Olive Films Press Release: Dragonfly Squadron (3D Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

DRAGONFLY SQUADRON (BLU-RAY 3D / BLU-RAY)

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:18px;]FIRST TIME EVER ON BLU-RAY![/color]

STARRING:
JOHN HODIAK, BARBARA BRITTON, CHUCK CONNORS, BRUCE BENNETT

DIRECTOR:
LESLEY SELANDER

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]PREBOOK: 9/9/2014[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]STREET: 10/14/2014[/color]

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]YEAR: 1954[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]GENRE: WAR[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]LANGUAGE: ENGLISH[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]LABEL: OLIVE FILMS[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]# OF DISCS: 1[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 83 mins[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]RATING: NR[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]ASPECT RATIO: 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio; B&W[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]AUDIO: MONO[/color]

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]SYNOPSIS:[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]In 1950, as the Korean peninsula is drawn closer to war, a stern Air Force Major (John Hodiak), is assigned to train a squadron of South Korean pilots, making them combat-ready in half the usual time.  At  the air base at Kongju, Brady comes face to face with a former flame (Barbara Britton), the wife of an army medical officer (Bruce Bennett).  When enemy forces invade, most of the American personnel are evacuated, but Brady remains behind with the barely-trained South Korean troops, and bravely diverts the Russian-backed North Korean army.[/color]

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]Completed in late 1953, just as the original 3-D craze was in decline, DRAGONFLY SQUADRON was only released in a standard 2-D version. This restoration, specially prepared by the 3-D Film Archive, LLC, is the first time the film can be seen in stereoscopic 3-D, as originally intended. (3D version available on Blu-ray only. Blu-ray also contains 2D version. Both versions of the film are on a single disc).[/color]

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]US  + CANADA[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]BLU-RAY 3D/BLU-RAY ITEM# OF830[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]UPC# 88709083003[/color]
[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;]SRP: $34.95[/color]

 

 

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[Josh Steinberg]

Count me in for a copy as soon as the pre-order goes up!

 

[Doug Bull]

MasterCard at the ready.

Doug.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Another expensive release date.

 

[Mark-P]

I've never heard of the movie, but YAY for more vintage 3D on Blu-ray! I will probably buy it anyway just because I'm a sucker for 1950s dual strip 3D.

 

[Matt Hough]

Me, too. Not always the greatest fan of war movies, but classic 3D trumps all other considerations.

 

[Charles Smith]

It sure does!

 

[Joe Bernardi]

Count me in. I've had my fill of animated 3D movies. I want more live action 3D.

 

[phillyrobt]

Western fans...the director Lesley Salander is considered as per IMDB to be the most prolific director of feature Westerns (at least 107). i think that genre and musicais are the only ones not represented by a release yet..

 

[Bob Furmanek]

 

[Brandon Conway]

I hope it does well for you guys. I'll be grabbing a copy as a blind buy - something I rarely do!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'll be purchasing this as soon as it becomes available for preorder.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

The Allied Artists studio-built 3-D rig had a fixed interaxial. The DP was Harry Neumann who had done a fabulous job on THE MAZE. If you've seen that in 3-D, you know that it has a VERY deep 3-D image and DRAGONFLY is the same. Most likely shot with 50mm lenses, it's very natural and is not gimmicky. If you're looking for lots of "popout" this is not the film for you. With that said, there are some excellent shots which take very good advantage of multi-layering and I feel the 3-D ads a lot to the film.

It has some well-done battle scenes, including one which utilized a little too many pyrotechnics. On April 28, 1954, Variety reported that somebody sued Allied Artists claiming he was "thrown from his bed and injured at 4 AM last August 28 from an explosion of between 15 and 50 sticks of dynamite."

There's no other mention in the trades so I suspect the lawsuit didn't get very far!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Bob said it would be OK if I posted a few thoughts about this release.A month or two ago he showed me what I believe was the final version of their master before being sent to Olive. As with The Bubble, Greg Kintz has done a marvelous job of alignment of the left and right. This was another case where there was virtually no eyestrain and ghosting (other than maybe a very few brief shots; there are also a couple of cases of flat stock footage). Yes, there are a few instances of off-screen effects, but the entire film has a lot of depth to it at all times and you can tell the director and cinematographer were eager to use depth to enhance the story.This was also the first time I'd seen the film and I thought it was pretty good, it gets an extra boost because it covers some little known elements of the Korean War. Once the attacks start occurring, the tension starts to ramp up a bit. As a fairly low budget item, the film is effective. But almost no one, short of a John Hodiak or Chuck Connors completist - and how many them are there?, is buying this because of the story. If you're a vintage 3D fan, you'll want this in your library.

 

[bruceames]

This is a must have, especially considering how few classic 3D films are available. Talk about obscure though (there are only 28 IMDb votes on this) but beggars can't be choosy.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Thank you very much, Pete. Your comments are certainly appreciated!

Mr. David M. Ballew posted the following in a thread at Blu-ray.com and was kind enough to grant permission to share them here. http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=245406

I was reading a lot last year about North Korea and the awful situation there. Seriously, I must have read five books on the subject.

Then I saw Dragonfly Squadron last September at the Expo. I was struck by the fact that the filmmakers were so obviously committed to making an earnest and serious film about the early days of the war within the parameters of their budget. It’s a film I found myself respecting, and enjoying.

But I must say, in my view the 3-D in Dragonfly is technically more accomplished than that of The Maze. As fine as The Maze is, the folks at Allied Artists must have learned another thing or two by the time they loaded up the cameras for Dragonfly. Yes, the film is light on “popout” effects, for those of us who love that, but the incredible layering and volume in the stereo cinematography is still gorgeous. Not only is this a Day One purchase for me, I am committed to buying two copies, to show my support for your efforts, Bob, and those of your colleagues.

 

[revgen]

I watched this during the 3D expo. Some of the best 3D cinematography I've ever seen. I will definitely be buying as soon as it's ready for pre-order.

 

[ahollis]

Day one buy for me.

 

[Charles Smith]

ahollis posts for me.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Now Available for Preorder
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