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FOX WESTERNS ON MAY - And The Gunfighter is among them!!!!! (1 Viewer)

Simon Howson

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It also has an excellent score by Bernard Herrmann. I'm sure Fox will produce a better transfer than the Optimum UK DVD that the frame capture was taken from. Hopefully it will have 4.0 audio. You can't go wrong with that set, 3 films for $20 is a bargain, let alone the fact two of them Garden of Evil, and The Gunfighter are classic Westerns.
 

DanMel

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I prefer Garden of Evil a hundred fold to the MGM Gary Cooper movie Vera Cruz (not a Lancaster fan), but would say that Anthony Mann's Man of the West and The Westerner would be favored by myself to Garden of Evil slightly. As a Gary Cooper extreme fan, I think The Spoilers (1930) is my most wanted to be released western title of Coop's but that is owned by Universial and may not ever be released eventhough there is a very good print of it in the vaults. It actaully was planned to be released in a Vol 2 box set this May but I guess they decided to re-release a box set of a bunch of James Stewart westerns already on dvd instead.
 

Simon Howson

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I'm a huge fan of Vera Cruz. For me it's on par with Garden of Evil.

But I completely agree with you that Man of the West is superior to both of those films. It is one of the best westerns ever made, and surely a huge influence on Leone.

I haven't seen The Westerner, but I have it on pre-order. Gregg Toland + William Wyler, how can you go wrong?
 

Mark-P

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I've been waiting forever for "The Big Trail" in grandeur. I once watched it years ago on American Movie Classics in letterbox and I refused to buy the flat version that came out on DVD. Lets just hope this 65mm transfer gets better treatment than the Oklahoma! Todd-AO transfer!
 

Simon Howson

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Well, here we are ~78 years later, but there is still no concerted push for 3D in cinemas as a standard like widescreen. 3D remains a novelty, rather than a common feature of filmmaking. Rather than 70mm, and other widescreen systems, leading to 3D features. In the 1950s widescreen competed against 3D, and seemingly relegated it to its novelty status.

But who knows what the future holds?
 

Richard--W

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If only MGM would release BILLY THE KID.
Excellent, informative post Simon. Thank you for posting those links.

I've been comparing my home-recording of the 70mm widescreen broadcast of THE BIG TRAIL to the 35mm full-frame DVD. It is a fine film in both versions. Unless Fox screws up the transfers -- and I can't imagine they would -- film buffs can't go wrong in buying this new special edition. I think most people will find the pictorial values of the 70mm widescreen alternate preferable to the 35mm full-screen, but it's a wonderful film and a rewarding film in either aspect ratio.

It does seem as if the industry has taken two steps backward in evolution. One step backward in terms of aesthetics, with desaturation and murky lighting, and another step backward in terms of technology. Today's audiences are accustomed to poorer quality than yesterday's audiences. Arthur Edeson's hope for widescreen stereoscopic films becoming the standard is more feasible and economical now than ever before, and the only real obstacle to it happening are ignorance and prejudices within the industry. Studio execs and exhibitors should ask themselves, what progress would Walt Disney have made in 1937 if he had listened to warnings that audiences would get headaches from watching a feature-length film in color? To much color or too long an exposure to color will make you go blind. The stereoscopic film faces the same fundamental misunderstanding.
 

Lord Dalek

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According to Wikipedia, the original Grandeur negative for Big Trail fell apart in the 60's so I assume they're going to use the CinemaScope version.
 

Simon Howson

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I assume Warner own this. They should hop to it! Fox are leading them in the 70mm 1930s film department 1 - 0 :D
 

Ruz-El

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Saw this on Amazon:

Amazon.com: John Wayne: The Fox Westerns Collection (The Big Trail / North to Alaska / The Comancheros / The Undefeated): John Wayne,Lee Marvin,Rock Hudson,Stewart Granger,Capucine,Ben Johnson,Raoul Walsh,Michael Curtiz,Henry Hathaway: Movies & TV

John Wayne: The Fox Westerns Collection (The Big Trail / North to Alaska / The Comancheros / The Undefeated)

Looks like a good collection for $20, the new Big Trail (anyone know that for sure? I'm hoping it's the same version as the single release as I haerd of no other versions being released.) and a repack of some others.
 

haroldS

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The John Wayne set will include five DVDs, the two disc Big Trail, which will be released on the same day, and three John Wayne Fox titles, previously released individually and as a boxset. And, if don't own the latter titles it is a good buy. It will not include the three westerns in the Fox Western Classics Collection.
 

Ruz-El

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Thanks for the confirmation on the big trail being the same set! I'm going for this pack since I don't own the others, and I can afford the extra $6!

:emoji_thumbsup:
 

Simon Howson

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DVDSavant was wrong regarding the aspect ratio of Garden of Evil being 2.35:1 rather than 2.55:1. The ratio looks very close to the Region 2 version, it is closer to 2.55:1 than 2.35:1.

Region 1 - Fox version



Region 2 - Optimum Releasing version.



I resized the PAL version down to the NTSC resolution for a fair comparison.

Obviously these aren't identical frames. But it shouldn't matter because it is a static shot. The R1 image is cleaner, some of the grain has gone, and there is a lot of what looks like dirt removed from the image. There seems to be slightly more picture on the left side of the R2 version (a longer shadow), but the difference is so minuscule that I don't think it matters.
 

Simon Howson

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Totally.

I think the R1 looks sharper, the R2 looks kind of out of focus. I think I'll eBay it, no need to have 2 versions given that the R1 is at least of equal quality, and has 4.0 audio.
 

Brent Avery

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Here are some shots of The Big Trail. Interesting contrast between the widescreen and academy ratios - I know which one I would pick! One realization is that the audio quality does suffer but considering it's age it is expected.






















In hindsight I should have the captures for Man Of The West and Garden Of Evil posted here instead of the other thread. Tomorrow I will put in some images from The Gunfighter.
 

Simon Howson

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Wow, thanks Brent. Those shots look spectacular. The bottom one in particular is interesting, they've framed the shot in a way to keep the top of the mountain in the frame.
 

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