A Few Words About A few words about...™ Pursued -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Olive's release of Raoul Walsh's Pursued (1947), fits nicely into the "box of chocolate" concept that I noted in my comments re: Force of Evil. It's a decided step down.

An odd beat, this film... a noir western, with Robert Mitchum in the lead, along with Teresa Wright. Image quality is quite good at times. Looking at the Blu-ray, I couldn't decided whether it was derived from a fine grain master, or one generation further removed, but the quality is fine. Only a single tech problem in addition to the window-boxed main titles. The film has rather annoying splice bumps, which distort the image a cuts, and which could have been dealt with digitally.

Tech credits are first class. A score by Max Steiner, cinematography by the great James Wong Howe. I've not checked references, but I've a feeling that the funeral sequence may have been shot infrared. It just has that look.

A film worth viewing.

Image - 3

Audio - 3.5

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Robin9]

I'm sorry to hear that the picture quality is a step down from that of Force Of Evil. Luckily the Pursued DVD is excellent so I'll stick with that.

 

[John Morgan]

Although I haven't had time to sit down and view the entire film on Blu Ray yet, I did scan through it. One thing I can say is the sound is greatly improved on the Blu Ray and is much fuller and dynamic than the DVD. On my system, I always prefer a mono track to come out the left.right front speakers as the fuller sound is preferable to me. The previous DVD had one reel that was obviously from a further removed source as it was several steps down from the overall quality and it seems like they found a replacement for that reel that doesn't stick. So, for me, this is a definite step upward for this great film, both visually and soundwise.

 

[JoHud]

Of note is that this release is this is the only one from the Sept 4 wave that includes a slipcover. It also includes a Martin Scorcese featurette.
I own it and hope to view it again soon. Robert Mitchum's first in a string of Western-noir type genre films. Still waiting for an eventual release of Blood on the Moon and The Lusty Men from WB.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Robin9 /t/323605/a-few-words-about-pursued-in-blu-ray#post_3972385
I'm sorry to hear that the picture quality is a step down from that of Force Of Evil. Luckily the Pursued DVD is excellent so I'll stick with that.

There is no comparison between the DVD and BRD of Pursued. Furthermore, I think RAH's video grade is a little too harsh in my opinion as I think it's almost on par with Force of Evil. It might not be a 4.0 like Force, but it's a solid 3.5 to me.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by JoHud /t/323605/a-few-words-about-pursued-in-blu-ray#post_3975198
Of note is that this release is this is the only one from the Sept 4 wave that includes a slipcover. It also includes a Martin Scorcese.

A whole Martin Scorsese for myself! Now it's a must-buy.

 

[Paul Penna]

Tech credits are first class.  A score by Max Steiner, cinematography by the great James Wong Howe.  I've not checked references, but I've a feeling that the funeral sequence may have been shot infrared.  It just has that look.

Ah, I hadn't thought of infrared. Those shots were indeed striking - nearly black skies, flesh tones ghostly white, Mitchum's irises black dots. My immediate thought was a red filter.

 

[John Hermes]

Tech credits are first class.  A score by Max Steiner, cinematography by the great James Wong Howe.  I've not checked references, but I've a feeling that the funeral sequence may have been shot infrared.  It just has that look.

From Lee Server's book on Mitchum and Pursued, ""Howe's innovations included the first use of infrared film in a Hollywood production."

 

[John Hermes]

There is no comparison between the DVD and BRD of Pursued.  Furthermore, I think RAH's video grade is a little too harsh in my opinion as I think it's almost on par with Force of Evil.  It might not be a 4.0 like Force, but it's a solid 3.5 to me.

I just watched it tonight. I agree on the 3.5.

 

[JoHud]

A whole Martin Scorsese for myself! Now it's a must-buy.

Lol, proofreading fail on my part. Of course I meant the featurette.
I also don't think it's comparable to the DVD. It was an okay TV master and above average as far as earlier Republic DVDs go but that was it.