Blu-ray Review Fate Is the Hunter Blu-ray Review

Fate Is the Hunter Blu-ray Review

Ralph Nelson’s Fate Is the Hunter isn’t really a whodunit but rather a howdunit. In struggling to learn the truth behind a horrific airplane crash, the film’s protagonist researches every possible lead he possibly can in order to learn the truth about the real cause of the accident. It’s an intriguing scenario even if the resultant execution sometimes trundles in its narrative focus and momentum. The core mystery is a very good one indeed, but the characters involved could be a bit more fascinating or at least more captivatingly presented than they are here.

Studio: Fox

Distributed By: Twilight Time

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HDMA (Mono)

Subtitles: English SDH

Rating: Not Rated

Run Time: 1 Hr. 46 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray

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Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: All

Release Date: 05/13/2014

MSRP: $29.95

The Production Rating: 3.5/5

Ten minutes after taking off, Consolidated Flight 22 crash lands on a beach killing all but one of its fifty-four occupants, head stewardess Martha Webster (Suzanne Pleshette). The airline, quick to place the blame on the handiest available scapegoat, lays the guilt on the passenger jet’s pilot Captain Jack Savage (Rod Taylor). Savage had the reputation as a hard-drinking, womanizing party boy, but his old friend Sam McBane (Glenn Ford), who had flown with Jack in World War II and knew he’d take his passengers’ lives too responsibly to drink before a flight, takes it upon himself to investigate his friend’s movements leading up to the fateful flight. Along the way, he must track down two mysterious persons who were known to be close to Savage: a Chinese girl (Nancy Kwan) and some man named “Mickey” (Mark Stevens) as well as former flight navigator Ralph Bundy (Wally Cox), and Jack’s former fiancé (Dorothy Malone), all the while dealing with his own memories of Jack which weren’t always positive ones.Harold Medford’s screenplay hits all of the pertinent points, and he uses an able mix of flashbacks and present-day encounters which keeps a nice balance to the storytelling. But Nancy Kwan’s story and Wally Cox’s flashback aren’t especially illuminating in solving the mystery, and while at 106 minutes the film could hardly be said to be overlong, the length of their stories does slow up the narrative’s pace quite a bit. Another flashback scene set during World War II finds guest star Jane Russell performing “No Love, No Nothin’” (good singing but very poor lip-synching to her vocal track) as a USO entertainer, another intrusion that sets Jack’s personality and tendencies up for later scrutiny but ultimately proves rather pointless. The climactic flight to recreate the crash and hopefully arrive at a solution to the mystery is among the film’s best sequences, just as tension-filled as the initial crash which is pictured beautifully in the shocking pre-credit sequence. Nelson’s direction starts and stops (he worked more comfortably in television rather than in feature films), but the solution is a satisfying one, and one feels the journey was worth it once the end is reached. Also to screenwriter Medford’s credit, no artificial romance is cooked up with Ford’s McBane and any of the women in Savage’s life once he’s gone. There must have been tremendous pressure to add such an audience-pleasing facet to the story, but thankfully the filmmakers didn’t go there.Glenn Ford is sober and solemn as McBane in one of his better performances (the film’s only stumble with him is not disguising his age in the World War II sequences; though almost twenty years earlier, he looks the same in both past and present). Rod Taylor has the happy-go-lucky pilot down pat, and by offering us other layers of his personality in the flashbacks, we come to have a more rounded picture of him. Mark Stevens gives a great performance as the tippling Mickey, lost long ago to booze but faithful to his friend. Wally Cox plays his usual milquetoast with authority while Nehemiah Persoff as the chief rival to Ford’s McBane at the airline also acquits himself well. Of the ladies, the best performance is by Mary Wickes as Savage’s nosy, unpleasant landlady, quick to judge and quicker to jump to (wrong) conclusions. Suzanne Pleshette also delivers a strong performance as the rattled flight attendant trying to piece back together what actually happened as she comes out of a state of shock. Nancy Kwan is rather stiff and uninteresting as the oceanographer/ichthyologist mystery woman in Savage’s life, and Dorothy Malone is a bit obvious as the snooty society girl glad not to be slumming any longer.

Video Rating: 4/5 3D Rating: NA

The Cinemascope theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is faithfully rendered in this very good 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. Grayscale registers beautifully with superb and consistent contrast and solid white and black levels (though the blacks are a bit variable). Sharpness is good with graphic detail easily noticeable in faces, the grain of the leather jackets, the fabrics of the ladies’ gowns, and even the plane’s upholstery registering cleanly. There are more numerous than usual dust specks and bits of debris which is the transfer’s most glaring fault. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.

Audio Rating: 3.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track is variable in quality. As is so often the case for films of this era, sound is rather moderate in impact with not a lot of bass in the mix, the sound effects, or the Jerry Goldsmith’s score, all placed together with the decently recorded dialogue for the mix in the same track. Volume levels for the dialogue vary a bit in different parts of the film, and ADR is noticeable in a couple of spots.

Special Features Rating: 3.5/5

Audio Commentary/Isolated Score Track: Jerry Goldsmith’s lovely score for the film is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. In between music cues, producer Nick Redman and co-star Nancy Kwan talk about her (sometimes fleeting or spotty) recollections about making the movie and her life and career.Theatrical Trailer (2:20, SD)To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey (1:46:31, 1080i, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0) Brian Jamieson’s 2010 documentary on the life of Nancy Kwan proves an illuminating look at the actress and, more importantly, the woman who became the first true Chinese movie star in American cinema. His heartfelt tribute to the actress in To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey offers some insider information and is an occasionally moving account of the life and career of the actress in a compactly produced and directed documentary.Six-Page Booklet: contains stills (some in color, a nice inclusion), the original poster art on the back cover, and film historian Julie Kirgo’s illuminating essay on the movie.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

As part of Twilight Time’s limited availability program, only 3,000 copies of the Blu-ray edition of Fate Is the Hunter are available. For those who already have the DVD release, this new Blu-ray offers the interesting and involving documentary on Nancy Kwan To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey as an added incentive for purchasing this new set. Those interested in experiencing this underheralded mystery with a superb cast should visit www.screenarchives.com to see if copies are still available. Twilight Time is also available via Facebook at www.facebook.com/twilighttimemovies.

Reviewed By: Matt Hough

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