"The 10^th Victim" doesn’t take any time getting smack dab in the middle of the story.  We begin with an armed gunman shooting at a scrambling woman.  A police officer stops the gunman to inspect his weapon and lets him pass, to continue his hunt.  This event is dubbed “The Big Hunt” which is a legalized form of violence.  The rules are that each participant must take part in ten hunts -- five of which are hunters, the other five are victims.  The Big Hunt is perpetrated by an electronic selecting service in Geneva.  Each hunter knows everything about their victim.  Conversely the victims do not know who their hunters are and must figure out who their hunter is and dispatch them.  The winner who remains alive after ten hunts is declared “decation” (whatever that means), receives the highest form of accolades and one million dollars.

Based on the 1953 short story "Seventh Victim" by Robert Sheckley, this 1965 Italian/French co-production stars Ursula Andress ("Mountain of the Cannibal God") as Caroline Meredith, a beautiful hunter, preying on her tenth victim.  Her unknowing victim is Marcello Poletti (Marcello Mastroianni), a once wealthy man, now left broke by his ex-wife.  Marcello is aware he is being hunted but doesn't immediately pinpoint the lovely Caroline as his predator due to her ruse as a reporter interested in interviewing him.  However, while Caroline attempts to make her murderous move, she slowly builds a rapport with Marcello.  As the story unfolds, so does their "relationship" as well as Marcello's ever growing suspicion.  He doesn't want to believe that she is his hunter, but reality sets in as he comes closer and closer to his own demise.

For a 1965 film, "The 10^th Victim" sure has a distinct commentary on societal greed and the marketing of products.  It showcases humanity as product and material object obsessed.  The whole while Caroline is hunting her prey and Marcello is evading his hunter, the situation is sponsored  by beverage companies as if this is all a big game without the final act ending in death.  This whole product placement in a virtual murder scenario gives impetus to societies complete moral decay.  One humorous scene exemplifies this involving a hunter being chastised for shooting in a bar, claiming that a new law was recently passed.  One of the men complains to the other “What kind of life is this?  Can’t shoot in hospitals, or restaurants, or churches, or barber shops or in nursery schools!”  The man continues “We can’t shoot anywhere anymore.”  This scene perfectly parallels modern societies smoking laws and this conversation would commonly arise nowadays from the smoking oppressed.

"The 10^th Victim" is a unique little film that seems ahead of its time for the 1960's.  While it does contain some foolish situations at times -- such as people getting shot, without bullet wounds, let alone blood -- it is very stylish, with great use of Italian futurism and art deco set-pieces.  While not a perfect film, "The 10^th Victim" still holds its own as a satirical jab at the world’s fascination and thirst for violence.

Blue Underground gives the high-def treatment to "The 10^th Victim" with this 50GB 1080p blu-ray disc.  The video is presented 1.85:1 with an MPG-4 AVC codec and visually looks rather flawless, especially for a film from the 1960's.  The audio is presented English and Italian DTS-HD Mono, which is the expected quality for an older film like this.  For the supplemental material we get the 98-minute documentary from 2006 entitled  'Marcello: A Sweet Life' about actor Marcello Mastroianni.  Included on this release is a U.S. and Italian Trailer for the film as well as a 'Poster & Still Gallery' and 'Marcello Mastroianni Still Gallery.'

 

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 DVD SPECS:
 Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080p MPEG-4 AVC
 Region: A
 Audio: English DTS-HD Mono, Italian DTS-HD Mono

 SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
 - Marcello: A Sweet Life
  - U.S. Trailer
 - Italian Trailer
 - Poster & Still Gallery
 - Marcello Mastroianni Still Gallery