6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
A man refuses to believe that pilot error caused a fatal crash, and persists in looking for another reason.
Starring: Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jane RussellWar | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The disaster film craze was still a few years in the offing when Fate is the Hunter premiered in 1964, but Hollywood had already flirted with aircraft in distress in such famous outings as The High and the Mighty. Ostensibly based on a bestselling reminiscence by aviation professional (and writer) Ernest K. Gann (who successfully fought to have his name removed from the credits after he objected to the film’s approach), Fate is the Hunter opens with a spectacular crash of a jet, and then spends the rest of the film in a combination of flashbacks and investigative procedural as a team of experts attempts to figure out what made the plane go down shortly after takeoff. This structural gambit gives Fate is the Hunter a curiously lurching quality, one which may in fact have exacerbated the dismay that Gann evidently felt when he realized the film was going to concentrate on the drama surrounding a plane crash. While Harold Medford’s adaptive screenplay is probably needlessly melodramatic and stuffed to the gills with various sidebars and tangents, and some of the investigative techniques depicted in the film seem positively ridiculous at times, Fate is the Hunter is still kind of interesting, intellectually if never emotionally, as an accounting of how professionals like those in the NTSB go about determining what kinds of human error or technological foibles contribute to downing an aircraft. With the recent media frenzy surrounding the disappearance of the ill fated Malaysian Airlines flight 370, Fate is the Hunter might provide some passing interest for those who wonder how the blathering pundits on various cable news channels arrive at some of their opinions vis a vis pilot malfeasance or some less nefarious chain of events leading to disaster. While Fate is the Hunter may ultimately not be an overly compelling experience, this new Blu-ray has a “secret weapon” of sorts with its inclusion of the often touching and moving documentary about co-star Nancy Kwan, To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey, produced and directed by Twilight Time’s Brian Jamieson. Even those who don’t find Fate is the Hunter particularly appealing may well want to check out this disc for the documentary, which while a bit too self-consciously arty at times (a trait shared by Jamieson’s partner Nick Redman’s Becoming John Ford, included on Drums Along The Mohawk ) still delivers a really fascinating “up close and personal” look at Kwan, one of the first major stars of Eurasian descent.
Fate is the Hunter's sole Academy Award nomination came for its crisp but often lustrous black and white cinematography by Milton R. Krasner, and that has been reproduced with excellent precision and clarity in this AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Krasner uses the widescreen format, offering both panoramic views and more intimate midrange shots, and this presentation's very consistent contrast and satisfying black levels create a nicely sharp and defined viewing experience. The higher resolution of the Blu-ray more than reveals the use of miniatures in the film's opening crash sequence, but perhaps surprisingly also adds a patina of realism to the life sized "remnants" of the plane that are seen at various times throughout the film as the investigation continues. The opening nighttime sequence has more than ample shadow detail, and the entire offering boasts natural looking grain, and an absence of both compression artifacts and any obvious digital tweaking.
Fate is the Hunter offers a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that ably recreates the film's somewhat limited sound design. Once the opening fracas is over with, the rest of the soundtrack is comprised mostly of small scale dialogue scenes, with occasional ambient sound effects and equally occasional Jerry Goldsmith underscore. The mono format supports this all perfectly well, with excellent fidelity and no damage to report.
Gann's original novel was at least partly autobiographical, and was evidently stuffed to the gills with anecdotes about the history of flight—both civilian and military—from World War II on. Why the filmmakers decided to more or less simply buy a title and then invent a not very involving story of a doomed jet is anyone's guess, but Harold Medford's screenplay only further muddies the water by introducing all sorts of padded anecdotes to help us understand Savage and McBane. If the central mystery had been more compelling and the backstories more cogently woven into the story, Fate is the Hunter probably would have been more exciting. As it stands, it's a decently interesting but flawed attempt to wed a proto-disaster film ambience with a more intimate character study. Despite the film's flaws, the Blu-ray presentation is top flight (sorry), and the bonus documentary is a real gem. As a package, Recommended.
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