Classic WESTERNS on LD - Opinions please (1 Viewer)

[Jim_K]

Hello,

Yes another stupid LD question. I'd like any opinions on the following laserdiscs I'm trying to hunt down.

BEND OF THE RIVER/FAR COUNTRY Double Feature

RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY widescreen

How are the tranfers on these?

Also did these following Westerns ever get released on LD? and if so were they (The Non-acadamy ratio films I mean) in their OAR?

NAKED SPUR

MAN OF THE WEST

WINCHESTER 73

TALL T

JUBAL

BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE

PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID

MAJOR DUNDEE

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

COMANCHEROS

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST DVD for next year. I'm almost tempted to hunt that one down.

Jim

 

[Jay E]

Dear Jim

I have both of those lasers and as far as I can remember, they look good. I will have to check them again to see if my memory holds up.

I own My Darling Clementine, Major Dundee & Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. All 3 are OAR and Pat Garrett is the restored version.

Ballad of Cable Hogue was release on Laser but it's pan & scan.

Winchester 73 was released on laser also and it is full screen which I think is the OAR. It also has a commentary track.

I'm not sure if the others were released or not on laser.

 

[alan halvorson]

I don't own the two you're inquiring on. According to my vague memory, the following were/were not released to LD:

• - ? - NAKED SPUR
• No - MAN OF THE WEST (This is supposed to be coming to dvd in 2002)
• Yes - WINCHESTER 73
• No - TALL T
• - ? - JUBAL
• Yes - BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE
• Yes - PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID
• Yes - MAJOR DUNDEE
• Yes - MY DARLING CLEMENTINE
• Yes - COMANCHEROS

 

[Rand]

Of the ones not mentioned yet I have Jubal. It's a pan and scanned poor transfer. I'd stay away from it.

 

[Thomas T]

Of the titles that you mentioned that I own:
Bend Of The River and The Far Country look pretty good but although Bend is in it's original 1952 academy ratio, Far Country from 1955 should be wide screen but it's not. Ride The High Country is in it's original wide screen ratio and looks very good.
Winchester 73 looks decent, Ballad Of Cable Hogue is P&S, Jubal, shot in the Cinemascope format is a grainy P&S disc. Major Dundee is wide screen but be forewarned this disc is prone to laser rot as many later Columbia titles were. The Comancheros is in it's Cinemascope format and looks gorgeous.

 

[Jim_K]

Thanks guys,
You helped a lot.
Thomas,
Are you sure about the aspect ratio of FAR COUNTRY ? I've always wondered about this one. Some books I've read stated that MAN FROM LARAMIE was MANN's first WESTERN filmed in scope but it did always seem cropped to me. I've also seen the release year listed as 1954 and others 1955.
I wish we had a definitive answer.
Any old-timers out there with good memories?
Jim

 

[Thomas T]

The Far Country has a 1954 copyright date but was released in February 1955. I did not mean to imply that The Far Country was a Cinemascope film. After the success of The Robe in 1953, almost all films were shown theatrically in some form of widescreen. If not in the scope format then 1.85:1, 1.77:1 or 1.66:1 etc. Since it was released theatrically in 1955 I assumed (someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that it was in some form of wide screen. The laser disc may indeed be full screen without the theatrical matting but I'm sure that was not as it was shown in theatres as by 1955 the academy ratio had pretty much been abandoned, at least in America.