Herb Kane
Screenwriter
- Joined
- May 7, 2001
- Messages
- 1,342
Kim
Studio: Warner Brothers
Year: 1950
Rated: G
Film Length: 113 Mins.
Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen (OAR)
Audio: DD Mono
Subtitles: English, French & Spanish
The Feature:
Over the years, there have been a ton threads on the forum, requesting releases for many of the same great actors. That certainly has been the case for Errol Flynn. Since the inception of the format, we have seen very little of this great actor. That is, until now. Recently, we were treated to the releases of The Master Of Ballantrae and Objective Burma. Both, The Prince & The Pauper and The Adventures Of Robin Hood are soon to be released (look for reviews on these in the near future). We still have a way to go with the release of many other Flynn classics, but we now have a few to get us started.
Originally an MGM picture, the Rudyard Kipling novel, Kim (starring a young Dean Stockwell in the title role), is a young orphaned boy trying to survive and live day by day in an impoverished India. He does so, trying to conceal his identity of an Anglo ancestry so that he is not forced to attend school.
Mahbub Ali (The Red Beard – played by Errol Flynn) is engaged in “The Great Game” as an operative aiding the war effort while working in India. His job is to take Kim under his wing and protect him… and to perhaps even recruit him when he becomes of age.
With this rendering of Kipling (who is also responsible for such classics as The Jungle Book, Gunga Din and The Man Who Would Be King), Kim is another family classic which is a wholesome and highly entertaining movie. This is an adventure film that will entertain the entire family.
Video:
Filmed in glorious Technicolor, I was extremely impressed with this offering. Colors were absolutely gorgeous and skin tone looked very natural. The level of detail was outstanding. Grain was minimal (presumably intentional). The picture had an almost 3D look to it and definitely looked like film. Dirt was virtually non existent. Black level was satisfactory.
There were several mountain scenes toward the end of the picture and they looked spectacular.
My only complaint (and I’m picking nits here…) there was occasional light flicker. During the opening scene or two, was clearly more noticeable then the remainder of the movie. There were a couple of other instances of sporadic flicker, but as I said, very minor in nature.
I think fans of the old Technicolor films, will be quite impressed with this presentation. It really doesn’t get much better than this.
Audio:
The audio soundtrack is DD Mono and is a very average presentation. Much of the movie is dialogue driven. Clarity and dialogue was very good. No hiss or any other background noise to report.
The only scene that really stood out was a rock slide toward the end of the film. It came off rather pleasing and sounded full and robust.
There really isn’t much to report in the audio department.
Special Features:
I’m afraid the Special Features on this disc are somewhat sparse, as well. First off, we have;
Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks – Land of the Taj Mahal. This is a short documentary which takes us on a tour of several of the cities in India. It enlightens us with a brief history of the country, its culture and of the Taj Mahal. This was obviously filmed many years ago and the quality is, well… poor. Duration: 9 minutes.
Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks – Ancient India. Again, another dated history lesson featuring several cities in India with a brief commentary as to their history. Again the footage is quite old and of poor quality. Duration: 9 minutes.
After watching both of these Traveltalk shorts, I thought to myself... “what were they thinking”...?
Rudyard Kipling – On The Screen. This is a 5 page text listing of some of Kipling’s work on film. In chronological order, it mentions (among others) Spencer Tracy’s Oscar winning performance in the 1937 version of Captains Courageous, the 1939 version of Gunga Din, starring Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., directed by George Stevens.
Theatrical Trailer – The trailer supplied for Kim, is in remarkable shape. I don’t know what, if any, work was done to it, but it looks exceptional.
And finally…
Cast & Crew – Merely a one page text listing of all the main characters and their roles.
Final Thoughts:
Admittedly, I found the movie a little slow going at times. It is, however, wholesome family entertainment. The performances of Flynn and a young Stockwell were outstanding.
Fans of Flynn and of classics in general might want to give this disc a spin especially considering the video presentation.
Release Date: August 26th, 2003
This sounds like another winning Three Strip transfer from the studio that Warner built -- after the exceptional delights of Scaramouche and The Crimson Pirate (I haven't picked up The Master of Ballantrae yet), to say nothing of their SE of Singin' in the Rain, the glories of Technicolor are truly and finally living once again in homes across the land.
