6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 2.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
1950. As the Korean peninsula is drawn closer to war, stern Air Force Major Matthew Brady is assigned to train a squadron of South Korean pilots, making them combat-ready in half the usual time. While at the air base at Kongju, he comes face to face with a former flame, the wife of an army medical officer. When enemy forces invade, most of the U.S. personnel are evacuated, but Brady remains behind with the barely-trained South Korean troops, and bravely diverts the Russian-backed North Korean army.
Starring: John Hodiak, Barbara Britton, Chuck Connors, Bruce Bennett (I), Fess ParkerDrama | Insignificant |
War | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Blu-ray 3D
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
They say that timing is everything, in which case it’s surprising that Dragonfly Squadron is remembered at all. This 1954 war film (with melodramatic undertones) dealt with the early days of the Korean conflict, but came along well after “official” hostilities on the Korean Peninsula had ceased. Perhaps even more importantly (at least with regard to its place in film history), Dragonfly Squadron was intended to be a slam bang 3D (or 3-D in the orthography of the time) release. Unfortunately, by the end of 1953 it was already clear that the 3D craze was abating, and when Dragonfly Squadron finally premiered in early 1954, it was exhibited only as a so-called “flat” feature. In the hyperbolic verbiage of whatever studio hack developed the press materials for the film, Dragonfly Squadron supposedly “explodes with the intensity of an H-bomb!” (way to mine the subliminal Cold War fears of the American populace, film industry!), but the truth is the film is a rather turgid piece that revolves around a love triangle of sorts with what ultimately amounts to tangential elements involving an American major’s attempts to train South Korean pilots to “fight their own battles.” Dragonfly Squadron is an interesting curio, and its 3D restoration (courtesy of the esteemed Bob Furmanek and his team at the 3-D Archive) is superb, but perhaps due to a lack of real star power or a meandering screenplay, the film is (to use that explosive analogy above) kind of a dud.
Dragonfly Squadron is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films and the 3-D Archive with both AVC (2D) and MVC (3D) encoded 1080p
transfers in 1.66:1. The elements have their fair share of age related wear and tear, including the expected scratches, positive and negative dirt,
and various other minor blemishes. Grain is quite heavy throughout most of this presentation, and is considerably more noticeable in the frequent
usages of stock footage (which should be expected). Contrast is generally very strong, offering a nice range of tones within the monochromatic
palette and providing decently deep if not overwhelming black levels and nicely modulated gray scale. Detail is good to very good throughout the
presentation, though it is occasionally moderated by the rather swarthy grain structure. Despite an abundance of nighttime and other relatively dark
sequences, there are no issues with compression artifacts.
The real selling point to Dragonfly Squadron for most home video enthusiasts will be the chance to see it for the first time in 3D, and the
work done by the 3-D Archive is very commendable indeed. This is not a gimmick laden "in your face" dimensional presentation (aside from
occasional shots like a tank's gun aiming straight at the viewer as seen in screenshot 4), and in fact is rather
subtle quite a bit of the time. That said, there is impressive depth throughout this presentation, with clear delineation in spatial planes and very clear
entrees into the frame in virtually every shot. Some of the stock footage was obviously flat to begin with and therefore doesn't pop in the same way.
The only really recurrent distraction here is the damage to elements, especially negative damage which here tends to show up as almost flashpaper-
like glints of
white or near silver, typically flying "out" of the frame toward the viewer.
Dragonfly Squadron's LPCM 2.0 Mono mix also exhibits some age related wear and tear, with audible hiss and small cracks and pops evident throughout the presentation, especially in quieter passages. On the plus side, there are no real issues with dialogue and the action sequences contain some reasonably fulsome sounding effects like roaring plane engines and bombs exploding.
While it's clear that the creative forces behind Dragonfly Squadron wanted to make an earnest war film, they unfortunately chose to focus too much on the romantic angle involving the three main characters rather than the actual conflict. Even stranger, the Korean conflict was pretty much a done deal even by the time this film was shooting (let alone when it was ultimately released), making its whole point a little nebulous to begin with. The melodrama is fairly turgid here, and the battle sequences probably too few and far between to really satisfy action junkies, but as a historical curio Dragonfly Squadron retains quite a bit of interest, especially in this often stunning 3D presentation. While the film is no great shakes, this release comes Recommended.
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