{"id":31145,"date":"2025-04-29T20:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T03:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31145"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T03:08:18","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-reviews-girl-with-a-suitcase-1961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31145","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Reviews: GIRL WITH A SUITCASE (1961)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films is\ncurrently available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Italian film director Valerio Zurlini is one of those artists\nwho seemed to slip between the cracks during his time in the industry.\nFollowing the neo-realism movement, many filmmakers rose to prominence with their\nnew brand of art films, often being divided as New Italian cinema. Among them,\nFederico Fellini and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Zurlini was friendly with all these\nindividuals and there are neo-realism elements in his pictures, but essentially\ndidn\u2019t join any specific movement and instead, well, did his own thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics of the period didn\u2019t care for his material, often because\nit didn\u2019t follow New Italian cinema trends and yet still resonated with the\npublic. To them, the movies seemed slight in comparison with the work of his\ncontemporaries. But to today\u2019s reviewers, the themes and ideas in his pictures\nare clear and exceptionally delivered. Simply put, they\u2019re great movies that\ndeserved to be acclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radiance Films is presenting one of those movies as a \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d Blu-ray of 3000 copies. Girl with a Suitcase is that title, one that\nwas moderately successful in its homeland but has since grown in acclaim. First\noff, the black and white image on display is stunning on this release. It comes\nfrom a 4K restoration of the original camera negative that was provided by\nCineteca di Bologna. This is a beautifully shot movie that allows its lead\nactress to shine. The disc also includes some enlightening extras, and anyone\ninteresting in Italian cinema would be well-advised to pick it up.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film opens with a wealthy playboy Piero (Gian Maria Volont\u00e9)\narriving at a garage and claiming to his musician girlfriend Aida (Claudia\nCardinale) that he\u2019s having car trouble. He sends her across the street to grab\na drink, and then drives off, leaving only her suitcase behind. The dumped,\nangry Aida decides to pursue her old boyfriend to his home in order to confront\nhim. Piero tells his 16-year-old brother Lorenzo (Jacques Perrin) to get rid of\nthe young woman. He teen tries, but is charmed by the woman and wants to help\nher. He ends up forming a friendship and possible romance, offering assistance\nwhenever he can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, Aida subtly attempts to keep him at a distance, noting\nthat she has an illegitimate child at a summer camp and she\u2019s just trying to\nsurvive. In fact, her life now involves trying to a find and charm a suitable\nman. Lorenzo watches her date and interact with various man who, like his\nbrother, try to take advantage of her and treat her poorly. He even gets jealous,\nacting out himself. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Lorenzo\u2019s desire\nfor Aida can\u2019t lead anywhere permanent as they both ponder what to do next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, this is an excellent drama about a crush that\nfeatures two charismatic leads. The film and locations are beautifully lensed.\nBoth individuals are flawed, like real people, and so the story feels authentic\nand definitely seems in part inspired by the neo-realism movement. However,\nthere are beautiful seaside images and shots of Aida that are far from gritty. In\nfact (and as one of the critics on the extra features notes), on several\noccasions the director shoots Aida from a perspective close to Lorenzo, spectacularly\nlit as she moves through the frame towards him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The as the story gets messier and Lorenzo becomes jealous,\nthere is plenty of tension. It\u2019s clear that the teen has no idea how to handle\nhimself when he becomes incensed that other men appear to be trying to take\nadvantage of the woman that he has a crush on. At times, his behavior is appropriately\nchildish, and its very well-handled. The climax, which contains an awkward physical\nconfrontation that doesn\u2019t go smoothly for anyone involved, is another example\nof how this drama feels realistic. And the downbeat close, which shows that the\ninnocent lead isn\u2019t really all that different from the men he is attempting to\nprotect Aida from, is subtly powerful.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s an excellent movie with great performances. Strangely\nenough, Cardinale\u2019s voice was dubbed for this picture, although since the dialogue\nis spoken in Italian, it\u2019s not overly noticeable. Everything here works\nspectacularly and its compelling from beginning to end.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extras on this release include a 2006 interview with the movie\u2019s\nassistant director, who caught a big break with Zurlini after expressing his\ndesire to work in film. Zurlini wasn\u2019t able to use him on his current project,\nbut called him up for Girl with a Suitcase<\/em> because the story was set\nnear the AD\u2019s hometown. The speaker talks about helping him find the right\nlocations, then being hired to work on the picture as assistant director and\ncontinuing to work on several projects with him. He has stories about the cast\nand crew too. The interviewee refers to the filmmaker as high energy but very\nfocused on character and, while occasionally moody (he notes that almost none\nof his films have happy endings), enjoyable to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a 2006 discussion with the screenwriter (who\nis really lounging in his seat). He talks about his relationship with Zurlini\nand many other filmmakers whom he worked with during this era. He also notes that\nwhen Cardinale read the script, she thought she was exactly like the character\nand fought for the role, eventually nabbing it. Essentially, the parts were\ntailor-made for these performers, which helped the movie tremendously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, you can watch a discussion with a film critic\ngoing over Zurlini\u2019s life and career. He gets specific about the themes in\nZurlini\u2019s works, often focusing on the emotional states of characters as they\ngo through adolescence and doomed romances. The expert notes how many members\nof the press didn\u2019t like his straight-forward approach, and notes that the\ndirector did make beautiful movies, they just weren\u2019t as flashy as others of\nthe period. Again, he explains that Zurlini wanted to communicate his ideas\nwith audiences rather than befuddle them and leave them trying to figure out\nwhat it all meant. Today, it seems that many of Zurlini\u2019s works, including this\npicture, 1959\u2019s Violent Summer<\/em>, Family Diary<\/em> from 1962 and 1976\u2019s\nThe Desert of the Titans<\/em> are considered classics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is an excellent video essay on the movie that goes\nover the movie and how the filmmaker presents female characters. She considers\nthe film ahead of its time, and think it effectively shows some of the negative\nqualities of its male leads and how, even the teenage boy, despite his best\nefforts, ultimately starts acting towards females in a similar manner. Her\npoints, as expected, are sharp and well-argued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Girl with a Suitcase<\/em> is one of those lost titles (at least, in this part of the world) that Radiance Films specializes in discovering and bringing to a larger, worldwide market. It\u2019s a wonderful little movie that does show how challenging young romance can be and identifies expectations, social norms and how different genders act in different kinds of relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also taking into account the impressive image quality, this\nis a great Blu-ray and well worth picking up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films is currently available for purchase. Italian film director Valerio Zurlini is one of those artists who seemed to slip between the cracks during his time in the industry. Following the neo-realism movement, many filmmakers rose to prominence with their new brand of art films, often being divided as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[90,3073,4495,6251,8342,8343,8344,8345,8346,10039,10042,10159,16584],"class_list":["post-31145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-90","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-claudia-cardinale","tag-drama","tag-girl-with-a-suitcase","tag-girl-with-a-suitcase-blu-ray-review","tag-girl-with-a-suitcase-film-review","tag-girl-with-a-suitcase-movie-review","tag-girl-with-a-suitcase-review","tag-italian","tag-italy","tag-jacques-perrin","tag-radiance-films"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}