How The West Was Won, Errol Flynn, Warner Westerns - 26/08/08 (1 Viewer)

[John Hodson]

That's interesting; I wonder if they've had a change of heart and will be including the Smilebox transfer in the 'Ultimate' set after all?

 

[Guido Bibra]

I've suspected the same thing when I received the mail from Amazon.com just now - maybe there's going to be a smilebox version in the ultimate edition after all! I'd even take it if they would put the disc in a paper envelope and add it to the boxset like that . But let's not start rumours, it could be something entirely else - the release date of the blu-ray has also been moved two weeks later.

 

[John Hodson]

The Beaver's reviews of the Westerns Collection films, thus far, don't make pretty viewing:

Escape From Fort Bravo
The Stalking Moon
The Law and Jake Wade

The last TV viewing I had of The Law and Jake Wade looked far better than that...

 

[Robert Crawford]

No offense to Gary, but I rather judge video presentations on my HT setup and not through screen caps.





Crawdaddy

 

[John Hodson]

Well, that's sound advice...

 

[Brent Avery]

Viewed three of the Warner Western Collection films over the weekend. For reference the player is a Toshiba A 20 Hd and the display a Toshiba 42" 1080 lcd. Worst of the bunch was Escape From Fort Bravo, in some ways it almost reminded me of recent colorized b&w movies - just did not look quite right being on the soft side too. It also seemed to look a bit pinkish in the desert scenes, the last part of the movie looking more balanced and sharper. Hopefully others who have seen it in the past will comment on the lackluster transfer.

The other two, The Law And Jake Wade and Cimarron were much better looking, sharp with nice colors and I liked them both. Great visual scenes in these two with excellent cinematography ( 2:35 ) - the use of lighting in Jake Wade is a tribute to the camera man's skill. Richard Widmark and Robert Taylor were great as usual. I have always liked Glen Ford so I found Cimarron easily above average. The entire race for land sequences were a highlight but a pretty good movie overall.It is nice to see them released finally. Last one to watch will be The Stalking Moon.

 

[Richard--W]

The Stalking Moon was one of the best westerns of the 1960s and a real sleeper at the time of its release. I was knocked out by it in 1969 and I expect to be no less impressed when it comes out next week. It's also historically smart in its depiction of an unseen Apache warrior; these guys were hellacious. I hope the new DVD release will lead to a new appreciation of this vital western.

 

[Brent Avery]

I agree completely about Stalking Moon - a real gem and again, it looked pretty good too. A well paced film and Gregory Peck was in top form. Great use of music as well and the last 1/2 hour or so really had me on edge - that Apache was one slippery opponent that wouldn't give up. Having never heard of it I am very glad Warner's released it. I encourage anyone who likes a good Western to buy it.

 

[Van594]

So Stalking Moon is in widescreen then? Oh hell, if true I have to order this then, it's been on my list of favorites for years. Amazon has it listed wrong , they have it at 1:33.

 

[Simon Howson]

It's Panavision.

 

[CineKarine]

The Beaver has a page for Cimarron
(I much prefer the older version myself...)

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

As much as all films should be seen in their original aspect ratios, "Stalking Moon" really needs to be seen in its 2.4:1 Panavision ratio. I think one of the reasons that some people have seen it on video and not liked it as much as they remembered in theaters is that the panning and scanning really messes up the film, even moreso than with most films of the era. The space between and around the characters is extremely important, whether making them seem exposed in the first half of the film in the wide open Arizona desert, or making the audience sense the potential for menace behind every rock, hill, and tree in the mountainous New Mexico setting of the second half of the film.

Agreed that Escape from Fort Bravo looks pretty terrible, which is about par for the course when you see the "Anscocolor" name. In terms of the video presentation, I got the sense that they likely had to put a lot of hard work into it to get it to look as passable as it does. Heavy grain turns to massively heavy grain during opticals, but the color timing remains steady. The whole palette seems to want to tilt towards magenta, but they manage to hold it off for most of the presentation. Contrast is very high, but they manage to eek enough detail out of dark areas of the screen for it to work, etc. It appears slightly over-matted at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

Regards,

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, I remember other "Anscocolor" films like "Men of the Fighting Lady" and even "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" not having vivid coloring to them.

In regard to the aspect ratio being over-matted at 1.78:1, I was under the impression that "Escape from Fort Bravo" was filmed in 1.66:1 ratio?

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Watching the DVD matted to 1.78:1, you will continue to be under that impression. I am watching via an LCD projector and things still look a little tight - even with zero overscan.

Regards,

 

[CineKarine]

Let's show a little love for the Flynn westerns, DVDBeaver has the lowdown...

Greatly looking forward to these

 

[Brent Avery]

I noticed that a local independent store has the Ultimate Edition SD dvd for sale of How The West Was Won but unfortunately I will be going with the Bluray version. Guess I will have to wait a bit longer!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I have watched three of four and am impressed so far. My review might not be done until the end of the week, though. I am still furiously typing up my Western Classics Collection review. All of those look very good except for "Escape from Fort Bravo" which was discussed above. "Cimarron" suffers from some edge ringing that is distracting during brightly lit exteriors.

Regards,

 

[CineKarine]

The Flynn set is currently #81 in sales ranking for ALL Movies and TV DVDs on Amazon.com. Very happy about this!