Press Release Warner Archive Collection Announcement: Northwest Passage (1940) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

COMING TO BLU-RAY FROM THE WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION JULY 30th!

NEW 2024 1080p HD Master from 4K Scans of Original Nitrate Technicolor negatives.

NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1940)
BD-50
COLOR
Running time: 128 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 1.37:1
English SDH
Audio: DTS HD MA 2.0
Special features: Vintage promotional featurette: NORTHWARD, HO!; Original Theatrical Trailer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Ruth Hussey
Spencer Tracy and a stellar supporting cast grab muskets , gun powder and knives, and head out for adventure in Northwest Passage, a lavish Technicolor® retelling of French and Indian War heroics, based on Kenneth Roberts’ best seller. Tracy plays a true-life explorer Major Robert Rogers, the intrepid leader of the celebrated Roberts’ Rangers fighting force that took on one of the most challenging expeditions in military history. Tracy’s portrayal brilliantly captures the American pioneering spirit, but he had to muster up his own will to carry it off. “It isn’t exactly fun to work in bitter cold and be sloshing through mud all day” he said. For twelve grueling weeks of location shooting, he endured trapsing through swamps, crossing rapids, and climbing mountains. Of this rousing epic (released shortly after Gone With the Wind), The New York Times wrote, “Now that the ‘Wind’ has stopped ruffling your hair, you can have it lifted, scalp and all in Northwest Passage. With stellar direction by thr great King Vidor, this new Blu-ray presentation, derived from 4K scans of the original nitrate Technicolor® negatives provides a revelatory viewing experience of an all-time classic adventure!

 

[Robert Crawford]

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[Capt D McMars]

Woo-Hooo!!! Great news!!

 

[Robert Harris]

What? More Technicolor?

 

[jim_falconer]

A stiffly acted film, which probably would have been more natural with John Wayne in the Tracy role…but I’ll still buy it

 

[Paul Penna]

What? More Technicolor?

More Colors Than There Are in Heaven™

 

[Dick]

A stiffly acted film, which probably would have been more natural with John Wayne in the Tracy role…but I’ll still buy it

Yet, it has the feel of an epic adventure, like STANLEY AND LIVINGSTON or KING SOLOMON'S MINES. I wish that MGM had continued on, not with the second half of the novel, which is slow and uneventful, but with adaptations of other Kenneth Roberts historical epics, such as Arundel and Rabble In Arms. Reading those books, I found them to be very cinematic. Both are rousing adventures, and I could see the movies that might be made from them clearly in my head.

 

[Mark-P]

I‘m definitely in for this one. More digitally re-combined Technicolor is what I want.

 

[bujaki]

I don't think I've seen this film since the gorgeous nitrate 35mm print that MGM supplied MoMA in 1974. It's a spectacular adventure filmed by the great King Vidor.
Edit: at a distance of 50 years, I think that the print shown at MoMA was a safety IB Technicolor.

 

[Alan Tully]

More Colors Than There Are in Heaven™

Well...Red, Green & Blue anyway

Thinking about it, I'm not sure that I've ever seen it in colour. It was on TV lots of times in the sixties, always in b/w (we didn't get a colour set until the early seventies), so I'm looking forward to seeing it in great colour, & Warner states: A revelatory viewing experience of an all-time classic adventure! - so I'm thinking that they're quite pleased with it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It was on TCM about a month ago. I watched some of it and wondered if WA would eventually release it because it would look beautiful with a 4K scan.

 

[Bartman]

Hooray, great news, one of my favorite & most watched laserdiscs, Northwest Passage, is finally making it to Blu-ray. Let's hope WA use their Ultra Resolution process on it, what's the chance?
I didn't bother with the WA DVD because up until five years ago I had a separate system (Pioneer player, CRT TV) for my fullscreen laserdiscs. Next up I'd like Captain Horatio Hornblower please!

 

[richardburton84]

Hooray, great news, one of my favorite & most watched laserdiscs, Northwest Passage, is finally making it to Blu-ray. Let's hope WA use their Ultra Resolution process on it, what's the chance?
I didn't bother with the WA DVD because up until five years ago I had a separate system (Pioneer player, CRT TV) for my fullscreen laserdiscs. Next up I'd like Captain Horatio Hornblower please!

I don’t know if the Ultra Resolution is still in use or not. But, given WA’s current track record for Technicolor restorations, I’d be shocked if the quality was anything less than perfection.

 

[Garysb]

Let's hope WA use their Ultra Resolution process on it, what's the chance?

I believe what the Archive uses now to digitally combine the 3 strip Technicolor exceeds what they used to call their Ultra Resolution process which was introduced in the DVD age. I am sure the film will look the best it has ever looked on home video when the blu ray is released.

 

[Robert Harris]

Historically, this is early Technicolor - within the first thirty-five or so productions - shot in 1939.

 

[Timothy E]

Do early Technicolor productions pose any unique challenges in scanning?

 

[Bartman]

I believe what the Archive uses now to digitally combine the 3 strip Technicolor exceeds what they used to call their Ultra Resolution process which was introduced in the DVD age. I am sure the film will look the best it has ever looked on home video when the blu ray is released.

Thanks. Is there a new name for the digital 3-strip registration process used by WA?

 

[Robert Harris]

Do early Technicolor productions pose any unique challenges in scanning?

No more so that later productions. Possible challenge is getting the bi-pack record to settle in in a 4k atmosphere.

 

[Garysb]

Thanks. Is there a new name for the digital 3-strip registration process used by WA?

Not that I am aware. I vaguely recall when someone asked George Feltenstein if Ultra Resolution process was being used on a new blu ray and he responded no their current process of digitally recombining the 3 strips was superior to the Ultra Resolution process . Sorry I could not be more specific.

 

[Will Krupp]

Possible challenge is getting the bi-pack record to settle in in a 4k atmosphere.

That's an interesting comment and one that never occurred to me. Would you mind elaborating as to why that is. Does it have something to do with the blue record being reversed and slightly "softer" than the other two?