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Flame Over India / North West Frontier on Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Winston T. Boogie

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34dec54a_Flameoverindia.jpeg

026b2417_NorthwestPassage.jpeg

Just wondering if anybody picked this up on blu-ray and what they thought of it? I searched the forums and found little mention of it and no reviews of the new blu and thought I'd ask if anybody had any thoughts on it.
 

moviepas

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I have it but can't give a fair judgment as I have not actually sat down and watched it fully. Another family member did. There are plenty of Indian rail lines & locomotives to be seen. From another room where I was working I could clearly hear the voice of Lauren Bacall & Kenneth More.

The color and sound were good. Plenty of noise and gunshot sounds.
 

cineMANIAC

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Just discovered this little gem after first hearing about it when the Blu-ray was first announced. Terrific adventure flick set aboard an old train through India. PQ could've been better but overall it was decent-looking - probably the best it'll ever look barring a major studio getting their hands on it and doing a full restoration (which it deserves). Highly recommended.
 

Robin9

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Reggie W said:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/878419/width/433/height/344
026b2417_NorthwestPassage.jpeg

Just wondering if anybody picked this up on blu-ray and what they thought of it? I searched the forums and found little mention of it and no reviews of the new blu and thought I'd ask if anybody had any thoughts on it.
DVD Savant has reviewed the BRD approvingly.
It's a good, old-fashioned, politically incorrect, adventure yarn. I'm buying this disc because the film will probably look magnificent in high definition. Sour pusses and kill-joys who cannot tolerate anything not politically correct should steer well clear.
At present the best price for this BRD is $11.20 plus shipping from DVD Pacific.
 

David_B_K

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Thanks, Robin. Just placed my order with DVD Pacific. This is a favorite advenure film of mine. I last saw it on a high def movie channel, and it looked great.
 

Alan Tully

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A fantastic adventure movie, I saw it when it was released, I think I was about nine. Kenneth More was at his most popular, & of course the great Herbert Lom, the heart & soul of the film is the train driver I.S. Johar. I have a bad feeling that this Blu is region A only, does anyone know?
 

David_B_K

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When I get mine, I will try it in my Oppo BDP 93, which is currently set to region B/all region. If it a Region a only disc, the Oppo will refuse to play it.
 

Brent Avery

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I order a copy and it should arrive fairly soon. I have a large 2:35 screen and have quite a few older releases on blu ray so am hoping it looks decent enough in comparison to some.
 

Robin9

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Billy Batson said:
A fantastic adventure movie, I saw it when it was released, I think I was about nine. Kenneth More was at his most popular, & of course the great Herbert Lom, the heart & soul of the film is the train driver I.S. Johar. I have a bad feeling that this Blu is region A only, does anyone know?
Almost certainly Zone A locked. I recently received the VCI BRD of Agent 8¾ (aka Hot Enough For June - the original title and much better). This BRD is Zone A locked. By the way it's a very good disc so I have great hopes for Flame Over India.
 

Alan Tully

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John Hodson said:
It *is* region A locked.
Thanks, I thought so. I just don't want to get into this multi-region lark, & this is the first time there's been a locked title I'd really like. Oh well, it may get a UK release by Network.
 

John Hodson

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Billy Batson said:
Thanks, I thought so. I just don't want to get into this multi-region lark, & this is the first time there's been a locked title I'd really like. Oh well, it may get a UK release by Network.
Doubtful; it's obvious the master is quite old (by digital standards) dating back from the Granada Ventures period and is probably the basis for the release in ITV DVD's Kenneth More boxset - I would imagine you'd have to rely on the terribly unreliable ITV for a UK release. As others have said, it's okay, but not quite to the same standard as, say, VCI's Hot Enough For June.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Thanks to everybody that provided thoughts here. I have ordered the disc and expect it to arrive shortly. Will provide some thoughts after I've seen it if anybody is interested.
 

ShowsOn

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The MGM DVD of this film, released under the title North West Frontier, is very good, but sadly MGM released it on a single layer DVD.
If this version is released under the title Flame Over India then it is possible it is a totally different transfer, which may be unfortunate because the MGM DVD was very good and was far superior to the non-anamorphic Australian DVD that I bought it to replace.
The film itself is basically a remake of Stagecoach which makes perfect sense considering it was co-produced by one of John Ford's sons.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0285816/
I like the film and think J. Lee Thompson's direction and the CinemaScope cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth are first rate. In fact it was this film that got Thompson the job of directing The Guns of Navarrone after Carol Reed had been fired.
 

Robert Crawford

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Thanks Simon for reminding me that I have the MGM DVD and will play it on my Oppo 93 to see if the upconvert video will satisfy me enough not to buy this BRD.







Crawdaddy
 

Dick

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The title on the cover is listed as FLAME OVER INDIA, but the title as seen on the Blu-ray disc is NORTHWEST FRONTIER, and there is a title card ahead of the film that states this. I own the DVD also, and I can't see a significant improvement here other than the expected increased sharpness level. Colors seems brownish and oversatured, but can be adjusted on your monitor, although it will not look stellar. But, hey, who imagined this (now) obscure film would ever see the light of day on HD?
 

John Hodson

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The MGM disc has an acknowledgement to ITV on the back of the case; I wouldn't be surprised if that same UK sourced master was the basis for both the MGM DVD and VCI's BD.
3f73a25a_1455657bh.jpeg
 

Robert Crawford

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Originally Posted by Dick /t/322276/flame-over-india-north-west-frontier-on-blu-ray#post_3950461
The title on the cover is listed as FLAME OVER INDIA, but the title as seen on the Blu-ray disc is NORTHWEST FRONTIER, and there is a title card ahead of the film that states this. I own the DVD also, and I can't see a significant improvement here other than the expected increased sharpness level. Colors seems brownish and oversatured, but can be adjusted on your monitor, although it will not look stellar. But, hey, who imagined this (now) obscure film would ever see the light of day on HD?

Yeah, after viewing the DVD in its entirety yesterday, I think I'm going to just stick with the DVD.
 

Alan Tully

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Thanks for the info John. I thought this might be a brand new transfer. As I understand it, here in the UK, the single disc is non-anamorphic, & to get it anamorphic I have to buy the Kenneth More Box set.
 

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