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

[Robert Harris]

William Wellman's 1948 Yellow Sky, (It's nice to have two Wellman films released by Kino this month) is a superb western about a group of bank robbers (compare the opening sequence to the The Wild Bunch), who escape across the desert, to find themselves in an interesting ghost town.

Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter and Richard Widmark are the leads, along with cinematographer, Joe MacDonald. For those unfamiliar with Mr. MacDonald's name, I'm certain you know his work, inclusive of My Darling Clementine.

The Blu-ray courtesy of Fox via Kino Lorber is a quality affair, which has generally nice reproduction of the original black & white work. A few dupey shots, and a bit of flicker do no harm.

Image - 4

Audio - 4

4k Up-rez - 4.5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH

 

[Robert Crawford]

Another double-dip from a previously released Region B with an audio commentary and perhaps better PQ.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I somehow have never seen this western. I can't wait to get it and correct that problem.

 

[OliverK]

I somehow have never seen this western. I can't wait to get it and correct that problem.

I am sure you will like it. It has a strange hypnotic quality or at least it was like that for me when I was younger, a very special movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I somehow have never seen this western. I can't wait to get it and correct that problem.

A really good western with some interesting characters. Also, Anne Baxter really looked good in jeans back then.

 

[Paul Rossen]

As previously stated an interesting and well acted film.

 

[Flashgear]

Yellow Sky on dvd looked great, and I'm thrilled to hear that it will be close to spectacular on blu...it's one of my absolute favourite westerns from the '40s, and to get it along with Ox Bow Incident is wonderful...God, I Love Kino-Lorber!

I just received Something Big on blu...not a film in the same class, but quite enjoyable with a great score by Hamlisch/Bacharach and David...it looks better than I've ever seen it since first run...and a major upgrade from the dvd mod...

 

[dpippel]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I just picked up Yellow Sky and watched it this weekend and there appears to be an issue with the disc. LOVED the film, and found it to be a unique and unusual western, particularly for its time. However, throughout the movie there was some very noticeable color shifting. The B&W image would transition from a fairly nice grayscale to having a slight greenish hue. This happens during most of the run length. The other problem I saw were two vertical purplish tinted bands, one about a third of the way in from the left edge of the frame and one about the same distance in from the right. These also appeared and then disappeared throughout most of the run length.

These issues are NOT equipment issues, and this is the only B&W Blu-ray title in which I have ever seen them. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[bigshot]

When I was first starting out in the film business, I worked in a sound house doing dailies and transferring to mag stripe. One of my side duties was pulling sound effects for editors. One of our most popular sound effects was a wind outdoor sound effect called "Yellow Sky". It was recorded for this movie and became so popular with sound effects editors that they would call for it by name, and have loops of it made for every project they worked on that had outdoor scenes.

 

[Randy Korstick]

This was a great recent discovery for me. Great film and a great looking Blu. Highly Recommended.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

When I was first starting out in the film business, I worked in a sound house doing dailies and transferring to mag stripe. One of my side duties was pulling sound effects for editors. One of our most popular sound effects was a wind outdoor sound effect called "Yellow Sky". It was recorded for this movie and became so popular with sound effects editors that they would call for it by name, and have loops of it made for every project they worked on that had outdoor scenes.

Another "Wilhelm Scream"?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I just picked up Yellow Sky and watched it this weekend and there appears to be an issue with the disc. LOVED the film, and found it to be a unique and unusual western, particularly for its time. However, throughout the movie there was some very noticeable color shifting. The B&W image would transition from a fairly nice grayscale to having a slight greenish hue. This happens during most of the run length. The other problem I saw were two vertical purplish tinted bands, one about a third of the way in from the left edge of the frame and one about the same distance in from the right. These also appeared and then disappeared throughout most of the run length.

These issues are NOT equipment issues, and this is the only B&W Blu-ray title in which I have ever seen them. Has anyone else noticed this?

Doug,

I have both the UK and the Kino BD releases. I remembered seeing that defect when I viewed the UK disc, but it's been at least 4 years since I watched that BD. I've been planning on watching the Kino disc with the audio commentary so I'll try to give it a spin tomorrow.

 

[dpippel]

Thanks Robert! I'd be happy to know what you find out, whenever you get the chance. If you'd like I can provide you with time stamps later this evening, but you shouldn't need them. The issues I described are pretty noticeable.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks Robert! I'd be happy to know what you find out, whenever you get the chance. If you'd like I can provide you with time stamps later this evening, but you shouldn't need them. The issues I described are pretty noticeable.

I'll try to get to it tomorrow, but I've got a dentist appointment with a possible extraction so my mood for movies might not be there.

 

[dpippel]

Ouch! Good luck with that!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I just picked up Yellow Sky and watched it this weekend and there appears to be an issue with the disc. LOVED the film, and found it to be a unique and unusual western, particularly for its time. However, throughout the movie there was some very noticeable color shifting. The B&W image would transition from a fairly nice grayscale to having a slight greenish hue. This happens during most of the run length. The other problem I saw were two vertical purplish tinted bands, one about a third of the way in from the left edge of the frame and one about the same distance in from the right. These also appeared and then disappeared throughout most of the run length.

These issues are NOT equipment issues, and this is the only B&W Blu-ray title in which I have ever seen them. Has anyone else noticed this?

Okay, I watched the Kino disc in its entirety with the audio commentary. I didn't see any noticeable color shifting regarding a slight greenish hue.

I briefly saw one vertical purplish tinted band after the gunfight in the ghost town saloon, when Anne Baxter goes into the saloon to check out the aftermath of the gunfight. After the film finished, I checked out the UK disc for the same issue during that exact scene and it wasn't as obvious, the vertical band was slightly there, but it didn't have any purplish tint to it.

I remember Robert Harris talking about Fox's film elements in which many of those elements are lost forever. I think this is a case in which this is probably the best it's going to look for this particular film with their secondary film elements to work with. Again, either I didn't notice the issues you noted or they weren't as significant as you encountered. Perhaps, it's because Value Electronics calibrated my panel before I got it so those issues weren't as apparent on my viewings.

 

[dpippel]

Thanks a million Robert. Good to know that what I'm seeing is on the disc, and it could very well be a difference in display settings that's causing these issues to be more visible on my panel. I've calibrated it with Disney's WOW, and am no stranger to doing so, but it's definitely not the same as a professional job. If I can fit it into my budget I'm planning on having my E6 ISF-calibrated this year. In the meantime I'll have to live with Yellow Sky as-is.

Hope your appointment today goes well!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Hope your appointment today goes well!

Yeah, I'm leaving now.

 

[Otter]

Yeah, I'm leaving now.

Did anyone have a look at the German BluRay? I like the fact that it has subtitles, but the bitrate is lower.

Is the PQ on the US disc better than on the UK disc?

 

[OliverK]

Finally got around to watch the German Blu-ray. It looks pretty detailed and the cinematography is exceptional, great cast, too.
It does not seem to be that well known but definitely worth watching - my son and his girlfriend liked it, too.