER, Cordelier changes the names of Stevenson’s char- acters, as much because the story is relocated to contempo- rary Paris as to put off—as in the novel—the revelation that Jekyll is Hyde transmuted. Following Stevenson’s narrative structure, the film’s first half presents Jean- Louis Barrult’s Dr. Cordelier (Jekyll) and M. Opale (Hyde) as separate characters. The view- point character is Cordelier’s law- yer, Teddy Bilis’ Joly (Utterson), who is puzzled as to why the hu- manitarian researcher should draw up a will (in French, un tes- tament) leaving his property to
SOURCES
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