Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about…™ In Harm's Way – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Not a favorite John Wayne for me. It is a bitt too soapy much more than Hatari which I love. It sounds like the transfer for In Harms Way is the same so so transfer I already have on Digital so I will probably get this one latter down the road.

The disc is better than the digital video-wise and the digital's audio is no match. As to Hatari, I liked it more as a kid than I do now? It's okay, but is nowhere near among my favorites. In comparison "In Harm's Way", my personal opinion about it has grown over the years as I appreciate it a lot more today than when I was ten years old.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Very pleased to finally have this on blu ray, good image and audio (needs to be played loud). Just The High and the Mighty for me now.

 

[Christian D66]

Typically overlong and overwrought Preminger (people complain about movie lengths today and it seems we've come full circle because 167 minutes of this back in the day would seem quite excessive for the material and in B&W after EXODUS -- I like to picture dressed up audiences in NY or Ohio sitting through three hours of this and coming out jazzed) but always filled with unique moments, tasteless excess and interesting performances. Wayne is the stand-out and tho OP was famed as a tyrant he had a gift for low-key naturalism when he wanted and imho the Duke has never been more real and subtle than with Neal.

 

[Panavision70]

As for black & white, many major releases were still being made in B&W through 1967. It was common for WWII films to be in B&W up to "Is Paris Burning?" in 1966. Oscar winning and nominated B&W films in 1965 included "Ship of Fools," "A Thousand Clowns," "The Pawnbroker," "Darling," "A Patch of Blue" and "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold."

 

[Brian Dauth]

Billy Wilder is the Mitteleuropa filmmaker who gets accused of cynicism, but Preminger is up there with in the trilogy of films: ADVISE AND CONSENT; THE CARDINAL; IN HARM'S WAY.

In A&C, all the political finangling ends up with one gay men killing himself, whose sin (whatever it was) is shrugged off, and the nominee being rejected. The film ends with a new president, who will make his own choice, and the Majority Leader promising to do his best to get him confirmed. The machinery rolls on, no matter the casualties.

In THE CARDINAL, Tom Tryon's character fails at everything he does, yet he ends up being a cardinal--a prince of the church. The machinery rolls on, no matter the casualties.

And in IN HARM'S WAY, almost everyone dies by the end, the horrific price of war is shown, and John Wayne, the embodiment of American manhood, is maimed and crippled. But CINCPAC swoops in, and tells him to heal fast because he is sending him out again. The machinery rolls on, no matter the casualties.

The combination of soapiness/schmaltz and cynicism seems particularly Viennese--a tangy brew Preminger serves up beautifully.

 

[trajan007]

THE CARDINAL needs a restoration

 

[Brian Dauth]

THE CARDINAL needs a restoration

Agreed. And ADVISE AND CONSENT needs a blu-ray release.

 

[lark144]

As far as I'm concerned, anything that Mr. Bass touched was gold.

Consider Spartacus vs the Roman army...

I was always under the impression that was Kubrick's contribution. I believe he said that in some interview, but I could be mistaken. It makes sense that it was Bass.

 

[sbjork]

Agreed. And ADVISE AND CONSENT needs a blu-ray release.