A wildly sexy time capsule from the swinging sixties, The Girl on a Motorcycle stars Alain Delon (The Sicilian Clan) and Marianne Faithfull (Intimacy)—two actors at the height of their impressive cool—as lovers with a taste for the open road. Faithfull stars as Rebecca, a bored housewife who bolts from her home in the French countryside to visit her lover, Daniel (Delon), in Germany. Wearing nothing but a form-fitting black leather suit (the film was re-released in the U.S. as Naked Under Leather), the lusty Rebecca races across the country, and in flashback remembers the start of their affair. She recalls the initial, furtive glances in her father’s bookstore, her elaborate sexual fantasies and their long-awaited consummation. Most important of all is the motorcycle itself, a gift from Daniel that seems to give her more pleasure than any man could deliver. Directed by legendary cinematographer and top-notch director Jack Cardiff (Dark of the Sun) in pulsating psychedelic hues, The Girl on a Motorcycle has emerged from obscurity to become more than a cult favorite; it is a touchstone film of 1960s Euro youth culture.

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[youtube https://youtu.be/504tluBaYxY?t=3652]

Video Quality

Kino Classics presents The Girl On A Motorcycle with a nice upgrade in the form of a new 1080p master transfer sourced from a 4K restoration that looks quite good within the confines of its source. While I have never seen the previous Kino Classics release, my research leads me to believe this new presentation likely trumps that one easily. What we are provided here is a transfer that provides nice, natural film grain absent of any compression artifacts or other such damage. The film is free of most instances of damage or dirt.

While this transfer largely looks really nice, there are some baked-in limitations that keep it from looking classically stunning. There appears to be an abundance of optical and solarization shots including the more psychedelic, colorful moments which look very fuzzy compared to everything else. Much of the rest of the film also has a soft, dreamy quality to it which keeps things from looking perfectly crisp. The film features some splendid colors within the environment that pop off the screen with immense vibrancy. Skin tones look natural, and the presentation offers up solid black levels. There is also a grand amount of fine detail when you are in less stylized shots. Subtle facets of different outfits stand out more than ever before. Kino Classics has rescued this one from a dated master and made it look as good as the source will allow.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a fine DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this film well. All of the sound effects and music appear to be faithful to the intent of the original creative vision. A notable thing you just might appreciate is the clarity of the soundtrack throughout. The music is used effectively to create a distinct mood. Even with the strength of this element, nothing ever overpowers the voiceover, dialogue or other important information. The words and environmental noises are represented in perfect harmony with all competing elements. This disc maintains a wonderful sense of fidelity that is appreciated. This track shows no discernible age related wear and tear such as hissing or popping. There are also optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature film. Kino Classic has delivered something quite good here.

Special Features

Audio Commentary #1: Director Jack Cardiff provides a decent, informative commentary track in which he discusses what he wanted to accomplish as a feat of adaptation, how they achieved the psychedelic imagery woven throughout the film, how America hacked the filmed to pieces with censorship, his motivations behind specific scenes, the shooting locations, and much more that provides nice insight into this story even if it can be a little slow with getting out information.

Audio Commentary #2: Film Historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas provides a new commentary track in which she discusses the gender politics of film, how this fits into the biker genre, background details of the production, what factors influenced the film from the time period, the career of the performers, and much more that makes for an illuminating listen.

Trailers: The minute-long trailer for The Girl On A Motorcycle is provided here. There are also trailers provided for Diabolically Yours, Farewell Friend, The Sicilian Clan, The Widow Couderc, Un Flic and Armageddon.

Final Thoughts

The Girl On A Motorcycle is free-wheeling and pretentious drama which mistakes saying a lot for saying something interesting. The fractured insights from Rebecca reveal a sense of discontent and longing for something more, but the actual dialogue as scripted is rather rote and clumsy. Sometimes Rebecca sounds like she is trying to say something profound when it comes off as laughable. Those interested in the movie for more prurient intentions will likewise be disappointed that the film is nowhere near as sexy as you might expect. Throw in the derivative riff on Easy Rider it is attempting and you have an experience that really just does not work that well. Kino Classics has provided a new Blu-Ray featuring a solid A/V presentation and a couple of excellent supplemental features. The film is not a trainwreck, it is just not as smart as it thinks it is.

The Girl On A Motorcycle (Special Edition) is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.