Blu-ray Review Santa Fe Trail Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Michael Curtiz’s Santa Fe Trail is another bull’s eye for Warner Archive, this time returning in almost pristine condition a movie from the public domain for eager fans of the stars or the genre to enjoy.



Santa Fe Trail (1940)



Released: 28 Dec 1940
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 110 min




Director: Michael Curtiz
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama



Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey
Writer(s): Robert Buckner



Plot: In 1854, Jeb Stuart, George Custer and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume.



IMDB rating: 6.3
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: Warner Brothers
Distributed By: Warner Archive...

Continue reading...

 

[Robert Harris]

Hopefully, Warner will be allowed to reap the benefits of their work, and that no purveyors of PD will see fit to duplicate a quality studio element.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Never seen it but a big fan of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland so i hope my local library gets it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My Amazon pre-order has finally shipped so I should have it this weekend.

 

[Matt Hough]

My Amazon pre-order has finally shipped so I should have it this weekend.

Looking forward to reading your opinions.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

One of the few Olivia de Havilland films I haven't seen. I'm glad I held off on watching one of the public domain releases, and instead will be experiencing this film for the first time on a fantastic Blu-ray boasting an excellent presentation. I hope this paves the way for WAC to release the new remaster of Life With Father.

Thank you for the excellent review, Matt

 

[Robert Crawford]

Looking forward to reading your opinions.

This movie is currently on my "100 All-Time Favorite Westerns" list. I already revisited it earlier this year and will do so again with this new Blu-ray with video and audio presentations that should far surpass that PD crap I watched earlier.

Right now, I'm not sure it will remain on my listing as I take more issue with some of the stuff in the movie than I did back when I watched this movie for the first time back in the 1960s on TV.

 

[Author2be]

Yay! I like this movie a lot!

 

[David_B_K]

I watched this Blu-ray over the weekend. It's such a historical mish-mash that it has never been a huge favorite of mine. However, I felt compelled to buy it to add to the Flynn collection. If they had given the protagonists fictional names, they could almost have pulled it off as historical fiction. But the real Harper's Ferry "battle" was a very small affair in real life, and the railroad to Santa Fe was a couple of decades out of place.

I really liked Raymond Massey's committed performance as John Brown. Though he was ostensibly the villain of the piece, his motives were shown as noble, so it was hard to see him in an entirely negative light. I think the film did a good job of making Brown seem admirable but misguided. I also liked how the film showed that the Civil War was crouching on the doorstep and that all those officers would soon be arrayed against each other. What little there was of de Havilland was great. She looked quite fetching in the plaid shirt and boots and a smudge on her face.

The real story is Warner rescuing the movie from PD hell with a beautiful Blu-ray presentation.

 

[smithbrad]

I'm actually looking forward to watching this more than "Naked Spur" that I ordered and received the same day.

I realize all the historical inaccuracies and totally understand the issues that creates. However, for me I watched this for the first time as part of a binge on newly acquired Error Flynn films. Including Olivia de Havilland and the novelty of seeing Ronald Reagan in a movie for the first time was a plus. This was also one of the films that made me into a big Raymond Massey fan. Even with the weak presentation of the PD DVD, I enjoyed it immensely. I can't believe it received this excellent treatment.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Raymond Massey also played John Brown in Seven Angry Men, available on DVD from Warner Archive. Perhaps it will get the Blu-ray treatment one of these days.

 

[benbess]

Picked this one up on sale recently for $8.50. Often I buy Warner Archive titles shortly after they go on sale for about double that, but movies of this era that try to give Hollywood's explanations of the Civil War usually make me cringe, and that was true with this one too at times. As has been mentioned, however, the portrayal of John Brown by Raymond Massey was actually surprisingly nuanced. Anyway, this movie does have very good pq, and is recommended. Below the poster is a photo of the real John Brown in 1859, and below that is Raymond Massey playing the character in the movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Despite the historical flaws in the movie, the WA Blu-ray offers a much better audio and video presentations than I ever viewed beforehand. I still enjoy movie despite my misgivings about the film. WA/MPI did a fine job with this release!