8.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
A retired Marshal must defend his town from a revengeful villain.
Starring: Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell (I), Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Grace KellyWestern | 100% |
Drama | 94% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The fate of high profile catalog titles on Blu-ray has been a rather interesting story, especially now that we’re several years into the high definition era. Some studios, notably Warner Brothers, have excelled at releasing quality catalog product, often in lavish Collectors’ Editions, at least for their very high profile titles like Ben-Hur or Citizen Kane. Though perhaps less lauded than Warner, Paramount has also done excellent work on a number of high value titles, including The Ten Commandments and Breakfast at Tiffany's (the latter title quite unfairly derided for supposed DNR that simply isn’t there). Universal, of course, is a different matter entirely, usually the bane of withering comments that lambaste its persistent use of DNR on catalog releases (even if I personally seldom find the results as abhorrent as many seem to). Perhaps at least a little unexpectedly, a whole slew of supposedly "lesser" catalog releases have either not seen the Blu-ray light of day (yet) or have been relegated to a kind of secondary market, where we've seen Paramount (or Paramount controlled) titles coming out on Olive Films Blu-rays and both Columbia and Fox catalog titles being released by Twilight Time. Some of these titles might be termed second string catalog releases, and many seem to be getting shuttled off to niche labels like Twilight Time and Olive Films via licensing deals more and more lately, perhaps a sign that the actual studio labels themselves have little to no interest in actually taking the financial risk to release product that may not have sold overly well on VHS or DVD (or in some rare cases may never have been released in any home video format whatsoever before). For all the sniping about price points and lack of extras that regularly enflame discussions about both of the niche labels listed above, my personal opinion is lovers of classic films owe these little labels a debt of gratitude for at least testing the market waters with releases that otherwise might not see the light of day, even if there are certain things to complain about now and again. High Noon is a case in point. It regularly makes any number of AFI “best of” lists, it won Gary Cooper a well deserved Best Actor Academy Award, it produced one of the most memorable and best loved theme songs of all time (another Oscar winner), and it in its own small way reinvented the Western. And yet Paramount (which controls distribution of this United Artists release) has never seen fit to release it on Blu-ray itself, leaving that up to Olive Films via its licensing deal.
High Noon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.35:1. The results here are mostly spectacular, with Floyd Crosby's evocative black and white cinematography looking gorgeously lustrous, which is not to say that the dusty open prairie ambience of the film isn't presented in all its drab "glory". Contrast is extremely strong throughout this presentation, with solid renderings of very deep and true black levels, impressive variations in gray scale, and clear and decisive whites. The elements here are in amazingly good condition, with hardly a sign of damage anywhere. Fine object detail is excellent throughout, though some of the midrange shots suffer from some very slight softness (perhaps due to having been shot by a second unit). About the only noticeable artifact here is some extremely minor aliasing and moiré on some of the natty tweed jackets (Thomas Mitchell's is a good example). Otherwise this is yet another very impressive catalog release from Olive, which continues to offer product that doesn't appear to have undergone excessive digital tweaking, retaining a nicely natural filmlike appearance.
High Noon's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono gets the job done within its own narrow confines, but the track is hampered by a somewhat more noticeable boxiness than several other recent Olive releases which also featured DTS-HD Master Audio Mono audio mixes. The boxiness is most apparent in the midrange, which unfortunately affects Dmitri Tiomkin's Oscar winning score as much as it does some of the dialogue. One interesting thing about this lossless offering is that it makes quite clear that at least some of the dialogue was post looped; listen for example to a couple of Lloyd Bridges' lines in the big barn showdown with Gary Cooper, lines which have a noticeably different amplitude and hall ambience than the bulk of his dialogue in the scene. There's no outright damage to report here, but this track, while certainly acceptable and nothing to really worry about, does show its age a bit more than some others of this general vintage.
There's both good news and bad news with regard to a supplemental package on this Blu-ray. As fans of Olive Films releases know, more often than not there are no supplements of any kind. So the good news is there are in fact a couple of extras included here (detailed below). The bad news is that several supplements that have graced previous DVD releases, including an incredibly informative commentary featuring many of the talents involved in the film as well as historians, are not included here.
High Noon is one of the few films which have only grown in stature and appreciation since its original release. The film's unrelenting originality and focused tone was off putting in 1952, but it seems curiously "right" to modern day sensibilities. Cooper is brilliantly understated in this role, and he's surrounded by a top flight cast that hits all the right notes. Zinnemann stages things incredibly effectively and Foreman's screenplay is a model of concision and brilliant structure. While it would have been preferable to have had more supplements on this release, the video quality here is outstanding and the audio is at the very least acceptable. Highly recommended.
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