TCM Vault: Universal Westerns of the 1950s, Feb 18 (1 Viewer)

[Brent S]

From ShopTCM's site...

WESTERN HORIZONS: UNIVERSAL WESTERNS OF THE 1950'S DVD
Turner Classic Movies and Universal Studios Home Entertainment proudly present Western Horizons: Universal Westerns of the 1950s—an unprecedented collection of five big-budget, Technicolor Westerns featuring many of the finest actors and directors the genre has ever known.
Robert Ryan and Rock Hudson are Texas brothers on opposite sides of the law in Bud Boetticher’s Horizon’s West (1952). Alan Ladd and Jay Silverheels find the courage to revolt against Ladd’s commander to save Shelley Winters and other border settlers in Raoul Walsh’s Saskatchewan (1954). Rory Calhoun is a gambler and gunslinger who attempts to reform himself and saloon girl Piper Laurie in George Sherman’s Dawn at Socorro (1954). Richard Widmark sets out to get revenge on the men who killed his father while fellow traveler Donna Reed complicates his journey in John Sturges’ Backlash (1956). Native Americans vow to battle the white men who have violated their treaty as Jeff Chandler, Dorothy Malone and other settlers try to maintain order in the high-stakes drama Pillars of the Sky (1956), directed by George Marshall. With strong supporting performances by such screen legends as Raymond Burr, Dennis Weaver, Lee Van Cleef, William Campbell, Harry Morgan, Ward Bond and Lee Marvin, this collection unites many of the finest talents ever to work in Westerns.
Presented for the first time on DVD, these five films have been re-mastered to their original Technicolor glory.
Digital Bonus Features on the DVD Include:
Introduction by Robert Osborne
Digital Image Gallery
• Behind-the-Scenes Photo(s)
• Biography/TCM Article
• Publicity Still(s)
• Movie Poster(s)
• Scene Still(s)
• British Front-of-House Stills

 

[Robert Crawford]

A few of these titles I have on DVD from another region. I'll probably end up buying this boxset anyway.








Crawdaddy

 

[Thomas T]

I have all the titles except for Dawn At Socorro via R2 DVDs already so I'm not going to double dip. Hopefully, Dawn At Socorro will see an R2 release.

 

[Camps]

(Sigh.) I guess all we're gonna get from these guys is westerns and Deanna Durbin box sets... once every 4 months...

 

[Rob_Ray]

(Sigh.) I guess all we're gonna get from these guys is westerns and Deanna Durbin box sets... once every 4 months...

They've given us Billy Wilder films, film noir rarities, Joan Crawford in the fifties, early Jean Arthur titles, in addition to the westerns and one Deanna Durbin box set. I can't imagine a more diverse selection of classic films.

 

[Mark VH]

Don't forget Capra, Sirk and Von Sternberg, all of which included major, LONG-unavailable films. I love this label and my only complaint is that they don't keep the titles coming fast enough.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Don't forget Capra, Sirk and Von Sternberg, all of which included major, LONG-unavailable films. I love this label and my only complaint is that they don't keep the titles coming fast enough.

Not to mention the Jolly Frolics.
My only complaint is that the TCM Shop website has twice mysteriously dropped my preorder a few days before release date.

 

[JoHud]

The cover has Robert Ryan getting punched in the face by a mysterious red flannel-wearing fist. Sold! Please let this be the final art!
Although I agree with Tom in that the Universal TCM releases are having a lot of western sets. This is the third one within a year after Joel McCrea and Audie Murphy. Still, I'll be buying this.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Looks like a great set.

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by Rob_Ray /t/325572/tcm-vault-universal-westerns-of-the-1950s-feb-18#post_4006654
Not to mention the Jolly Frolics.
My only complaint is that the TCM Shop website has twice mysteriously dropped my preorder a few days before release date.

and the Columbia Pre-Codes which I just finished up and really enjoyed.

I'm in for this set. don't know any of the films but they sounds pretty good.

 

[Camps]

Thanks, JoHud. Don't mean to be too much of a contrarian on Uni. Home Vid's choices of genre for these releases.
Like Mark VH, I'm frustrated with the slow pace because that lessens the chances they'll get around to releasing buried gems like the Universal Crime Club series, or '40s rarities like Mystery of Marie Roget or the Paramount horror mysteries, or '50s rarities like Girl in the Kremlin.
Unlike the titles in Uni's Noir ("Women in Danger") set, none of these has ever seen the light of day (to my knowledge) in recent decades on AMC, TCM, VHS or elsewhere (possible exceptions being the occasional local-TV airing).
If these titles are tangled in Rights Hell, then it's certainly understandable why they've yet to surface. Would be nice to know one way or t'other.
But Universal Home Vid only seems to talk to its customers via press releases. Hence my frustration.

 

[Ruz-El]

I forgot about the "Women in Danger" set. Is it any good?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by JoHud /t/325572/tcm-vault-universal-westerns-of-the-1950s-feb-18#post_4006665
The cover has Robert Ryan getting punched in the face by a mysterious red flannel-wearing fist. Sold! Please let this be the final art!
Although I agree with Tom in that the Universal TCM releases are having a lot of western sets. This is the third one within a year after Joel McCrea and Audie Murphy. Still, I'll be buying this.

Actually, by the time this release comes out in mid-February, it will be four months shy of two years since the Audie Murphy boxset.

 

[moviepas]

Trouble is that these releases come out in Australia thru a guy who sells to newspaper shops with the going rate of $6 each or two for $10. No extras though but the quality is good. The same guy has now started doing British material. At the end of the day these guys are a damn nuisance with their bare bones releases.

 

[Richard--W]

This set is completely totally absolutely bought.
All good, solid, intelligent, well-crafted, above-average westerns.
What a shame 1950s westerns aren't being supplemented with commentaries and making-of featurettes. There is so much that needs to be said about them. They were so vital to our culture and such an influence all around the world. I wonder if the current home-video execs realize just how sophisticated an art and how uniquely American the western is.
Anyhow, this release is most welcome.
Do step up the pace, TCM.

 

[JoHud]

Actually, by the time this release comes out in mid-February, it will be four months shy of two years since the Audie Murphy boxset.

You're right, that was 2011. So yeah, more like two years.

 

[Richard--W]

Don't forget the Joel McCrea western set late last year.
It wouldn't kill TCM to release more than one western set per year.

 

[Robin9]

I hope very much that Universal release The Tattered Dress in the near future. This film has been missing for far too long.

 

[Richard--W]

I'd like to see Jack Arnold's THE TATTERED DRESS on a proper blu-ray, too.
Universal overlooked so many good titles in their 100th Anniversary.
It was mostly bluff, their celebration.

 

[borisfw]

I'll be getting this set . I just wish Universal would up their output . So many good films that still haven't made their way to DVD .