Married Too Young (Retromedia) (Makeflix.com Exclusive) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

Retromedia gives us a double dose of Ed Wood exploitation with this blu-ray of Married Too Young and The Violent Years.

Studio: Retromedia
Release Date: 1962 (theatrical) (Married Too Young) / 1956 (theatrical) (The Violent Years) / October 23rd, 2023 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 15 minutes 48 seconds (Married Too Young) / 56 minutes 44 seconds (The Violent Years
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-R 25)
Picture: 1080p (1.66:1 aspect ratio) (Married Too Young) / 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio) (The Violent Years)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles: No
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Harold Lloyd Jr., Jana Lund, Anthony Dexter, Trudy Marshall, Brian O'Hara (Married Too Young) / Jean Moorhead, Barbara Weeks, Art Millan, Theresa Hancock, Joanne Cangi (The Violent Years)
Written by Nat Tanchuck, Edward D. Wood Jr. (Married Too Young) / Edward D. Wood Jr. (The Violent Years)
Directed by George Moskov (Married Too Young) / William Morgan (The Violent Years)
Rating: Not Rated (nothing objectionable in 2023) (Married Too Young)

NOTE: This is a BD-R release. See my comments in the "Extras/Packaging" section for my thoughts on this. This release is also exclusive to Makeflix.com and will go out of print (OOP) when all current copies are sold.

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Poster(s)

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What's It About?

Two high-school sweethearts get married, then find that married life isn't what they thought it would be. In their desperation, they get mixed up with a gang of car thieves. (Married Too Young)

Paula Parkins is the teenage daughter of wealthy parents who can't seem to make time for her, so she looks for thrills as the leader of her all girl-gang who rob and rape young men. (The Violent Years)

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Video/Audio

"Now Available for the first time in an authorized release from the official 35mm film elements."

But then it says:

"HD transfer from the original 35mm camera negative."

This is what the back of the box says when it comes to the transfer used and I will have that this is not a new scan. Retromedia usually uses lets us know if a new scan was used as they have with their releases of JACK-O, WITCH ACADEMY, and BIKINI DRIVE-IN. They don't use the word "new" when talking about the scan so I have to say that this isn't a new scan. That doesn't matter, though, as this is a good looking flick. The picture is sharp and has great clarity. There is a thin layer of grain. There is also a lot of damage throughout, although none of it makes the film unwatchable. Lines, dirt, debris, hair, and dots appear throughout but I like that. It reminds us we are watching something that was shot on film.

The lossless track here is nice. Gone is the hissing which makes the dialogue and music a lot clearer.

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Extras/Packaging

Trailer (2m 46s, SD, 1.66:1) The trailer claims the film delivers "thrills". We all know that's a lie.

Ed Wood on "Married Too Young" (30s, SD, 1.33:1) This is a letter from Dale Gasteuger of Headliner Entertainment Group to Greg Luce (I think its Luce. The picture isn't all that clear) about Ed Wood's involvement with Married Too Young.

A Tale of Two Endings (1m 21s, HD, 1.66:1) There are two different ending to Married Too Young. The film originally ended with the couple going over the side of a cliff in their car. They somehow survive. The car is shown flipping when it goes over the cliff, making it very surprising that they were able to get away with a broken bone or two. A few years after the film's release, the distributor changed the ending to show a different shot of the car going over the cliff without flipping. It then cuts to newspaper clippings showing that the couple survived. Fred Olen Ray provides commentary here and thinks the ending was changed because of a sale to a television station.

"The Violent Years" (56m 44s, HD, 1.78:1) This is a much better film than Married Too Young. I liked the characters a lot more and things actually happen. It's also much shorter than Married (20 minutes shorter) and it moves. The film looks ok but this transfer has to be more than a decade old. It's fine and it makes the film completely watchable. This film should have been the main feature instead of Married.

MARRIED TOO YOUNG comes to us from Retromedia, as part of their "Retromedia Entertainment On Demand" line of Blu-rays. This line was introduced to get more product out in the market without having to meet the 1,000 copy minimum order for a regular blu-ray release. This is a BD-R but that's ok. Like I have said before, I have no problem with a small company like Retromedia, Tempe Digital, or SRS Cinema doing BD-R releases because they have a much smaller audience than a major studio does. This means that the cost of replicating blu-rays only for them not to sell would hurt the smaller company. I do have a problem with a bigger studio like Paramount releasing their films on BD-R as they can afford to make the replicated ones. This release is coming from Retromedia through Makeflix.com so if the disc stops working in the next ten years, they will replace it for free.

The packaging here is nothing too special. We get a single blu-ray case with artwork classic artwork for the cover. Inside you will find the BD-R along with an insert featuring some of the titles from Retromedia that are exclusive to Makeflix.com.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

MARRIED TOO YOUNG is crap. It was back then just as much as it is today. It's not a good film. Nothing happens for most of the pic, and when something does happen, it is over so quickly that you might not remember it happening. I have to say that I respect the film. It is a full on exploitation flick, the kind they don't make anymore (I mean, they still make exploitation pics, just not like MARRIED TOO YOUNG).

Retromedia's BD-R release is nice. Picture and sound are better than expected given these film's are public domain films. The special features are a little lacking. Sure, we get a second film and the film's trailer, but the other two special features total two minutes. I wish that Fred Olen Ray would have sat down for a commentary track as he is a pro at talking about classic films. Still, I like this release and can fully recommend it.

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Extras/Menus