Cast a Giant Shadow Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Cast a Giant Shadow Blu-ray Movie Review

"'Liberty and justice for all?' Is it only for all of you?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown May 6, 2025

'Cast a Giant Shadow' was first released on Blu-ray in 2014 via Kino Lorber as part of the distributor's Kino Lorber Studio Classics line. It featured solid video and audio and only one extra: the film's theatrical trailer. This newer edition, released via Sandpiper Pictures in late 2024, features a strikingly similar AV presentation and the same barebones supplemental package.

Cast a Giant Shadow's central character is real life American Colonel Mickey Marcus (Kirk Douglas). Marcus is enjoying a successful legal practice in New York when he's approached one day by an Israeli operative named Saphir (James Donald) and begged to come help the nascent Israeli army. Marcus returns home only to be confronted by his wife Emma (Angie Dickinson), who is not pleased that so soon after being demobbed from World War II her husband has agreed to go to Palestine to help the Israeli uprising. Marcus' impetuous tendencies are detailed in the first of several WWII vignettes featuring the generically named General (John Wayne). Once the Colonel arrives in Palestine, the real soap operatic content begins as he's set up with a gorgeous freedom fighter named Magda (Senta Berger). In some rather shockingly straightforward dialogue (at least for 1966), Magda cuts to the chase and asks Marcus if he's getting enough sex at home and then confesses that her husband is not very good in bed. That sets up a dialectic in the film where Marcus repeatedly ping pongs (emotionally, if not physically) between Emma and Magda. Marcus also has to come to terms with his own Jewish identity -- he self-identifies being American as his "religion" in an early scene in the film -- while also dealing with a number of contentious Jews (including Yul Brynner as a resistance leader).

Click here to read the rest of Jeffrey Kauffman's 2014 review of the film, which he says "ends up trivializing its subject, casting a rather paltry shadow in the long run." Adding that it "may have been made with the noblest of intentions, but wrongheaded attempts to introduce needless melodrama and a similar decision to not stick to facts deprives the film of anything other than passing impact."

Cast a Giant Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My colleague's 2014 review (of what very well may be the same transfer) awarded Kino Lorber's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer a 3.5, noting several issues. I can't say I disagree with those issues, mind you, just that my subjective impression of the presentation's positives more greatly outweighed its negatives, thus my 4.0 score. Yes, skintones are indeed sometimes a touch on the muddy end of the spectrum. And yes, several scenes suffer from lesser lighting (most notably a flashback to a battle that was filmed at early sunrise/late sunset) and lens choices that lead to lower clarity and duller contrast. But overall, Cast a Giant Shadow goes big and bold, with lovely colors, strong primaries, rich black levels and attractive contrast leveling. There's a depth and dimensionality to the image that lends it a handsome appearance, and enough fine detail to capture all the nuances of the film's costumes and production design. Edges are (largely) clean and refined (minus a handful that exhibit the remnants of some artificial sharpening), textures pop and delineation is quite good (when served in turn by the lighting and source quality). Speaking of, the source itself is in rather excellent condition, as there isn't any significant scratches, specks or blemishes to speak of. There are a few scenes that utilize era-limited compositing and rear projected backgrounds, and struggle accordingly, but they're definitely the exception rather than the rule. Likewise, there isn't any serious compression artifacting, blocking or banding on display, making for an impressive presentation.

Cast a Giant Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sandpiper's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround track is decent, barring the same occasional syncing problems as Mr. Kauffman noted in his 2014 review. They're by no means frequent, but they are distracting and will cause audiophiles to grit their teeth when they occur. Otherwise, all is well. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, prioritization is spot on (even when a battle rages), and only a thinness in the film's action prevents it from playing as powerfully today as it did so many years ago.

Cast a Giant Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra included with the Sandpiper release of Cast a Giant Shadow is the film's 3-minute theatrical trailer.

Cast a Giant Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If only Cast a Giant Shadow cast a more gigantic shadow. Instead, it languishes in soap opera melodrama, fudges the facts rather liberally, over focuses on romance, and has a strange chronology that never quite works to its betterment. Ah well, at least the John Wayne/Kirk Douglas wartime drama offers strong video and decent audio. Still not one I can recommend but for those who enjoy the film, it could be a lot worse.