The Night Porter Reviews

Dreadful quality print

The film is dated, but still holds its own. What is unforgivable though is the quality of the telecine. It looks like a really poor NTSC VHS dub - smeary and unwatchable. Shame on you Anchor Bay!

A Great Film

A rather unusual love story perhaps, who can say, but a love story it is, and based on actual events...very romantic with haunting music that lingers in the soul, high drama with a superb performance from the incredilbly erotic Charlotte Rampling , ably supported by Bogarde...even some of the most terribly cheap dubbing did not mar my enjoyment of a truly great European film....... not for fans of Hollywood.....

Wow!

Great film with a fantastic script. Rampling is amazing in this role and so i Bogarde. I really recommend you to watch this one!

Customer Review

The night porter review

Many were initially drawn to the controversy of it; there is also the idea of a matinee star aging and quietly making these masterpieces. So what do we get on this DVD, except the bad film transfer - the film is better on the lighter scenes; which create some kind of duality in the film. There is also the obvious duality between the nude Jews and the fully clothed and armed, especially Dirk Bogart with a camera - THIS IS EXTERME DUALITY.

There is also the glamour of the film; even the bad transfer has a DTS soundtrack - another duality. You may never hear his voice with better clarity, as his other films are mostly in mono Dolby digital. Even Elvis is mostly done in Dolby digital, so this is not an Elvis film, but this is another duality, we have cuteness, and here we have extreme evil. A film about extremes works better with simplicities, rather than extreme moralising.

The glamour of the film is first given to the Nazi, contemplating getting away with it, and not really feeling guilty about the whole experience. Another duality in the film is the little girl becoming a creature of glamour, and Nazis in greater fear, so the scene is reversed; the power has shifted it is also the only relief we get in the film, the tension is purposely held. So why does this film become a love story? The attraction is never explained; maybe it could not be explained. So there exists a feeling of comfortable decline in the film, and this resonates with life, there-there, here is the films merit. It does not play the moral story. The film chooses to have a mood (a cold warmth) or pathos, created through a great acting performance from Bogarde. Though it could have been made without the nudity and some conversations by the Nazi where they express guilt and shame; then it may have been about trying to make a clever art film, rather than making a clever art film.

We all try to forget about things from our past. It is difficult to admit we are wrong! And yet we are surprised that people who are more guilty find it harder to admit they are wrong, but that is life - it is a part of it.

what a mish-mash!

Really! I love Dirk Bogarde as an intelligent presence on any screen and Charlotte Rampling is, even today, still very lovely, but this film doesn't seem to know where its going.

I really didn't understand why these ex-Nazis were wasting time in trying to expiate their sins in the way they did - it could have been done a lot simpler.

I still don't understand what the relationship between camp guard and (?) victim was about - kinky? Didn't need to be. Wasn't explanatory.

She didn't need to join in the way she did - surely she should have fainted at the sight of him and planned a well-crafted revenge thereafter. Very confusing and wooden, and unsatisfactory.

Perhaps the relationship of Ralph Fiennes, as camp commander, and thehousemaid in 'Schindler's List' should give a better idea of how it should have looked and felt. Could have done with a re-write!

Cinematic Art

This is not really a film about Nazis, nor is it a film about sex. Although both are contained within it. The sex acts are not sensual or sexually provocative. Any sensuality is annulled by the harsh lighting and the circumstances. This is more a film about the depth of human depravity and an exploration of the morally perverse side of human nature. Bogarde and Rampling are extremely watchable. I do wonder how this film was ever made, but I’m glad it was. This is a very brave film.

Customer Review

We have the Criterion DVD version of Night Porter, but this version got such good reviews that we thought we'd rent it to compare. We've just watched selected bits of this one (Starz, but apparently Anchor Bay) side-by-side with the Criterion edition on a big projection system.

First off: the Anchor Bay version is anamorphic and the Criterion version isn't. BUT anamorphic is only worthwhile if the underlying quality justifies it. In this case the non-anamorphic Criterion transfer knocks spots off the anamorphic Anchor Bay transfer. And Anchor Bay seem to have messed with the contrast and color balance horribly. I know I'm sounding like a DVD geek here: I never realized such things could matter so much. But, viewed side-by-side, the Anchor Bay version is MUCH flatter: the all-important facial expressions and emotions come over much better on the Criterion version.

There is a flip side. The Anchor Bay version has interviews with Liliana Cavani and the producer (I forget his name) which are quite interesting. But also it has an interview with Charlotte Rampling which is absolutely fabulous: she tells how Dirk Bogarde had had the script for years, but looked at it again after he saw one of Cavani's other films; how he told Cavani he'd like to do it, but only with Rampling as his co-star; and how she felt about many of the film's most iconic moments. This is unmissable stuff.

So there are swings and roundabouts here. On the whole I'd recommend doing what we did: buy the Criterion version, but rent the Anchor Bay one just for the interviews.

Disappointing

Like many controversial films of decades past, this just doesn't stand up in today's market. If you're expecting an erotic tour-de-force, forget it. This is a slow, gloomy, dated drama, where nothing very much happens. If you like movies like that, go ahead. If not, choose something from this millenium.

Scary

A sincere and beautifully acted film. The story was loosly based on research carried out by director Liliana Cavani who had interviewed women who had spent time in concentration camps.

It is disturbing to watch, but it is very well done.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Unique.

When this film was first released in 1974 I believe, it was X-rated, caused a complete uproar and banned in many countries. It was considered outrageous, corrupt and vile. Now one can watch it on DVD.

It's still shocking because of the subject matter, but we have stronger stomachs these days. We've seen a lot of films about Nazi Germany and the holocaust.

In the DVD, the Special Features interview with Liliana Cavalli, the famous director, is very interesting. She insists that she and her co-writer, whose name escapes me, were not aware at the time that they were making a sado-masochistic film. Accept that explanation if you choose. Personally, I'm more inclined to believe Charlotte Rampling, Bogarde's life-long friend, when she says that it was he who changed the emphasis on that aspect of the film to make it a more acceptable love story.

However, to believe that love can exist between a young female in a concentration camp and the Nazi officer who singles her out for special treatment, is very difficult. But Bogarde and Rampling make it believable. Bogarde completely transformed himself for the part, and it is undoubtedly his best ever role. Rampling was only 22 at the time and projects amazing eroticism for her age and lack of experience. The love scenes - although far less explicit than most modern movies you can see in the cinema today - are electrifying.

Unfortunately, the quality of the DVD was poor. But if you are interested in those dark and disturbing times, or just like watching films that spark controversy amongst like-minded friends, then this is one you shouldn't miss. At the very least, it's a masterclass in the art of proper acting.