A Few Words About A few words about...™ Canyon Passage - in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[Robert Harris]

Kino is offering one of the rara avi of the era, in a 1946 Technicolor western from Universal, Canyon Passage, directed by Jacques Tourneur.

I use the term akin to rare, as in 1946 Technicolor was quite new at Universal.

While they had used the two color process for sequences and for King of Jazz in 1930, three-strip was a long time coming, not arriving until 1942, with Arabian Nights, the sole offering that year.

You see where this is going.

1943 gave us Cobra Woman (now available via Kino), Phantom of the Opera (available from Universal), and White Savage.

1944 - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Can't Help Singing, The Climax (available from Scream Factory as part of their latest Universal horror set), and Gypsy Wildcat.

1945 - Frontier Gal, Salome and Sudan.

Which brings us to 1946 with A Night in Paradise and the latest offering, Canyon Passage.

The good news is that Canyon Passage, aside from some dirt built into the end of the Main Titles, looks terrific. A quiet natural three-strip appearance, good contrast, black levels, and grain structure. As far as resolution, it's probably higher than original release prints.

I'm going to bet that although many readers have heard of Mr. Tourneur, probably based upon his work at RKO, that Canyon Passage may come up with a bewildered "huh?"

And that's a pity, as it's a terrific western, up there with the best of the era - starring Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy and Susan Hayward, along with Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael, Lloyd Bridges, Rose Hobart and Andy Devine - as well as "the Divine Kids," of whom I had never heard, and silent comedian, Snub Pollard, uncredited, as an miner.

Point being, this is no slapdash B western. It's the real thing.


Image - 5

Audio - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Upgrade from DVD - Yes

Recommended

RAH

 

[Robin9]

I already have the U.K. disc and I advise anyone who loves good Westerns and beautiful color to invest in this disc.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I already have the U.K. disc and I advise anyone who loves good Westerns and beautiful color to invest in this disc.

Since, this another one of my favorite westerns, I'm not ashamed to admit that I bought it on Blu-ray for the third time as part of a "buy 2, get 1 free" sale. For some reason, this film used to play locally on NYC Metro channels quite often back in the day. I have the 2015 German/Koch BD release, the 2016 UK/Panamint BD release and finally have this fine film on Region "A" Blu-ray from Kino. I watched the Kino disc late last night and except for the opening credits that RAH noted, it looked beautiful. I had to admit that the opening credits had me worried a bit. I watched the movie with Toby Roan's audio commentary. I thought the commentary was pretty informative as I learned a couple of things I didn't know beforehand. One day, I need to pull out all three Blu-rays and do some comparison testing. My memory might be faulty a bit, but the Kino disc looked a little better than what I remembered the Panamint disc looked like and quite a bit better than the Koch Blu-ray. Again, I need to do some disc comparisons to verify.

 

[lark144]

This has also been one of my favorite films for the longest time.

I first saw it when I was a child at one of our neighborhood theaters in Syracuse; probably the Westcott, as they used to show double bills of new movies partnered with older ones from the 1940's. For instance, I remember seeing SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON together with EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS when I was six.

Anyway, in those days they had continuous shows, and we used to go in when we showed up, and then leave at the same place. I don't think they even posted showtimes. In the case of CANYON PASSAGE, we walked in towards the end, to a scene with these blazing autumn leaves of bright colors in the foreground of many shots, with action going on in the background. It was almost a cine poem of the changing seasons, like something you'd see in Ozu, though at that point, I wasn't yet familiar with Ozu. In any case, those images of autumn leaves have stayed with me ever since.

I was holding off getting this until Mr. Harris weighed in on the quality of the master. I'll be ordering it as soon as I finish this post.

Speaking of Technicolor at Universal, the producer of this film, Walter Wanger, who was also responsible for STAGECOACH, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME, RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 etc, was instrumental in this regard, as he brought ARABIAN NIGHTS to Universal as I believe a pre-budgeted independent deal which included Technicolor lensing, though the powers that be tried to unsuccessfully cut the extra costs involved in shooting Technicolor out of the budget, as they weren't interested. Then when ARABIAN NIGHTS became a monster hit as well as getting 4 Oscar nominations, the folks at Universal changed their minds, which led to aforementioned COBRA WOMAN & PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched the Kino disc the other day and was pleasantly surprise how much better it looked compared to the Koch BD release. Of course, my faulty memory could be in play here. Just a beautiful video presentation even though a majority of the movie was shot on a sound stage. Anyhow, I pulled out my Koch BD and will compare it along with the three different "Canyon Passage" Blu-rays over the next day or two.

 

[Mark-P]

I watched the Kino disc the other day and was pleasantly surprise how much better it looked compared the Koch BD release. Of course, my faulty memory could be in play here. Just a beautiful video presentation even though a majority of the movie was shot on a sound stage. Anyhow, I pulled out my Koch BD and will compare it along with the three different "Canyon Passage" Blu-rays over the next day or two.

I would appreciate that. I’d like to just be happy with my German Blu-ray, but I’ll upgrade if the improvement is significant!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I would appreciate that. I’d like to just be happy with my German Blu-ray, but I’ll upgrade if the improvement is significant!

I have the three different blu-rays on my desk so I'll try to get to it this weekend.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I would appreciate that. I’d like to just be happy with my German Blu-ray, but I’ll upgrade if the improvement is significant!

Same here!

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have the three different blu-rays on my desk so I'll try to get to it this weekend.

Alright, after spending more time than I wanted to comparing the three different discs. My memory was a little faulty as the Kino disc does look a little better than Panamint and Koch Blu-rays, but not as much as I originally thought. The opening credits on all three discs look about the same which is not good. The blemishes and deflects in the opening credits is the same for all three discs. Sampling different sequences such as when Andrews and Hayward first arrived back in Jacksonville and the fist fight between Andrews and Bond, the Kino disc looks slightly better than the Koch Blu-ray. Also, it has a higher bitrate than the Koch disc. In comparison to the Panamint Blu-ray, I really didn't see much difference between the two, at least, not enough for it to be distinguishable.

 

[Robin9]

Alright, after spending more time than I wanted to comparing the three different discs. My memory was a little faulty as the Kino disc does look a little better than Panamint and Koch Blu-rays, but not as much as I originally thought. The opening credits on all three discs look about the same which is not good. The blemishes and deflects in the opening credits is the same for all three discs. Sampling different sequences such as when Andrews and Hayward first arrived back in Jacksonville and the fist fight between Andrews and Bond, the Kino disc looks slightly better than the Koch Blu-ray. Also, it has a higher bitrate than the Koch disc. In comparison to the Panamint Blu-ray, I really didn't see much difference between the two, at least, not enough for it to be distinguishable.

Thank you for that. I'll stick with my Panamint disc as there seems to be little difference.

 

[RBlenheim]

"Canyon Passage" is a superb western from one of the finest Hollywood directors of the era. This is an underrated (and mostly unknown) little gem that is a delight from start to finish.

 

[HawksFord]

I finally got around to watching this on the KL blu-ray, and it is a very good western with a whole lot going on under the surface. Sadly, the commentary track largely consists of naming people involved with the film and rattling off a long list of their credits. What a shame when there's so much more to talk about here.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I finally got around to watching this on the KL blu-ray, and it is a very good western with a whole lot going on under the surface. Sadly, the commentary track largely consists of naming people involved with the film and rattling off a long list of their credits. What a shame when there's so much more to talk about here.

I enjoyed the audio commentary by Toby Roan as I think some commentaries are aimed at people not as verse about actors and filmmakers as some of us.