Sony has released an important, and overlooked (by many) collection of films encompassing most (but not all) of the films directed by Budd Boetticher (pronounced Betticker) and actor Randolph Scott.
The five films, Tall T (1957), Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome (1959) and Comanche Station (1960) are nicely packaged as a complete set of the work by the pair at Columbia. For the record, they also created a production at WB, Westbound (1959), as well as the 1956 Seven Men from Now, produced by Batjac, John Wayne's production entity, which is available on DVD via Paramount.
These are important films to the western genre of the '50s, and as such have been among the missing (and requested) for a long period. I've been able to view two of them, Tall T and Ride Lonesome, and both have been scanned and treated to a good dose of high level color correction to get them looking good -- very good, actually, considering their problems.
All of these films were shot on Eastman 5248 and I'm going to make the assumption that all originals have faded. These are nice transfers, which look very filmic, grain and all, with full detail in the dupes, which some will undoubtedly see not as optical dupes, but as some sort of deadly digital anomalies, which they are not. IMHO, color-wise, a great save.
Those who know these small wonderful films are already aware of their charm as well as their position within the history of the American western. Those who do not, are in for a treat, especially at $45 for five films.
Recommended.
RAH
The five films, Tall T (1957), Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome (1959) and Comanche Station (1960) are nicely packaged as a complete set of the work by the pair at Columbia. For the record, they also created a production at WB, Westbound (1959), as well as the 1956 Seven Men from Now, produced by Batjac, John Wayne's production entity, which is available on DVD via Paramount.
These are important films to the western genre of the '50s, and as such have been among the missing (and requested) for a long period. I've been able to view two of them, Tall T and Ride Lonesome, and both have been scanned and treated to a good dose of high level color correction to get them looking good -- very good, actually, considering their problems.
All of these films were shot on Eastman 5248 and I'm going to make the assumption that all originals have faded. These are nice transfers, which look very filmic, grain and all, with full detail in the dupes, which some will undoubtedly see not as optical dupes, but as some sort of deadly digital anomalies, which they are not. IMHO, color-wise, a great save.
Those who know these small wonderful films are already aware of their charm as well as their position within the history of the American western. Those who do not, are in for a treat, especially at $45 for five films.
Recommended.
RAH
