7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Germans kidnap an American major and try to convince him that World War II is over, so that they can get details about the Allied invasion of Europe out of him.
Starring: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor, Werner Peters, John BannerWar | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
36 Hours is a war film, a spy thriller and a prison escape movie all rolled into one. Its central device has been repeatedly borrowed in subsequent tales of espionage ranging from Mission: Impossible (film and TV series) to Telefon and Salt. The project was star James Garner's followup to another picture set during World War II, The Americanization of Emily, and Garner was invested in the film both professionally as an actor and financially as a co-producer through his company, Cherokee Productions. Written and directed by George Seaton—a multiple Oscar winner for his screenplays of The Country Girl and Miracle on 34th Street—the film was well received both critically and at the box office when it was released in January 1965, but it has since been largely forgotten. That should change with this crisp Blu-ray rendition from the Warner Archive Collection.
36 Hours' expressive black-and-white images were shot by cinematographer Philip C. Lathrop,
who had recently worked with James Garner on The Americanization of Emily and would go on
to lens such diverse fare as Point Blank and
Earthquake. For this 1080p, AVC-encoded
Blu-ray, the Warner Archive Collection commissioned a new scan, which was performed by Warner's
Motion Picture Imaging facility at 2K using a recently manufactured fine-grain master positive.
The result is an image of impressive clarity and sharpness, rendering everything in exceptional
detail, from the fine herringbone in Maj. Pike's jacket to the manicured grounds of the fake
military hospital. The Blu-ray effectively reproduces Lathrop's "deep focus" photography, which
situates Pike in the phony surroundings constructed to deceive him and, later, isolates Pike and
Anna in the landscape through which they are fleeing. Blacks are deep and solid, and contrast is
excellent. The sole negative is fleeting video noise that crops up now and again (and should not
be confused with the film's natural grain pattern, which is finely rendered). WAC and MPI do
not use noise reduction software, but in this instance, some minor massaging of the video image
in select shots might have been appropriate. As usual, WAC has authored the disc with a high
average bitrate, here 34.65 Mbps.
Note that the opening titles feature archival newsreel footage in Academy ratio at the center of
the widescreen frame. The newsreel image is then pushed to one side, becoming half of a split
screen, with a second panel devoted to credits. This treatment accurately reflects the
source.
36 Hours' original mono soundtrack has been taken from the magnetic master and encoded in
lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. Despite its wartime environment, the film is set far from combat, and
the key component of the soundtrack is dialogue, which is clearly and naturally rendered. The
other major audio element is the energetic score by four-time Oscar-winning composer Dmitri
Tiomkin (High Noon), which plays with fidelity and dynamic
range that are as good as the source
will allow.
(Note that German dialogue is translated by white English subtitles, which are "burned in".)
The sole extra is the film's trailer, which has been remastered in 1080p. Warner's 2007 DVD of 36 Hours contained additional trailers for James Garner's war-themed films.
The writer/director of 36 Hours, George Seaton, enjoyed a long and successful career that
included writing comedy scripts for the Marx Bros., winning multiple Academy Awards and
directing such box office hits as the original Airport, but today he
isn't nearly as well known as
many of his contemporaries. He should be. 36 Hours reveals Seaton to be an artful dramatist,
crafting a tense and suspenseful narrative out of dialogue and character, without resort to extreme
violence, death-defying stunts or arbitrary "twists". Seaton was also skilled at directing actors,
guiding two performers to Oscar wins (Grace Kelly in The Country Girl
and Edmund Gwenn in
Miracle on 34th Street) and, in 36
Hours, expertly modulating the performances of his talented
leads. WAC's Blu-ray is a timely opportunity to rediscover the work of a gifted cinematic
craftsman. Highly recommended.
1967
2011
1963
1958
1976
1969
La Battaglia d'Inghilterra
1969
48 Hours
1942
Warner Archive Collection
1945
2002
2017
Warner Archive Collection
1939
1974
2016
1952
1955
The Great Spy Mission / Warner Archive Collection
1965
1964
1949
Unrated Director's Cut
2005