Trivia track, original theatrical trailer, "Tangled Web: The Making of 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'", "Manuel Puig: The Submissive Woman's Role", "Spider Woman on Broadway", "Novel to Film" featurette with film critic Norman Lavers, still galleries, original theatrical teaser, trailer and review excerpts

Every step of the way during production of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" it seemed like the film was doomed to receive the kiss of death. The producers, cast, writer, novelist and director of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" are an example of a group of people separated by a common vision. That common vision had to do with the themes in the Academy Award winning film but what separated these independent filmmakers BEFORE the advent of independent film (projects like The Independent Feature Project in Los Angeles of which I was a member in 1986 were in their infancy) was HOW to achieve that vision. Hector Babenco's film of Manuel Puig's novel had a difficult transition from novel to film taking nearly three years. Along the way the producers faced a number of hurtles that threatened to cause their pet project to stumble and fall from losing their original star Burt Lancaster (who had written his own version of the script), pulling financing out of thin air in two countries, shooting with two American stars (William Hurt and Raul Julia) in Brazil with a director who had only recently learned English AND was best known for making the documentary "Pixote" to the rejection of the three hour film from the New York Film Festival (where the theater stopped showing the film during the fourth reel) every step seemed tentative with no certainty that the film would ever screen for a real audience much less become one of the films that gave birth to the independent film movement that arose during the late 80's and dominated Hollywood during the 90's. ***

"Kiss" tells the story of Luis Molina (William Hurt in his Oscar winning role) a gay queen who finds himself sharing a jail cell after seducing an underage boy with Marxist revolutionary Valentin Arregui (the late great Raul Julia). The pass the time in their isolation and help distract Valentin from the pain of his brutal beatings by the prison staff, Molina revisits a vague memory of a film he saw as a child which, it turns out, was a Nazi propaganda piece where those working for the French resistance are the bad guys and the Nazi's the good guys. He tells Valentin other stories of other films he has seen where the heroine (always played by Sonia Braga in her first English speaking role) provides a refuge for Molina and, eventually, also for Valentin as his beatings worsen over time. These two men eventually find a commonality in their treatment and confinement with Valentin teaching Molina to not accept submission as a way of life and Molina teaching Valentin about compassion and how to escape the hell he has been condemned to. ***

Sadly it has been 15 years since the film has been available on home video and this is its DVD debut. The screenplay by the late Leonard Schrader best known for co-writing "Blue Collar" with his brother director/writer Paul Schrader, the scripts for "Old Boyfriends", "Edie: Girl on Fire" and "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" manages to distill the themes that dominate Puig's novel without being too literal and, as a result, failing to capture the most important story focusing on Valentin and Molina. ---

Image & Sound:

"Kiss" looks extremely good but could have used more clean up. There's evident print damage and white splotches that occur intermittently. I wouldn't call this a restoration but a straight forward transfer that could have used a bit more clean up. Still, considering the history of the film (we'll get to that later), I'm not surprised that it isn't in perfect condition here. As it is, it looks good but there is room for improvement. Colors accurately reflect the original theatrical presentation of the film with nice flesh tones and the cold color scheme of the prison accurately represented. Blacks are solid throughout and the film is presented without any noticeable edge enhancement or other digital alterations. ***

The sound is quite good as well wit both the original mono soundtrack and a 5.1 mix that doesn't really do the film any favors because this film is primarily dialogue driven. In the documentary we find out that the entire film was dubbed in post-production and that Braga ever the perfectionist looped her lines at least seven films before the premiere of the film as her grasp of English became better with time. The audio mix

On the first disc with the film we get a trivia track that is a poor stand in for a commentary track from the director, actor William Hurt or the producers. It's not bad conveying interesting trivia about the film but I'd much rather have a commentary track with multiple participants. We also get the original theatrical trailer. ***

The bulk of the special features are on disc two and the DVD producers went all out producing an excellent feature length documentary on the film as well as three featurettes one that is excellent, one good and the last one a waste of space. ***

Presented for the first time on DVD, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" was held up by the tangle of rights to the movie but the wait was well worth it. City Lights Home Video does a terrific job of presenting the film with copious extras. The best is the feature length documentary "Tangled Web" that tackles the story of the difficult birth of this film. Featuring interviews with Hurt, producer David Weisman, director Babenco, cinematographer Rodolfo Sanchez and film editors Mauro Alice and others associated with financing the film, we get a very fair balanced discussion of the film's difficult road to success and four Oscar nominations for Hurt (who won), Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. ***

Originally Burt Lancaster expressed interest in the role of Molina with Raul Julia being interested in the role of Valentin. When Lancaster became impatient with the film he used the excuse of his health problems to withdraw from the project allowing William Hurt to step in. Legend has it that originally Hurt was originally cast as Valentin and Julia as Molina but excellent and methodical documentary that accompanies "Kiss" on DVD, it appears that each had determined which roles they wanted to play early on with Hurt stepping in only when Lancaster withdrew. Virtually unknown by director Babenco at the time, when he first met Hurt he thought the casting would be a disaster but as Hurt began to find his way with the role, he realized despite their on set differences primarily caused by the language barrier (Babenco only learned English just before shooting by taking a Berlitz course), that Hurt managed to portray Molina's soul with a rich performance that took chances with his image as an man and as an actor. ***

Hurt and Julia evidently had known each other for some time and had wanted to work together (both were considered actor's actors) for some time when "Kiss" gave them that option. Although Hurt has a reputation as being difficult time has proven that it's not difficulty but precision and dedication to crafting the richest performance he possibly can that drives him as an actor. ***

There are three featurettes on the film. "Kiss of the Spider Woman: Novel to Film" which is didactic and really doesn't add anything to understanding the film and "Manuel Puig: Submission is a Woman's Role" a featurette on the novelist's life and his intention in writing the novel that the film was based on. We find out for example that Puig at first disliked the film version but once he saw the audience's reaction he began to admire the film and like it realizing it couldn't be his novel but was a parallel piece that used his story as a point to examine similar themes in a film narrative. The third featurette is on the Broadway adaptation of the film taking elements also from the novel that fit the presentation on stage. ---

Final Words: