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A few words about…™ Reap the Wild Wind – in Blu-ray

4 Stars

Cecil B. DeMille’s 1942 Technicolor Paramount production of Reap the Wild Wind, with an all-star cast, should be a gorgeous blu-ray.

John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Ray Milland, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Charles Bickford, all in Technicolor, which in 1942 was still a rarity – a special occasion at the cinema. The industry output that year, was seventeen. Paramount released three productions in the process. The other two, forgettable.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray has generally very nice colors, but as this seems to be based upon an older transfer, and derived from a less than stellar film element, the results relevant to this Blu-ray are mixed at best.

Registration issues, and occasional dirt are apart of the image, along with less than wonderful stability.

Another important film, that deserves better.

Image – 3.25

Audio – 4.5

Upgrade from DVD – sure

Pass / Fail – Pass

RAH

Robert has been known in the film industry for his unmatched skill and passion in film preservation. Growing up around photography, his first home theater experience began at age ten with 16mm. Years later he was running 35 and 70mm at home.

His restoration projects have breathed new life into classic films like Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, My Fair Lady, Spartacus, and The Godfather series. Beyond his restoration work, he has also shared his expertise through publications, contributing to the academic discourse on film restoration. The Academy Film Archive houses the Robert A. Harris Collection, a testament to his significant contributions to film preservation.

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Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford

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I take issue with your comments about the other two being forgettable. I actually enjoy those other two films more than this all-star cast film. I'm not saying it's a lesser movie, but I'm entertained by the other two more so. Strike those prior two comments. Again, who has the original film elements of this film, Paramount or Universal?
 
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JoeDoakes

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Given that this is from the reportedly troubled Universal Paramount library, how much improvement over this do you think would be possible with appropriate effort?
 
JoeDoakes

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Robert Crawford said:
I take issue with your comments about the other two being forgettable. I actually enjoy those other two films more than this all-star cast film. I'm not saying it's a lesser movie, but I'm entertained by the other two more so. Again, who has the original film elements of this film, Paramount or Universal?
Click to expand...
Universal should have the studio holdings, whatever they are. What were Paramount's other two 1942 Technicolor productions?
 
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Robert Crawford

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JoeDoakes said:
Universal should have the studio holdings, whatever they are. What were Paramount's other two 1942 Technicolor productions?
Click to expand...
I misunderstood RAH's post, but the other two movies were The Forest Rangers and Beyond the Horizon. The former film with Fred MacMurray I did see and remember liking it, the latter film I have no memory of ever seeing it.
 
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Robert Harris

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Robert Crawford said:
I take issue with your comments about the other two being forgettable. I actually enjoy those other two films more than this all-star cast film. I'm not saying it's a lesser movie, but I'm entertained by the other two more so. Strike those prior two comments. Again, who has the original film elements of this film, Paramount or Universal?
Click to expand...

Should be Uni
 
Will Krupp

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Robert Crawford said:
I misunderstood RAH's post, but the other two movies were The Forest Rangers and Beyond the Horizon. The former film with Fred MacMurray I did see and remember liking, the latter film I have no memory of ever seeing it.
Click to expand...

I love THE FOREST RANGERS (anything with Goddard, really) but I've never seen the Dorothy Lamour movie.

I have REAP on DVD but will probably upgrade at some point. It's a shame it's not all it should be but, considering I NEVER expected this to ever see the blu light of day I hope it's worth taking a risk.
 
Alan Tully

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Some scenes do have a bit of dirt & sparkle, & some highlights have a touch of green in the highlights, a sign of registration issues, but overall I thought it looked pretty stunning, those thick rich colours, but then I am seeing it on a 42" plasma. I'm sure large screen projection shows up a lot of sins.
 
Alan Tully

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Oh I dunno, when you compare these Universal releases to the forties Fox colour releases, where they've thrown away the nitrate negatives & have to rely on dupes, the Universal releases look so much better. The Fox releases look dupey with almost no detail in the blacks. The Universal releases on the other hand look vibrant & sharp, not dupey at all, with lots of detail in the blacks, someone could be wearing a black coat with black buttons, & you'd see every bit of detail, buttons, pockets, the lot, the Fox release would just be a black blob. So I'm thinking that Universal does have good original elements (ha, that's a weasel word).
 
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Mr. Harris, when you speak of “registration issues”, I have not been able to successfully ascertain what is meant by that. I am a layman when it comes to film terminology. My opaque awareness of the concept of registration in photochemical film processes is limited to the comment of a noted film preservationist that he once used the cleft in Kirk Douglas’ chin to perform this process, whatever it is. Would you be willing to enlighten me?
 
benbess

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I think this is one of DeMille's better movies, but I won't buy it unless it has better picture quality.

Do we know if the three-strip Technicolor negative still exists? Even if it does, who would pay the major money that it would take for this one to look as it should. I've actually been hoping this one would come out on blu-ray for about a decade, but now hope has just gone out like a snuffed candle.
 
Robert Harris

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BornOfAJackal said:
Mr. Harris, when you speak of “registration issues”, I have not been able to successfully ascertain what is meant by that. I am a layman when it comes to film terminology. My opaque awareness of the concept of registration in photochemical film processes is limited to the comment of a noted film preservationist that he once used the cleft in Kirk Douglas’ chin to perform this process, whatever it is. Would you be willing to enlighten me?
Click to expand...

Technicolor is not color. It’s three b/w negatives that must registered. Best to visit widescreenmuseum for a quick fix
 
rjsdvd

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I have the French blu-ray (under the title "Les Naufrageurs des Mers du Sud") released by Elephant Films. The print is gorgeous (in my opinion); the French subtitles are removable. Highly recommended. (I think the blu-ray is region-free.)
 
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Randy Korstick

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benbess said:
I think this is one of DeMille's better movies, but I won't buy it unless it has better picture quality.

Do we know if the three-strip Technicolor negative still exists? Even if it does, who would pay the major money that it would take for this one to look as it should. I've actually been hoping this one would come out on blu-ray for about a decade, but now hope has just gone out like a snuffed candle.
Click to expand...
With us being in the declining days of discs its a safe bet that this will not get a better release than this. Robert listed it as a definite upgrade from the DVD which is good enough for me to purchase it as I really enjoy this film.
 
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BornOfAJackal said:
Mr. Harris, when you speak of “registration issues”, I have not been able to successfully ascertain what is meant by that. I am a layman when it comes to film terminology. My opaque awareness of the concept of registration in photochemical film processes is limited to the comment of a noted film preservationist that he once used the cleft in Kirk Douglas’ chin to perform this process, whatever it is. Would you be willing to enlighten me?
Click to expand...
reapthewildwindbr2.jpg

From a review of the French Elephant Films "Reap the Wild Wind" blu ray
https://translate.google.com/transl...eapthewildwind-cecilbdemille.html&prev=search
 
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Josh Steinberg

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Preordered my copy of this and the two other Waynes coming the same day. I don’t have copies of any of them in any form so it’ll certainly be an upgrade over staring at a blank screen :)
 
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BornOfAJackal

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Robert Harris said:
Technicolor is not color. It’s three b/w negatives that must registered. Best to visit widescreenmuseum for a quick fix
Click to expand...
Enlightening summations of the color processes at widescreenmuseum.com. I'm assuming that registration is the overall process of aligning, flashing and printing the two-or-three color negatives? Or is it just one discreet step in that process? Lots of chemistry, optics and engineering involved. What a technological juggling act!
 
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