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Released by: Cult Epics
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Tinto Brass
Cast: Claudia Koll, Paolo Lanza , Franco Branciaroli
Year: 1992
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All Ladies Do It – Movie Review:
Filmmaker Tinto Brass' 1992 masterpiece, All Ladies Do It, stars the drop dead gorgeous Claudia Koll in the role of a woman named Diana. She's been happily married to Paolo (played by Paolo Lanza who would show up again in P.O. Box Tinto Brass three years later) for some time now, but she's also a bit of a flirt and tends to wind up giving herself to many other lovers on a fairly regular basis.
You'd think that this type of behavior might lead to Paolo wising up and heading for greener pastures but instead she allows him to find out about each and every one of her encounters. Why? Because this infidelity seems to fuel Paolo’s passion for Diana and lead the couple to a better sex life.
All is well until Diane gets involved with a poet named Alphonse (Franco Branciaroli), who, much like the director of the film, is obsessed with women's asses (not surprisingly, this gives Brass a great chance to show off his own personal tastes as you can see by some of the screen shots below!). Maybe because Diana seems closer to Alphonse than some of her past lovers, Paolo begins to get extremely jealous this time. Eventually, Diana’s behavior, previously not only allowed by her husband but almost encouraged, lets to his rejection of his wife. Frustrated, hurt and confused, Diana, in turn, heads out on a sexual bender or sorts and ends up at a massive orgy.
Definitely on the harder side of Tinto Brass’ storied filmography in terms of what it shows and how it shows it, All Ladies Do It is presented here complete and uncut and does feature considerably more graphic sex scenes than many of the erotic pictures that the director had made previously (though the film still manages to remain just slightly less than true hardcore and, like some of the other entries in his output, uses obviously fake phalluses in place of actual male genitalia). As such, the film is more on par with something like Rolls Royce Baby than a traditional XXX movie like Deep Throat.
As to the storyline, it’s filled with interesting ideas, some mild fetish play, a celebration of female sexual empowerment and some odd political subtext and a cast of simply stunning European women who spend most of their screen time naked or closest to it. Of course, Claudia Koll is front and center in all of this and she was clearly Brass’ muse for this particular film. Her performance is as impressive as her good looks, and she brings a charming, playful vibe to her character that makes her hard not to like. Paolo Lanza and Franco Branciaroli are very good in their respective roles as well, with Lanza in particular taking his character into some unexpectedly dark places. The dialogue isn’t always on point and can sometimes come across as stilted and cliché-ridden, but Brass’ visual style and Koll’s committed and ridiculously sensual performance make the film’s flaws pretty easy to overlook.
That said, as it is with pretty much every one of Brass’ infamous erotic films, we're treated with lavish visuals, great sets and costumes, well written dialogue, and of course, plenty of naked derrieres. Although the film definitely feels like the product of the early nineties that it is in terms of the fashions and trends on display, dating it just a tad, the storyline doesn’t suffer from this at all and the lush production values that Brass brings to his project hold up really well.
All Ladies Do It – UHD Review:
All Ladies Do It arrives on UHD in an HEVC encoded 2160p and framed in its proper original widescreen 1.85.1 aspect ratios with HDR and it looks really strong. Colors pop without looking boosted or oversaturated and skin tones look natural throughout, never too pink or too orange. We get nice, deep black levels and an impressive level of detail, depth and texture evident throughout pretty much the entire film. This is a beautifully shot movie and seeing it in 4k really brings that home, while the transfer avoids compression artifacts or any overly aggressive sharpening or smoothing of any kind. Aside from the occasional small white speck here and there, print damage is never really noticeable at all and the picture always looks like it was taken from a legitimate film source, meaning it never looks especially digitized or manipulated. All in all, the picture quality here is genuinely impressive, the movie looks great.
English and Italian language options are provided in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo, with optional subtitles provided for both tracks in English only. The film plays better in Italian but the English dubbed track isn’t awful at all, so go with whatever option you prefer. Audio quality is also quite good, with the dialogue always up front in the mix and never overpowered by the score. The performers are always easy to understand and follow and neither mix has any hiss or distortion to complain about.
The main extra on the UHD is a commentary track from Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth that goes into plenty of detail about the film. They cover Brass' scandalous status in Italy, the evolution of his career up to this (his eighteenth film), how Brass has lived through every major change in Italian cinema, the subtle political commentary in regards to some of Brass' fixations, the way that he portrays the upper class in his movies, his status as an intellectual and a politicized filmmaker, comparisons to the body of work that Fellini left behind, his highly stylized filmmaking techniques, the importance of Claudia Koll's appearance in the film and her popularity with audiences of the day, the different attitudes towards hardcore pornography and softcore erotica in both America and Italy, details on the other cast and crew members that worked on the film, how All Ladies Do It compares to other Brass films made before and after, the mechanical quality inherent in some scenes and frustration evident in some of his later work, how the film was marketed and promoted, the depth that Brass infuses this movie with and how it depicts the way that women use their bodies and the relationships that they build with men, along with quite a bit more.
The UHD also contains trailers for the feature as well as for Frivolous Lola, Paprika, P.O. Box Tinto Brass and Istintobrass.
The included Blu-ray disc carries over the same extras that are included on the UHD and also contains an English language interview with cigar chomping director Director Tinto Brass from 2001. Here, over fifteen minutes, the filmmaker discusses working with Claudia Koll, the themes that the movie explores, the concept of fidelity and if it is natural or not, what it was like making the movie and some of the characters and cast members that are in the film.
Carried over from the All Ladies Do It Special Edition DVD are ten minutes of outtakes from the film. These are in Italian with no English subtitles and are presented in one pieced together montage. Plenty of great footage of Koll is to be found in here, including some shots of her putting on makeup, a botched sex scene, a dance/orgy scene, and some harder nude/sex scenes. Though not as polished as the feature itself, any extra footage of Koll is always more than welcome, particularly when it features her in her birthday suit. Note that some of the material included here has been incorporated into the Director’s Cut version of the movie that serves as our main attraction on this release.
A photo gallery, menus and chapter selection options are also provided.
As to the packaging, this release comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art with the original Italian uncensored poster art on one side and the tamer, though still provocative, image seen up top on the other side. We also get a twenty-page illustrated booklet containing an essay by Eugenio Ercolani and Domenico Monetti titled ‘From Demon To Saint: The Career Of Claudia Koll’ well worth reading and complimented by a nice selection of photos of the film’s leading lady. A slipcase is also provided, as is a collection of four postcard-sized reproductions of some Italian Lobby card.
All Ladies Do It - The Final Word:
All Ladies Do It holds up really well, an engaging mix of drama, comedy and sexual politics presented in a series of gorgeous visuals in a movie with seriously impressive production values. One of Brass’ best and best known films, it’s been given an excellent special edition UHD/Blu-ray reissue from Cult Epics, presenting the film in a gorgeous presentation and with a pretty solid array of special features exploring its themes and history. Highly recommended!
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized screen caps from the All Ladies Do It Blu-ray!
