Written by: Michael Den Boer on May 7th, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: Spain, May 24th, 1984
Director: Jesus Franco
Writer: Jesus Franco
Cast: Juan Soler, Lina Romay, Eva León, Antonio Mayans, Alicia Príncipe, Emilio Linder, Analía Ivars, Carlos Ysbert, Flavia Hervás, Ivana Mayans
Approximate running time: 83 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Letterboxed Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo Castilian
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Filmax
Region Coding: Region 2 PAL (Spain)
Retail Price: $20.95
Synopsis: A struggling composer named Juan and his bride Ana become targets of spies while on their honeymoon. The spies want to get their hands on Juan’s latest score “Butterfly 2″. The spies believe that is contains valuable secret formula’s.
Jess Franco is one of the most represented director’s in the DVD medium. Virtually all eras of his career have had some titles released from them. Only recently has Franco’s Spanish film productions form the 1980’s started to get DVD releases. A film from this era is Cuanto Cobra Un Espia? a spy/comedy hybrid which leans more towards comedy.
The film stars Franco most frequent leading lady Lina Romay as Anna a newlywed who is prone to hysterics especially when other women show her husband Juan too much attention. Juan is played by an actor named Juan Soler who also worked as a cinematographer for Jess Franco on many of his films from the 1980’s including Cuanto Cobra Un Espia? The rest of the cast are rather forgettable with them spending the whole film spying on the newlyweds.
One of the more amusing parts of this film is a woman who always is in a bikini who struts her stuff like she is the shit and in the films finale she tots a shotgun in her bikini. Visually this is a rather mundane affair from Jess Franco who even with less to work with in other films has shined brighter. The films pacing is tedious affair that stretches eighty three minutes beyond its limits. Once again this is another Franco film that features a strong score.
Overall Cuanto Cobra Un Espia? suffers from a weak plot that is stretched far beyond its borders.
The DVD:
Cuanto Cobra Un Espia? is presented in a letterboxed widescreen that preserves the film’s original aspect ratio. The image source image is virtually free of any print damage. Colors and flesh tones look good with some room for improvement. The image doesn’t having any major ghosting or motion blurring issues despite the transfer being interlaced. Overall the image is more than watchable and best of all the film is in its original aspect ratio.
One audio option comes with this release a Dolby Digital stereo mix in Castilian. The audio exhibits background noise and at times it the audio sounds canned. No subtitle options have been provided with this release.
No extra content has been included with this release. Besides the main feature the only other content included with the static menu is a scene selection.
Filmax gives Cuanto Cobra Un Espia? an average DVD release that has plenty of room for improvement and the core audience for this release would be limited to Jess Franco completist’s.