The Secret of Santa Vittoria is a well made film with gripping drama, with a bit of comedy, which excels thanks to the performances from the venerable Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani.
The Secret of Santa Vittoria
(1969)
Genre(s): Drama
Twilight Time | PG13 – 140 min. – $29.95 | August 12, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Stanley Kramer Writer(s): Robert Crichton (novel); William Rose and Ben Maddow (screenplay) Cast: Aidan Quinn, Virna Lisi, Hardy Kruger, Sergio Franchi, Anna MagnaniDISC INFO: Features: Trailer, Isolated Score Track Number of Discs: 1Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 1.0) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35 Subtitles: English SDH Disc Size: 37.8 GB Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A, B, C |
PLOT SUMMARY
Producer-director Stanley Kramer’s The Secret of Santa Vittoria gives us a tale set towards the close to World War II: a warm-hearted comedy with dramatic touches presented by a potent cast. Anthony Quinn plays the mayor of an Italian winemaking village that finds its age-old economy imperiled as the Nazis close in, determined to plunder a million-bottle cache of valuable vino; the villagers are just as determined to keep their treasure safe.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5
This release is fairly light. Other than the traditional 6-page essay booklet, there is an Isolated Score Track and a Theatrical Trailer (3:32).
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Twilight Time releases Secret of Santa Vittoria on Blu-ray with a brilliant-looking 1080p high-definition transfer presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio. The transfer has great detail levels, colors are incredibly bright, though still well balanced and there doesn’t appear to be any dust marks, scratches or any other flaw. For a 45 year old film, they (probably MGM) did a fine job with the transfer.
AUDIO – 4.0/5
The movie has been given a standard DTS-HD MA Mono track which is effective enough where dialogue is clear and understandable throughout while other elements, like ambient noises and the Oscar-nominated score, comes through the singular channel pretty nicely.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Overall, The Secret of Santa Vittoria is a well made film with gripping drama, with a bit of comedy, which excels thanks to the performances from the venerable Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time is surprisingly light on features with only a trailer, but the audio and video transfers are both top notch, so for any fan out there, this might be worth the premium price.
Published: 08/12/2014