MovieChat Forums > Rio das Mortes (1971) Discussion > So So Movie, Terrible Video Transfer.

So So Movie, Terrible Video Transfer.

posted 16 years ago by Kinematico
1 reply | jump to latest

I know that "Rio das Mortes" was shot in 16 mm and that according with the DVD the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation didn't allow a complete restoration of the material in order to improve the extremely grainy video.

I am not agree, I suppose that some noise reduction in the image and reduction of the grain would help this movie. I am not expecting to see a crystal clear transfer, but neither a movie that looks worse than some 8 mm homemade movies.

Having said that, the movie is far from the best by Fassbinder but is entertaining to some extent, although the two friends are the perfect definition of "losers".

BTW "Rio das mortes" is a direct reference to "Fitzcarraldo" since in that film this river is mentioned, but Fassbinder commited a geographical error, I guess deliberately: The "Rio das mortes" is not in Peru but in Brazil! Even the name is in portuguese not in spanish.
In spanish its name would be "Río de las muertes".

6 out of 10.

[–] mowgli_07 14 years ago

I have the region 2 disk from Arrow films, and yes the image is very grainy and the colors quite washed out, but it is 16mm and was rushed out of production very quickly. Wishing they removed the grain is ridiculous, who wants a soft DNR image?