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Motion Picture Archivist
Join Date: Feb 1999
Local Time: 12:30 AM
Local Date: 11-19-2008
Posts: 2,571
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A few words about...™ How the West Was Won -- in Blu-ray
Each year we hope that a meager handful of the finest classic films will arrive via the latest and greatest software system.
For 2008 one of the top two or three will be the Warner Home Video release of one of the few true "Event" films.
How the West Was Won.
Let's go through some names:
In front of the cameras -
The lead actors:
Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, Richard Widmark
Behind the cameras:
The Directors:
Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall
The Cinematographers:
William H. Daniels -
Foolish Wives, Greed, Flesh and the Devil, Anna Christie, Grand Hotel, Dinner at Eight, Queen Christina, Camille, Brute Force, Naked City
Milton Krasner -
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, Ghost of Frankenstein, Scarlet Street, All About Eve, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Seven Year Itch, King of Kings
Charles Lang, Jr. -
A Farewell to Arms, She Done Him Wrong, Lives of a Bengal Lancer, The Uninvited, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Big Heat, It Should Happen to You, The Long Gray Line, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Some Like it Hot, The Magnificent Seven, Charade
Joseph LaShelle -
The Rains Came, How Green was My Valley, Tobacco Road, Laura, Hangover Square, River of No Return, The Long, Hot Summer, Irma la Douce, The Chase
The Editor:
Harold F. Kress -
Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Bitter Sweet, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Mrs. Miniver, Random Harvest, The Yearling, Command Decision, I'll Cry Tomorrow, The Teahouse of the August Moon, Merry Andrew, King of Kings, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Cromwell, The Poseidon Adventure
The Composer:
Alfred Newman -
The Kid from Spain, Hallelujah I'm a Bum, I Cover the Waterfront, The House of Rothschild, The Call of the Wild, Dodsworth, Stella Dallas, The Hurricane, Gunga Din, Wuthering Heights, Only Angels Have Wings, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Rains Came, Beau Geste, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Grapes of Wrath, Foreign Correspondent, The Westerner, The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, How Green was My Valley, Heaven Can Wait, Wilson, A
Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Leave Her to Heaven, The Razor's Edge, Gentlemen's Agreement, Captain from Castile, A Letter to Three Wives, Twelve O'Clock High, The Gunfighter, The Robe, The Egyptian, The Seven Year Itch, Anastasia, The Greatest Story Ever Told
You see where this is going. The finest talents in Hollywood were gathered to create this masterpiece of the cinema.
IN CINERAMA!
Aspect ratio - 2.89:1.
Warner Home Video presents HTWWW in Blu-ray in two variants - a "standard" letterboxed version and a "Smilebox" version, a concept created by Cinerama historian David Strohmaier for his documentary, Cinerama Adventure, (also a part of this set). "Smilebox" is a quite successful attempt to recreate the feel of viewing the film on a highly curved screen in Cinerama.
If you can't make it to the Cinerama Dome for the screening on Sunday, the 7th, this is as close as you'll come.
The three negatives (each 50% larger than a standard 35mm frame) were scanned at MPI, Warner's digital facility, with further work done to soften the blend lines of the three panels.
Everything behind the creation of this Blu-ray set has been meticulously prepared and the final result, with lossless audio is, in a single word:
Extraordinary!
There is a dynamism and visceral nature to this release, that I've never noted before, especially in "Smilebox." With almost six times the resolution of a normal 35mm release, HTWWW pushes the limits of Blu-ray to eek out every last drop of resolution.
My hat is off to everyone involved in the creation of this tiny digital masterpiece which beautifully reproduces for the home theater environment, the huge and brilliant undertaking that is How the West Was Won.
Absolutely unique! They just don't come any better.
Extremely Highly Recommended!
RAH
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