I didn’t find out who distributed ‘And God Said to Cain’ in the UK, no doubt some inept outfit, which probably explains why a minor classic all but sank without a trace after a two week run at Broadway Cinema.
It was Rank per the BBFC although Rank, the UK’s leading film distributor and film company under its leader John Davis, was one of the organisations most responsible for the decline in the British film industry in the 1960s.
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Gave And God Said to Cain a rewatch today as it’s been a few years since I saw it and didn’t give it a rating at the time. I liked it a lot, maybe more so than the original watch.
8/10.
Simplistic story which I’m a sucker for. Two or three beautiful ladies which I’m also a sucker for, and overall just a very easy on the eye film.
Solid acting from all involved, Klaus and Peter Carsten were great.
Pacing was a little slow but I’m okay with that, I watched a one hundred minute version and felt like it could easily have been eighty-five to ninety minutes instead.
Think I preferred the second half over the first - the sundown effect, the dark, windy atmosphere, the psychological warfare.
Loved the opening sequence with the prisoners doing their labour work. And the hanging scene was memorable too.
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I think it is one of the top 25 best spaghetti westerns. A mixture of gothic horror and revenge western.
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Top 20 for me.
Distributed by Golden Era, according to the front-of-house stills.
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It is indeed a minor classic. As much a German western as it is an Italian one i.e. an Italian/German co-production starring two German actors. At times, it feels like a Mario Bava gothic horror. Kinski is maniacally good as the avenging angel and is matched by Karsten. Despite the low budget, the sets are impressive e.g. Karsten’s house, the underground labyrinth etc. I repeat, a minor classic.
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One of the more prolific UK distributors of spaghetti westerns. Founded by Leslie Greenspan (a former sales manager at the British offices of Columbia Pictures and Eros Films) who ran the company alongside his son Peter. Although probably in serious decline by 1971.
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Cheap but great. Kinski knows to convince. Some great camera views, especially in the beginning. The story fits on one piece of paper, but the special atmosphere makes it great. Best work of Margheriti…or maybe Vengeance ?
Maybe it’s cheap because Kinski was too expensive ?
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Screenshot Comparison I made between Arrow and HanseSound Blu ray. It’s a DNR and AI (Screenshot 5) massacre. The 4K Disc is the same. As expected it’s made for the bin and will leave my house tomorrow.
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Turns out the only way to make Klaus Kinsli even more creepy looking is to make him look like a wax figure! But Jesus that disc looks awful.
That’s what I was afraid of….always had the finger on the buy-button. Fortunately I didn’t pushed it. Thanks for reporting. In the end my old EMS dvd will remain.
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the arrow edition is totally fine
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that seems to be a fine possibility.
Just rewatching it by this DVD.
Image is good enough on a 42" TV.
But the aspect ratio is not the original 2,35:1, but instead mostly about 1,90:1, but it changes sometimes slightly to about 1,95:1.
The odd thing is that there is in both variants a small black bar on the sides, as if there was nothing more on the sides. The black bar changes then between 0,5 and 1,5 ctm.
Funnily there is not a single shot in which the difference between 2,35:1 and 1,90:1 is noticeable. It seems Margheriti did not use the complete widescreen image for his composition of the images. It does so far not look odd for a second, nothing that was cut off at the sides. The action takes always place in the center of the images.
If such had be done with GBU there would have been shots of the triello in which you see only the one in the middle. (Reminds me of my first GBU VHS recording in about 1,85:1)
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I think it’s time for a rewatch. Can’t remember the aspect ratio of this DVD. Now I’m interested to check it up.
Go for the Arrow Bluray
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Maybe, the German dub is not bad, but does in part reinvent the dialogues. It gets then more typical but also more banal.
Actually the film is good, but not good enough to justify another disc.
But that Arrow box is on the other hand a pretty good one with 4 good films, all 6/10 or better, while the one with El puro has unfortunately apart from El puro nothing I want to have at home. Sigh …
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El Puro was the only reason for ordering the box. Fortunately I got it for a small price.
Various sources say that Klaus Kinski is dubbed by Gerd Martienzen in the German version of ‘And God Said to Cain’. English speakers may recognise the voice as it’s the same actor who dubbed Kinski in Herzog’s ‘Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes’. In fact until the early '90s I assumed it was Kinski’s real voice.