Barbarella [Blu-ray]

BARBARELLA: QUEEN OF THE GALAXY [1968] [Blu-ray] She’s Out Of This World! Who Can Save The Universe!The year is 40,000 on Planet Lythion where Barbarella [Jane Fonda] makes a forced landing during a secret mission to find the lost evil scientist Durand Durand [Milo O'Shea]. Once there, she must use her skills, style, beauty and eroticism to vanquish evil in the form of robots and monsters. See Barbarella do her thing in the wild excessive machine, in the biting bird cage, in the chamber of dreams, in the labyrinth of love, in the deadly doll house, in the palace of pleasure. You'll find adventure beyond your imagination, when you get lost in space with Barbarella! It has since become a brilliant cult film.Cast: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea, Marcel Marceau, Claude Dauphin, Véronique Vendell, Giancarlo Cobelli, Serge Marquand, Nino Musco, Franco Gulà, Catherine Chevallier, Marie Therese Chevallier, Umberto Di Grazia, David Hemmings, Ugo Tognazzi, Vita Borg, Chantal Cachin, Fabienne Fabre, Diane Bond, Sergio Ferrero, Corinne Fontaine, Judith Matah, Susan Moren, Robert Rietty (Professor Ping voice) and Joan Greenwood (The Great Tyrant (voice) uncredited)Director: Roger VadimProducer: Dino De LaurentiisScreenplay: Roger Vadim, Terry Southern, Claude Brulé, Vittorio Bonicelli, Clement Biddle Wood, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates and Jean-Claude Forest (story)Composer: Maurice Jarre and Charles FoxCinematography: Claude RenoirFashion Designer: Paco RabanneVideo Resolution: 1080p [Technicolor]Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 [Panavision]Audio: English: 1.0 Mono Dolby TrueHD, French: 1.0 Mono Dolby Digital and Spanish: 1.0 Mono Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish and PortugueseRunning Time: 98 minutesRegion: Region A/1Number of discs: 1Studio: Paramount PicturesAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: My goodness, this is pulp science-fiction at its finest. Roger Vadim's cult 1960s sci-fi fantasy, starring Jane Fonda. A beautiful young astronaut uses the power of love to fight the forces of evil in the 41st century. ‘Barbarella’ is best known as the famed French comic strip comes to glorious psychedelic life in this 41st-century space opera from director Roger Vadim. Once you get past Jane Fonda's infamous antigravity striptease however, the script turns rather dull and the imaginative sets steal the whole show as Fonda's nubile intergalactic bimbo experiences close encounters of the sexually bizarre kind. A pleasure machine, cannibalistic dolls and Anita Pallenberg's Black Queen help ease the verbal vacuum in Vadim's relentless visual assault, which is sure to delight some and prove tiresome to others.The film starts out with Barbarella dressed in a spacesuit floating around in a zero gravity room with furry carpet on the walls and ceiling. She then proceeds to strip out of the spacesuit until she is naked, all still while floating in zero gravity and while a 1960s pop song plays. That 5 or so minute opening really sums up the film perfectly. After an in-flight anti-gravity striptease (masked by the film’s opening titles), Barbarella, a 41st century astronaut, lands on the Planet Lythion and sets out to find the evil Durand Durand in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters such objects as the Excessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an accomplished artist of the keyboard, in this case, Durand Durand himself, can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which, via a poor victim struggling in its glass globe, dispenses Essence of Man. You can’t help but be impressed by the special effects crew and the various ways that were found to tear off what few clothes our heroine seemed to possess.The film never takes itself serious and it even makes fun of itself a few times through. I can only imagine this must have been fun as hell for the actors to film. It's pure light-hearted pulp B-movie goodness. Everything from the film to the poster art and misleading subtitle "Queen of the Galaxy," this film breathes pulp sci-fi. The entire film, from the effects to the plot and also to the visuals, is totally light-hearted nature and experience.Jane Fonda is of course is beautiful, but so are the great set and costume designs. They intentionally make Barbarella ruin her clothing so she can show off in a new costume. I found myself looking forward to seeing what retro outfit she'd put on next (partly because Jane Fonda is stunning, partly because the costume design is awesome.Aside from great set and costume design this film, believe it or not, actually has some genuine artistic merit. The cinematography I found to be fairly good, especially for a film of this kind of nature, that is. There were some cool shots and overall the film is pretty visually appealing and I'm not just talking about Jane Fonda. The soundtrack has some great 1960s pop tunes.It is sexy, it is camp, it is cheesy, it is funny, it is totally retro, and it is 1960s, oh so French-y, and of course it is of totally awesome fun. And ultimately it achieves its goal by translating the erotic pulp fiction “Barbarella” comic strip it is based on to film. Though I personally have not read the comics, it seems that this is one of the best and most truthful adaptions I've seen. Of course the plot is very silly and ridiculous, but that's what makes it a great escapism film. Would you really watch this film for its plot? And sure Barbarella is not a particularly kick-ass heroine. She is very easily knocked unconscious and her best defence is screaming for help. But none of that matters, and it seems that all of it was intentional. And to those who think ‘Barbarella’ is sexist, well sure Barbarella is kind of a helpless young woman, who uses sex to her advantage, but also for pleasure, but the original “Barbarella” comic strip and of course the film as well, I suppose did help start and fuel the Sexual Revolution in the 1960s.Filled with bizarre scenery and over the top characters, the filmmakers introduced us to things like the Excessive Machine, an organ, if played with enough skill, will cause death from sexual pleasure. Bad guy, Durand Durand, has those skills. Sogo, the space port Barbarella is trying to make it to, invents a new sin every hour. Factor in the lesbian queen that can make fantasies become reality, giant hookah pipes, and every manner of cheesy special effects that 1968 had to offer and you will be glad you will spend 98 minutes watching this film. The score is brilliant of course, and dripping with 1960’s psychedelic and sexuality.Even with its flaws ‘Barbarella,’ is a joy to watch. Its special effects are kitsch by today’s standards, but are filled with charm and often very well done. The music is suitably “swinging,” “jive” and “cool.” The music is brilliantly composed by Maurice Jarre and this is one of those warts and all experiences that I would like to believe that no-one could truly hate. Surely everyone gets some level of enjoyment from this film, even if it is this joyously silly and daft? I cannot, in good conscience, call ‘Barbarella’ a poor film. This is a work of some kind of pop art type experience and that is what matters. Its influence is spread everywhere from sci-fi, to music to even Avant Garde fashion designs. ‘Barbarella’ is also the first science fiction comic book character to have a feature length film adaptation produced. Prior to sci-fi comics that had only been adapted as serials. When watching this film, I am always reminded at how boundary pushing this must have been in 1968. Regardless of the actual technical quality, ‘Barbarella’ is a bona fide (hehe… bona) cult classic of a film!Blu-ray Video Quality – Paramount Picture's Blu-ray release of ‘Barbarella’ is totally marvellous. Film grain is abundant, but in a good way. Every image is finely detailed and you can clearly see the unavoidable generation loss in shots that were subjected to an optical effect, mainly the opening titles. The rest looks pretty much like it was scanned from the original negative, which is the best of all possible worlds. The 1999 inferior NTSC DVD was bad by the standards of today, and it never resolved any of the grain problems or the fine detail, and this 1080p encoded image upgrade makes the colour-grading a total benchmark. It does, however, add a significant amount of information to the bottom and right-hand edges of the 2.35:1 frame, noticeably improving the composition of the image proportion shots. The DVD transfer was totally dirty, too, with lots of dust and even thick bits of hair clearly visible on screen in the opening moments and the source material was probably an inter-negative, and none of that nonsense is visible on the Blu-ray Disc. There is some slight damage, but it is only light, that you really have to be looking closely for you to notice. Thanks, Paramount Pictures!Blu-ray Audio Quality – There's not much to grouse about when it comes to audio, either. Although the 1.0 Mono Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, is spread out across the two front channels, it sounds great at full volume, certainly obviating any need to buy a Compact Disc Soundtrack in hearing "Barbarella Psychedella" theme song, which you will be stuck humming for a week after watching this film. If dialogue can occasionally sound a little bit muffled, I'm sure that's a limitation of the original recordings, not the Blu-ray itself.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:Theatrical Trailer [1968] [1080i] [2.35:1] [3:20]Finally, this Blu-ray disc is classy from top to bottom. The most I can find to moan about is the decided lack of extras and there is just a 1080p Theatrical Trailer seemingly transferred from a soft release print, so there is a limit to what could be done even if Paramount Pictures had the will. This is still a great 1080p HD version of a film that most viewers would say doesn't deserve the treatment, and for that I'm grateful. If you have never seen ‘Barbarella,’ you are in for a visual treat. A precursor in many ways to the campy, exciting Flash Gordon in the eighties ‘Barbarella’ is a product of its time. It is not a bad film, but there is enough sauciness in the dialogue, sexual plot elements and sci-fi camp to be enjoyed by connoisseurs of this form of entertainment or to be warmly received by long-time fans of the film. This is an all-time favourite film of mine and seeing ‘Barbarella’ once again, and honestly, I had a total blast and you will also with this brilliant sci-fi cult classic! Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film AficionadoLe Cinema ParadisoUnited Kingdom

I 've heard of this movie again and again both negatively as described as bad funny and positively as a sexy vehicle for Jane Fonda! It's over the top acting gets the most putdowns but the performences fit the absurdity of the premise of this outrageous outerspace adventure as Barbarella is on a mission to find the evil Duran Duran with his disintergrating Positronic Ray that theatens to destroy the peace and love 60s vibe of the Earth in the farout future of the Cosmos! Jane Fonda as Barbarella is like an outer space Mary Tyler Moore who finds herself in one sexy outfit after another just in time for it to get torn off some to reveal her sexy body! Like Mary Richards, Jane Fonda is adorable here and her outfits made me think of all those alein babes that Captain Kirk (William Shatner) would make love to before going ahead with his mission!The costumes, backrounds and special effects have that 60s STAR TREK feel and look to them. When the blind angel Pygar flys Barbarella to the city ruled by the evil queen tyrant the queen while saying,"Hello my Pretty Pretty!" reminded me of the villainess that BENNY HILL did battle against when he played the role of superhero "Superteach" vs "Wanda the Wild, Wicked Whip Woman!!" When the villainess queen is on top of virtuess angel Pygar she cried out," Oh if you could see how beautiful my things are! How do angels make love?" Pygar said,"Angels don't make love, Angels are love!" "So you are a DEAD DUCK then!" said the angry queen! When one of the revolutionaries has sex with Barbarella by using a stimulating futuristic pill , the 2 of them start tapping their feet while pressing their hands together and Jane Fonda's hair rises up into a fancy permed hair do as she is sexually aroused!! Both Benny Hill and Tex Avery come to my mind with this! Along with the surreal over the top humour there manage to be exciting moments of action: When blind angel Pygar carrying Barbarella evades lasers from the attacking city flying space ships and when Duran Duran starts to use his deadly Positronic ray to destroy his attackers!The lake of ectoplasmic goo under the alein city has bubbles that ooze like a lava lamp! And as the evil queen explained," It has surrounded you(Barbarella) with a protective bubble because it cannot digest your innocence!" This cosmic goo only thrived on evil so Barbarella apparently made it want to throw up! It all winds up weird, funny and believable in this odd, surreal film that is goofy fun! The creater of the comic book this movie was based on,Jean Claude Forest, was credited as creative consultant on this movie. I found this movie Much more enjoyable then Dino De Laurentiis's much later remake production, KING KONG! That remake of the black and white classic was rather depressing, lacking the adventure and charm of the 1930's original! Barbarella is much more fun and entertaining! I think there is good cheesy and bad cheesy and Barbarella is GOOD CHEESY! If MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 came out of retirement to make fun of this I wouldn't mind since I enjoy their riffing and verbal mocking of HERCULES UNCHAINED, HERCULES VS THE MOON MEN and the GAMERA movies which I have their comic takes of these movies on DVDs!Whether you praise this as funny sex space comedy or put it down as absurd nonsense I say it's goofy well made fun! The picture quality is overall very vibrant and colourful on this letterbox DVD and the soundtrack has a cool sixties music sound! Maybe after this review I'll watch both 60s STAR TREK episodes AND BENNY HILL episodes on tape and DVD!

This review is for the Paramount BLU RAY released 2016. The film was shot in Panavision, so we get a widescreen transfer with bars top and bottom, excellent colour, clear picture and sound, with optional English Subtitles. I haven't seen the film for many years and I had forgotten how much (tasteful) nudity/semi nudity, and sexy costumes we get from Ms. Fonda. She is at her sexy peak and truly carries the film. Oddly enough, there is no actual sex! If memory serves she doesn't even kiss anyone. What added to my viewing pleasure were the spectacular sets and costumes, and the performences of David Hemmings as a very clumsy rebel leader, and Anita Pallenberg as the black queen (two points of interest 1) She doesn't get a mention in the credits on the reverse sleeve, yet gets 3rd billing on the film credits (I think it's third). 2) she is dubbed by Joan Greenwood of all people, who sounds a bit like Fenella Fielding - Confusing.). Also something else puzzled me - Veronique Vendel, an actress not unknown, gets a good billing, but I don't remember her at all - I looked IMDP and she played a "Captain Sun". Perhaps her part was edited out? Has the film dated, and did I enjoy it? Yes, and Yes. It's still fun thanks to Jane and the cast and the extraordinary colour/sets. Recomended, perhaps more so to those who do remember it from their youthful past.

The first time I saw this film was as a teenager in 1968. Back then I was very impressed at what was the most risqué sci-fi film I had seen. What I didn’t realise was it had been heavily edited by the British board of censors. Fast forwarding to 2019 and watching it again. I found it still very entertaining even though it was a very thin plot. I was surprised to be able to see all the scenes cut out by the British board of censors. Tame by today’s standards, but never the lest a delightful blast from my past.

DVD arrived safely in enough packaging to keep it safe. The disc was in an excellent condition, shame the film was disappointing. I remember seeing the trailer as a child and when it came to the TV I was old enough to go drinking with friends so missed it the The film was disappointing even for a 1960's pop culture classic. Stupid story, ridiculous acting, pathetic special effects. Do not know why they keep talking of making a new Barbarella film, the original has not aged well.

What do you get when you put Jane Fonda, a huge piece of plexiglass and a lot of vodka together... may be one of the most memorable opening credit sequences ever! That aside the film is also highly watchable even to this day, even if some folks class it more of a cult film, given that Barbarella was the first science fiction comic book hero to be adapted into a feature film.

Very camp, daft typical sixties SciFi, with Jane Fonda changing her costume almost every 5 minutes. Loved the interior of her spaceship, which looked like a tart's boudoir. The best characters in the film are the villains, Duran Duran, played by the late great Milo O'Shea, and The Great Tyrant, played by the late Anita Pallenberg. For all its faults, the film is highly enjoyable, with Miss Fonda playing a heroine with a sense of humour.