3 Godfathers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

3 Godfathers Blu-ray Movie Review

One and a half movies for the price of one.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III April 18, 2024

Anyone who believes that endless remakes are a new endeavor need not look any further than The Three Godfathers, Peter B. Kyne's 1913 novel that was adapted to film a staggering seven times between then and 1948. (Add another to the pile if you count Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers, which draws clear inspiration from the original story.) This 1948 iteration directed by John Ford -- his second take on the material following a lost 1919 silent film, Marked Men -- stars John Wayne and, like most other versions, concerns a trio of bank robbers who unwittingly rescue a baby boy while lost in the desert. Itself a loose variation on the "three wise men" legend of the Christian bible, Ford's uncharacteristically soft-hearted spin takes most of the story's teeth out... and sadly, most of the interest right along with it.

The basic plot is almost deceptively simple, following three partners -- Robert Hightower (Wayne), Pedro Encarnación (Pedro Armendáriz), and William Kearney (Harry Carey Jr.) -- who ride into the sleepy town of Welcome, Arizona, and have a short conversation with local man Buck Sweet (Ward Bond), who turns out to be the sheriff. Their intentions are made known when it's soon revealed the three men are robbers, and as such the local bank is wiped clean in a matter of hours. Buck quickly forms a team to pursue the criminals, and their game of cat and mouse is intensified by the surrounding desert and few landmarks. Robert and company know the land well, but so does the sheriff.

Eventually, the robbers -- driven to exhaustion after an exchange with the sheriff's team leaves them with an empty canteen -- find a nearby railroad's life-saving water reserve tanks, but they've sadly dried up after the last visitor was careless with dynamite. Nearby is a covered wagon with two survivors: a delirious new mother (Mildred Natwick) and her infant son (Amelia Yelda, her only film role), and it's soon discovered that her late husband was responsible for the tank accident. She's also Sweet's niece, who had gone missing. Teetering on the brink of death, she pleads desperately with the men to take her infant son and they reluctantly oblige. Now, they're faced with three challenges instead of two: find water, evade capture and, of course, keep little "Robert William Pedro Hightower" alive.

3 Godfathers means well, but this adaptation doesn't quite cut it for me. It carelessly removes hard edges from the original story, and as such cripples the robbers' character development: in many other versions (which also take place around Christmastime, even if here it never feels like it), they're more violent and the money is a much larger factor, whereas here they're about as inoffensive as "wanted criminals" can be. (Within about 25 minutes, the comparatively small amount of loot they steal is never seen or mentioned again.) Momentum drops off considerably in its second half after the baby is found: 3 Godfathers' pace immediately slows to a crawl, the final stretch features a goofy revelation for its main character, and its quasi-happy ending feels tacked on. There's obviously some merit here: the Technicolor cinematography is outstanding, Wayne's natural charisma certainly helps, and the cat-and-mouse setup is promising. But it doesn't amount to much... and if it feels like I'm being hard on the film, I ought to be: with so many versions of the source story already in existence by 1948, Ford's version needed to bring more to the table.

Surprisingly already released to Blu-ray back in January by German label Plaion Pictures (with no real indication of transfer quality, outside of a few low-res pictures shared in our forum), Warner Archive's treatment of 3 Godfathers renders that earlier edition more or less dead on arrival: it's not only sourced from a recent 4K scan and nicely encoded to boot, but Richard Boleslawski's 1936 adaptation is also included as a newly-restored extra.. That alone makes this a very easy recommendation for fans and newcomers alike -- you're bound to love at least one of these.

3 Godfathers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Unsurprisingly, Warner Archive's new 1080p transfer rivals some studios' UHD presentations: the top-notch treatment of this catalog title is sourced from a recent 4K scan of the film's original three-strip Technicolor negatives, which have been carefully cleansed of age-related dirt and debris by the boutique label's proprietary manual cleaning process. The largely earth-toned palette, with its prevalent pale-blue sky and dry, dusty desert surroundings during the bulk of the picture, is about as accurate as they come with occasional glimpses of much more vibrant territory in stray scenes like an occasional sunset or the Sweet family's immaculate garden. Fine detail is tack-sharp throughout with crisp textures on costumes and background details alike, even holding steady during ultra-wide shots of its barren landscapes. Close-ups, even those intentionally softened such as the newborn baby's face, also remain true to their source and look as crisp as possible with a consistent level of film grain. As usual, the entire picture is clean as a whistle with virtually no exceptions, making this yet another purist's dream and the definitive presentation of this great-looking film -- only a few extremely minor macro blocking issues can be seen, and even then they're almost invisible in motion.

3 Godfathers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Easily keeping pace is the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix which, as usual, serves up the original monaraul track in a split-channel format and sounds extremely clean and precise. Dialogue is clear and easily understood -- well, except for Pedro's intermittent Spanish, which isn't translated in any way -- while enjoying a delicate balance with background effects and Richard Hageman's original score. No obvious signs of age-related wear and tear could be hear along the way, leaving viewers with a fairly pristine and well-maintained audio presentation that gets the job done.

English SDH subtitles are offered during both films (see below); oddly enough, they're in all caps and formatted like those old Universal DVDs with speech often appearing to the left and right depending on character placement.

3 Godfathers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with pretty amusing vintage poster-themed cover artwork -- somehow, they didn't manage to get a good likeness on any of the three main stars. Bonus features are different than expected (in a good way), led by one in particular that's, in my opinion, better than the main feature itself.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (3:20) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

• Three Godfathers - 1936 Version (80:59) - This 1936 adaptation by Polish director Richard Boleslawski (who sadly died less than a year after its release at the age of 47) plays better than Ford's later version, even without the visual benefits of Technicolor. Its notably harder edges and refusal to spoon-feed certain elements of the plot make all the difference here, even if John Wayne and company's charisma outshine that of stars Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, and Walter Brennan. Newly scanned in 2K by Warner Archive with a similar level of manual cleanup applied (trace levels of damage were noticeable here and there), it looks excellent and the lossless audio sounds good too. I'd award this one a solid 4/5 and, for obvious reasons, it easily makes this release worth owing even if you don't end up loving the main feature. Presented in 1080p 1.33:1 with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono audio and optional English subtitles, the 1936 version can be seen in screenshots #21-25 of this review..

• Original Theatrical Trailer - 1936 Version (1:59) - Likewise, this older trailer can be seen here.

3 Godfathers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Ford's 1948 adaptation of 3 Godfathers, though not without merit, isn't a good representation of the director (or star John Wayne) at the height of their powers. Some may carry nostalgia for this film or its maudlin message, but it never generates a great deal of interest and feels like a fairly watered-down take on the source material. Still, those who enjoy it will be over the moon for Warner Archive's new Blu-ray. which features not only a beautiful new transfer but Richard Boleslawski's (superior, in my opinion) 1936 adaptation as a 2K-restored bonus feature. The combined strength of both, despite my general indifference towards the main feature, earns this disc a recommendation.