1080p presentation on Blu-ray
Uncompressed original mono audio
Optional English SDH
Brand new audio commentary with writers Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman
Brand new interview with film scholar Neil Sinyard
Trailer
A collector’s booklet featuring a new essay on the film by film writer Rich Johnson, and a new piece by critic Richard Combs about the Western films of King Vidor
This should better the German and Kino BDs by being on a BD-50, and the audio commentary plus video piece make it a more complete release, too. I've not seen it before but I liked Vidor's other western, Duel in the Sun.
The Kino disc is pretty competently encoded (the Explosive Media disc is their usual garbage). Personally, I don't expect the Eureka disc to be a huge difference since there's not really much to pull/gain from the dated HD master.
MoMA screened this twice as part of their current program of Universal Westerns, and it was one of the few titles where Universal loaned them a 35mm print (though tbf all of the DCP's have been created from recent restorations, usually done in collaboration with the Film Foundation). I don't know if anyone else here caught either screening, but I went to the second one today and to my surprise they screened it in academy ratio (i.e. with an open matte) rather than the usual 2:1 ratio. I can't say the composition looked great - there was always plenty of head room and space below, to the point where there were very few shots that ever felt tight and tidy - but FWIW, I don't recall ever seeing any boom mics or anything inappropriate either. I made a mental note of two shots early in the film to compare later, and indeed a business sign printed in large letters was never seen on the Blu-ray master, and the ceiling and much of the wall above the piano (right before Dempsey/Kirk Douglas throws his saddle through the window) is cut off to form a tight composition.
Looking over the Blu-ray, there are some shots that do feel almost too tight now. I don't want to dive any further into the debate over aspect ratios, but I'll just add that if you ever shoot a film with the intention of having two aspect ratios, I don't think it's unreasonable to guess that this could lead to some framing compromises if you're trying to make two possibilities work at once. It's like trying to light for two different angles - I know it's done all the time, but I also know that it's also considered trickier than lighting for one angle, enough that you can understand why lighting for a single camera is often ideal if you're doing something very meticulous.
Print was gorgeous, not to mention pristine. No idea when it was struck, but you can see immediately the advantage of film when it comes to highlights, especially in a film like this where the sun is rarely impeded by any clouds. You have these clear skies that almost look like a beach and bright sunlight coming down every inch of the landscape, looking like it's burning the chlorophyll off of every blade of grass. No detail is lost in these highlights and they don't look too hot either, like they're about to blow out completely.
A fine film, maybe short of being great but it's still very good and one of the better, more consistent films by King Vidor.
