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A few words about... Unforgiven -- In High Definition
Clint Eastwood's Academy Award Best Picture of 1992 is the second Best Picture to arrive on High Definition DVD in as many weeks.
Unforgiven was one of the very early DVDs, and to be blunt, looked inferior to concurrent releases. Non-anamorphic, and derived from the laserdisc transfer, the September 1997 DVD was a pale shadow of a superb film.
The 10th Anniversary Edition (2002), gave us a sharper anamorphic image, with better color.
It was quite satisfactory.
Sampling the quality of the new High Definition release made me realize precisely how unprepared I was for the visual feast now being presented.
Elements of the image, which made absolutely no impact in the regular defintion version are now remarkable and undeniably stunning.
As an example, there is the sequence in which Richard Harris arrives in town. Certain shots, photographed in wide angle by cinematograper Jack N. Green, now reveal a sharpness and acuity nowhere to be found in the Anniversary release. A sharp foreground, with a character in medium shot or Medium close-up, will continue in absolute sharpness and high resolution out to infinity.
But it is what can be seen in these shots that will astound the viewer.
From a medium distance to mountains, literally miles in the distance, every detail is sharp and crystal clear. Go beyond that, and behind a slight haze, are additional mountains in the far background -- all crisp and clear, but with absolute ascertainable delineations of shadings and graduations of very specific blue haze building upon haze into the furthest recesses of the background. Each and every change in distance, having been captured by Mr. Green on the original negative has now found its way to a perfectly scanned and played back digital image.
Absolute cinematic perfection! And perfect work coming from Warner's technical staff.
The other caveat in earlier editions was a lack of total blacks, with the earliest version marred by heavy analogue noise.
The new High Definition release, much like that of Phantom, but on a slightly older negative stock, gives us the full spectrum of rich, full color and tonalities against stark blacks and whites.
If the technology and transfer quality in these earliest HD releases is any portend of things to come as the process settles in, prepare to be amazed.
On the new 20 point scales being used for High Definition, Warner's new HD DVD of Mr. Eastwood's Unforgiven, rates a 20 -- 100%.
Yet another slam dunk for Warner Home Video.
This is a DVD that cannot be recommended more highly
RAH
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