6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
As a US marine unit fight against the defenders of a Japanese held island, both sides are haunted by their own thoughts and memories.
Starring: Rip Torn, Cornel Wilde, Burr DeBenning, Jean Wallace, Jaime SánchezWar | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Cornel Wilde's "Beach Red" (1967) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the disc is a vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
And good luck to all of you!
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Beach Red arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by MGM. It is a tad softer than it should be, but I like it quite a lot. Its main strength is the lack of any compromising digital work, which is why all of the visuals have a fine organic appearance. Now, there is archival footage with some obvious deterioration, but the overall quality is still very nice. In fact, I intentionally took different screencaptures from the archival footage and mixed them up so that you can see how nicely they blend with the other screencaptures. Of course, you will recognize the drops in density, but I think that you will agree that the archival material can still look mightily impressive. The color scheme is good. There is room for improvement in terms of saturation, but color balance and stability are fine. Overall image stability is very good. The master is free of any serious age-related imperfections as well. All in all, if fully restored in 4K Beach Red will look better in high-definition, but while a bit rough around the edges the current master has rather strong organic qualities. My score is 3.75./5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
I did not notice any distracting imperfections to report in our review. The simple music theme sounded quite wonderful on my system and the action footage had the type of dynamic intensity I expected to hear. Also, the dialog was clear, sharp, and very easy to follow. However, I have to speculate that modern remastering tools will likely be able to produce some improvements if the audio is fully redone. There are a few sequences where it feels like there should be slightly more oomph and depth, so perhaps a fresh Dolby Atmos track is just what this film needs.
Everything that Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Hamburger Hill, and Platoon do Beach Red does better. I am not exaggerating. If you do some very careful deconstruction work, eventually you will conclude that Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line for instance are simply inferior variations on key themes from Beach Red, which is fascinating, to say the least, because Cornel Wilde made the film in the 1960s without any digital trickery. (This of course is one of the key reasons its visuals are a lot more powerful). It is a genuine masterpiece that should have been restored with the same care and attention grand classics like Citizen Kane and Ben-Hur were given a long time ago. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old but good organic master that was supplied by MGM. Unfortunately, there are no meaningful bonus features on it. Regardless, it is an unmissable release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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The Uncut Edition
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2015
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1968
Theatrical Cut & Reconstructed Version in SD
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Fragile Fox
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