A Few Words About A few words about...™ Vera Cruz -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

I try very hard not to go into viewing any Blu-ray with preconceptions, and must admit that I was a bit fearful popping M-G-M's new Blu-ray of Vera Cruz into my player.


I've come away very pleased. Someone has done some very nice work bringing this hybrid production to Blu, and although I can't

be certain, it appears that they may have taken the proper turn at every fork.


SuperScope productions were shot 1.37:1, and exploited for early wide-screen by doing a field enlargement at the matrix stage during the creation of dye transfer prints. The image was cropped, losing quite a bit of the top and bottom, and then optically squeezed, with black side panels added at the sides, yielding an uncompressed image at 2:1.


The field enlargement of the early Eastman (and occasional three-strip) stocks was generally not a happy occasion. Eastman single strand printer functions, ie. fades and dissolves, along with title sections and dupes, are as problematic as normal, and this is what the film looks like, and looked like at release. Dupes will have problems with grain, contrast and resolution, as the early duplicating stocks were less than stellar.

Overall, Vera Cruz is a gorgeous Blu-ray, that looks amazingly good. Although not reviewed well when released, just having two of the greatest actors of the era working together in a fun Robert Aldrich film, is worth the price of Blu-ray admission.


Recommended.


RAH

 

[FoxyMulder]

So very glad you thought it a good disc, the last review i read was less than stellar ( at this site ) i will be buying this now.

 

[Robert Crawford]

RAH,


Thank you for confirming my opinion about this BRD's video performance. This film has always been problematic in prior video formats and probably due to some of the issues you stated in your post. However, I thought this disc looked the best I ever seen it and was pleasantly surprise that MGM/Fox did such a fine job with it.








Crawdaddy

 

[Charles Smith]

Never seen this movie, but -- as per usual on HTF -- these posts will do quite nicely in bringing a little more pain to my wallet.

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Chas in CT

Never seen this movie, but -- as per usual on HTF -- these posts will do quite nicely in bringing a little more pain to my wallet.

That's what we're here for. But it's a two way street, as reviews can go in the other direction.

 

[Charles Smith]

Definitely.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

This title will be a nice purchase to watch along side Criterion's release of Kiss Me Deadly also Directed by Robert Aldrich

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Powell&Pressburger

This title will be a nice purchase to watch along side Criterion's release of Kiss Me Deadly also Directed by Robert Aldrich

Better yet, Apache is another Aldrich western starring Lancaster that has never been properly represented on a video format. Aldrich is one of my favorite directors and is really underrated in my opinion. He must have been a buddy of Lancaster because they've done more than a few films together.

 

[John Hodson]

I was desperately hoping Ulzana's Raid would make it to BD; preferably with both cuts of the film. But that seems unlikely now, at least in the US.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford





Better yet, Apache is another Aldrich western starring Lancaster that has never been properly represented on a video format. Aldrich is one of my favorite directors and is really underrated in my opinion. He must have been a buddy of Lancaster because they've done more than a few films together.

He directed a film called Too Late The Hero which has a good cast and a really memorable ending, i'd like to see that come out on blu ray, probably a remote chance though.