#COMISARIO MONTALBANO DVD CODE#
The DVD region code Region 4 DVDs available were produced and subtitled by RAI Trade.
#COMISARIO MONTALBANO DVD SERIES#
In Australia the television series was shown on Special Broadcasting Service in Italian, subtitled in English by SBS staff. "Montalbano's Croquettes" was repeated in December 2010 and "Excursion to Tindari" in August 2011. "Excursion to Tindari" and "Montalbano's Croquettes" ("Gli Arancini di Montalbano") were first aired in the UK on BBC Four in December 2008. The series is almost entirely shot in the Sicilian city of Ragusa, Italy, and surrounding towns.
RAI has since 1999 produced a television series based on the novels. However the dramatizations of the Montalbano stories were mainly filmed at Ragusa, while the seaside and harbour locations were at Punta Secca and Licata. Camilleri based Vigata on his home town of Porto Empedocle, on Sicily's south-west coast, while Montelusa, the district headquarters, is based on Agrigento. To sum up, even if you aren't a huge fan of mystery or police procedurals, you can enjoy these DVDs simply for the stunning scenery: it might be better than actually going there and coming up against the realities of modern life.Inspector Montalbano lives and works in the fictional town of "Vigàta", in the equally fictional district of "Montelusa". After you see the house, you expect his car to be a Ferrari, but, strangely, it seems pretty ordinary. Also, while Camilerri's books do indicate that Montalbano's house overlooks the beach.you don't really get a sense of how unrealistic that might be until you see it on the DVD: they must pay police detectives 20 times what they pay them in real life for him to afford his "house". It certainly makes you want to visit this imaginary Sicily though: beautiful beaches and historic ruins completely devoid of tourists in T shirts and flip flops. I suspect it might be an artistic choice though. Perhaps there are union rules which make actor "extras" too expensive. I don't know anything about Italian cinema so I can't say how common this might be. I say "seems" because I find the portrayal of daily Sicilian life a little strange: there are hardly ANY people milling about in the background of most of the exterior shots. Camilerri's books can't give you a true sense of how beautiful it "seems".
The thing that I appreciate the most is the scenery of Sicily. Not speaking Italian, I have to read the subtitles, and they have done a very good job since I don't read particularly fast and I still don't have to resort to the pause button on the DVD player all that much. I have read all of the novels by Andrea Camilerri and I think they have done a good job of capturing the "spirit" of Montalbano: he appreciates good food, beautiful women and chasing bad guys.not necessarily in that order as his long suffering girlfriend Livia finds out when he investigates a case while telling her they are on holiday.