Blu-ray Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - The Story of G.I. Joe -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

William Wellman's 1945 The Story of G.I. Joe, which brings the story of journalist Ernie Pyle to the screen, is a stunning WWII battlefield drama.

It was relatively low budget affair, with scenes shots at Fort Benning, GA, and the rest at locations around Los Angeles.

Shot by the legendary Russell Metty, it ended up receiving four Academy Award nominations.

The film was not a studio production, and the original elements were not well conserved. It was first preserved by AMPAS in 1999, and more recently via a 2k image harvest from the preservation element.

I'll make the point up front, that because of this, I'd recommend not looking to closely at the first numbers in the image category, and go with the second, which are the one's that matter.

Mr. Metty's photography seen as a bit a bit all over the place here, as sequences and shots needed to be derived from...

well, what they needed to be derived from. It's almost as if this film were a hundred year old silent.

Directed and photographed in an incredibly realistic fashion, TSoGIJ stands the test of time far better than much of the contemporary studio fair.

My advice. Ignore the occasional deficiencies in the image, and just grab a copy and appreciate the film. The release is from Ignite.


Image

Forensic - 2.5 - 6

NSD - 6 - 7.5

Audio – 8 (Monaural)

Pass / Fail – Pass

Plays nicely with projectors - Yes

Worth your attention - 10

Slipcover rating - 1

Very Highly Recommended

RAH



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[Robert Crawford]

I spent my entire Monday watching this Blu-ray. I watched the movie twice in its entirety along with all the bonus material. As a big fan of this movie since first seeing it on TV back in the day, this is by far the best this fine film ever looked to me. They did the best they could with what they had to work with.

 

[RobersonPR]

Thank you! The gorgeous new version of the film from Ignite Films came out last week on Blu-ray!
The reconstructed 1945 long-lost trailer for trailer for the WWII classic THE STORY OF G.I. JOE has never been online before, in any condition. It has been meticulously reconstructed by Ignite Films using the severely damaged 1945 original nitrate trailer provided by the Library of Congress. The reconstructed 1945 trailer is available at:

 

[battlebeast]

Could someone please explain what “Forensic” and “NSC” mean?

 

[battlebeast]

I spent my entire Monday watching this Blu-ray. I watched the movie twice in its entirety along with all the bonus material. As a big fan of this movie since first seeing it on TV back in the day, this is by far the best this fine film ever looked to me. They did the best they could with what they had to work with.

So what grade do you give the picture quality?

 

[Worth]

Could someone please explain what “Forensic” and “NSC” mean?

Pixel-peeping and normal or nominal seating distance.

 

[Robert Crawford]

So what grade do you give the picture quality?

From my perspective, I give the overall picture quality a grade of 4/5 with 5 being the highest score. Like I said, I spent just about all of my free time on Monday going through the Blu-ray and bonus material. After watching the movie a second time with Alan K. Rode's excellent audio commentary, I then compared the Blu-ray to the 2000 DVD. The difference in picture quality between the two is night and day difference. I'm going to keep the DVD because it has some video of the real Ernie Pyle interviewing some infantry soldiers. Also, it has several of Pyle's last written columns before he was killed on Okinawa by a Japanese sniper. The last article describes the circumstances of his death. Very sad! As to this Blu-ray, let's remember that the OCN was long gone and the film elements they had to work with were mostly fourth generation at best as well as some 16mm film that was used for the "morbid" final film sequence. I think Ignite did an outstanding job with this Blu-ray.

Two of my all-time favorite "WWII" films were released in 1945. Burgess Meredith took part in both of them. He provided narration for "A Walk in the Sun" and of course co-starred in "The Story of G.I. Joe". Now, both great films have outstanding Blu-rays with solid audio and video presentations.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thank you! The gorgeous new version of the film from Ignite Films came out last week on Blu-ray!
The reconstructed 1945 long-lost trailer for trailer for the WWII classic THE STORY OF G.I. JOE has never been online before, in any condition. It has been meticulously reconstructed by Ignite Films using the severely damaged 1945 original nitrate trailer provided by the Library of Congress. The reconstructed 1945 trailer is available at:

They have the original non-reconstructed trailer as well as the reconstructed trailer on the Blu-ray disc. Comparing the two trailers is quite telling.

 

[Robert Harris]

They have the original non-reconstructed trailer as well as the reconstructed trailer on the Blu-ray disc. Comparing the two trailers is quite telling.

A great deal of work went into that reconstruction.

 

[battlebeast]

From my perspective, I give the overall picture quality a grade of 4/5 with 5 being the highest score. Like I said, I spent just about all of my free time on Monday going through the Blu-ray and bonus material. After watching the movie a second time with Alan K. Rode's excellent audio commentary, I then compared the Blu-ray to the 2000 DVD. The difference in picture quality between the two is night and day difference. I'm going to keep the DVD because it has some video of the real Ernie Pyle interviewing some infantry soldiers. Also, it has several of Pyle's last written columns before he was killed on Okinawa by a Japanese sniper. The last article describes the circumstances of his death. Very sad! As to this Blu-ray, let's remember that the OCN was long gone and the film elements they had to work with were mostly fourth generation at best as well as some 16mm film that was used for the "morbid" final film sequence. I think Ignite did an outstanding job with this Blu-ray.

Two of my all-time favorite "WWII" films were released in 1945. Burgess Meredith took part in both of them. He provided narration for "A Walk in the Sun" and of course co-starred in "The Story of G.I. Joe". Now, both great films have outstanding Blu-rays with solid audio and video presentations.

View attachment 227805 View attachment 227806

Thank you so much!

 

[Bartman]

I'm not sure why Ignite etc would do this but if you've never seen this movie before & you want to try before you buy, it's available to stream from Prime from the Ignite restoration.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Amazon has it listed for a December 10th release date:

The Story of G.I. Joe (Ignite)