A Few Words About A few words about...™ Call of the Wild -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

William Wellman's 1935 Call of the Wild, with Clark Gable and Loretta Young, was the third filmed, the first in sound, and would appear to be followed by six, count 'em, six more. The first -- 1908 -- D.W. Griffith.

Those who dislike film grain may not enjoy this exercise in Blu-ray, for Fox has done a superb job of replicating the original look of the film. While no original negative survives, what we have is still a beautiful representation of the original, with very comfortable shadow detail, nice resolution, and crisp blacks and whites.

A quality production, that holds up well after almost 80 years.

Mr. Gable and Ms Young apparently got along well during the shoot, as their daughter, Judy Lewis, was born just three months after the film's premiere.

Image - 4

Audio - 4

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Robin9]

I do dislike film grain but as I've been putting up with it all my life, I'll probably buy this disc. Three elements I do like are William Wellman, Clark Gable and Loretta Young.

 

[Lromero1396]

How stable is the image in terms of film movement? The DVD from what I remember had a noticeable amount of gate weave.

 

[Martin Zandstra]

I like a bit of gate weave, it reminds me that I'm watching (an old) film and not a modern, digital special effects extravaganza (which I also like....)

 

[Robert Harris]

I like a bit of gate weave, it reminds me that I'm watching (an old) film and not a modern, digital special effects extravaganza (which I also like....)

The problem with gate weave, is when it morphs from projection gate weave, to multiple dupe gate weave, with things moving in all directions...

which is precisely when our wonderful stabilization tools come into play.

RAH

 

[Lromero1396]

The problem with gate weave, is when it morphs from projection gate weave, to multiple dupe gate weave, with things moving in all directions...

which is precisely when our wonderful stabilization tools come into play.

RAH

I like a bit of gate weave, it reminds me that I'm watching (an old) film and not a modern, digital special effects extravaganza (which I also like....)

I can somewhat understand liking gate weave, but to me it only serves as a distraction which should be dealt with wherever possible.

 

[Steen DK]

I read the book to tatters when I was a kid, but I'd no idea this movie even existed... Does anyone know if it differs wildly from the book (which would probably upset me)?

 

[Robert Harris]

I read the book to tatters when I was a kid, but I'd no idea this movie even existed... Does anyone know if it differs wildly from the book (which would probably upset me)?

Have not read the book. Does the main character look like Clark Gable?RAH

 

[davidmatychuk]

Have not read the book. Does the main character look like Clark Gable?RAH

No, he's some kind of Saint Bernard cross.

 

[Matt Hough]

I read the book to tatters when I was a kid, but I'd no idea this movie even existed... Does anyone know if it differs wildly from the book (which would probably upset me)?

My review touches on the differences between the two. You can find it here.

 

[Steen DK]

Have not read the book. Does the main character look like Clark Gable?RAH

Oh, in my head all male characters in books look like Clark Gable. Ok, maybe only half - the other half look like Errol Flynn. (That seems worthy of a topic: Where the hell are Errol Flynn's films on blu-ray?)

My review touches on the differences between the two. You can find it here.

Ah, thanks.

 

[David_B_K]

I read the book to tatters when I was a kid, but I'd no idea this movie even existed... Does anyone know if it differs wildly from the book (which would probably upset me)?

It does differ pretty wildly. I don't think there's ever been a faithful film of the book.

 

[Steen DK]

I'm sure it would be hard to do. I seem to remember that much of the book is sort of written from the perspective of the dog. Or am I way off?

(I really should read it again.)

 

[David_B_K]

Yes, the book is entirely about the dog, sort of like how Black Beauty is all from the POV of the horse.

 

[Ray Faiola]

Can we assume this is the edited reissue???

 

[Eric Vedowski]

According to the Greenbriar Picture Shows site:
"Fox's Blu-Ray of this is just out, and the news is good. For the first time since 1935, we're given a complete version of the Clark Gable-Loretta Young starrer directed by William Wellman. Reviews haven't emphasized it, but this Call Of The Wild restores a Code cut that had gone missing in all prints and previous DVD/video releases."
http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/2013_12_01_archive.html

 

[JoHud]

According to the Greenbriar Picture Shows site:
"Fox's Blu-Ray of this is just out, and the news is good. For the first time since 1935, we're given a complete version of the Clark Gable-Loretta Young starrer directed by William Wellman. Reviews haven't emphasized it, but this Call Of The Wild restores a Code cut that had gone missing in all prints and previous DVD/video releases."
http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/2013_12_01_archive.html

Looks like Amazon didn't mess up its runtime information after all. Most other websites listed the same runtime as the DVD, and I even jokingly posted about it in the original preorder thread, but I scarcely expected it to actually be true. Even the RAH assessment didn't mention it.

This is big news since 11 minutes of new footage has been added. A pretty major breakthrough for this film and some deep gratitude for Fox for correcting since the common perception was that the cut footage was lost possibly forever.

 

[Garysb]

This is great news. Since the film has been restored to its full running time and as this was the last 20th Century Pictures feature before the merger with Fox, is the opening fanfare 20th Century Pictures or 20th Century-Fox ? The fanfare till now on all releases has been 20th Century-Fox with the copy write on the title card saying 20th Century Pictures. The only time i have ever seen the 20th Century Pictures opening was on the Fox Movie Channel during a promo showing how the fanfare has morphed over the years.

 

[Vic Pardo]

There's a Japanese animated feature version of "Call of the Wild" from 1981 that's a lot closer to the book than any of the live-action versions, because it's told entirely from the P-O-V of the dog, Buck. It's an excellent film and I did a blog entry where I compared it to another animated version, from 1990. For some reason, it's been the most popular entry on my blog. Perhaps students who've been assigned the book are researching paper ideas. Here's the link:

http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/jack-londons-the-call-of-the-wild-two-animated-versions/

I have the film on an old English-dubbed VHS and can only wish the longer Japanese version were available somewhere--with or without subs.

Here's a shot from it:

 

[JoHud]

Since the film has been restored to its full running time and as this was the last 20th Century Pictures feature before the merger with Fox, is the opening fanfare 20th Century Pictures or 20th Century-Fox ? The fanfare till now on all releases has been 20th Century-Fox with the copy write on the title card saying 20th Century Pictures. The only time i have ever seen the 20th Century Pictures opening was on the Fox Movie Channel during a promo showing how the fanfare has morphed over the years.

Checked out the blu-ray, and to my amazement the Twentieth Century Pictures fanfare and opening logo is indeed included.