7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
Cowboys and farm hands woo the women they love in the rich farming territory that is about to become the State of Oklahoma. 1998 London stage revival of the 1943 musical set in the early 20th Century.
Starring: Maureen Lipman, Hugh Jackman, Shuler Hensley, Peter Polycarpou, Josefina GabrielleMusical | 100% |
Romance | 61% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Shout! Factory has reissued the Blu-ray presentation of Trevor Nunn's 1998 London revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, Oklahoma!, a storied production that helped launch Hugh Jackman's career. The previous Blu-ray, released in 2012 by Image Entertainment, has gone out of print (although it is still available from third-party sellers at an exorbitant price). Shout! hasn't added any new features or materially altered the presentation, but their disc is still a welcome arrival, providing continued availability of this engaging theatrical event at a reasonable cost.
Everything I said about the video presentation of the Image release applies to this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray from Shout! Factory. Shout!'s disc
appears to be derived from the same master,
and the only real difference is that has Shout! has reauthored the disc with a higher bitrate (29 vs.
25 Mbps). To my eye, the image quality is unchanged.
Screenshots accompanying this review have been copied from the original. For further images,
go here.
Shout!'s disc retains the stereo track heard on the Image Blu-ray with a minor difference in encoding of a 24-bit depth vs. Image's 16. But this is more a matter of numbers than sonics, especially given the nature of the source. For all practical purposes, the tracks are identical.
Shout! has included the same "Making Of" short found on the Image Blu-ray, but they have upscaled it to 1080p.
As I noted in the original review, Jackman had left this production
before it made it to Broadway, but he has since become one of musical theater's most bankable stars, reliably selling out any
engagement for which he agrees to let theater producers book him. The Blu-ray of Oklahoma! offers a chance to
experience a major talent performing a classic of American musicals for a fraction of what tickets would
cost to see him live today. Kudos to Shout! Factory for ensuring the continued availability of this
show on an affordable Blu-ray.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Warner Archive Collection
1971
1935
1951
1983
Warner Archive Collection
1951
Limited Edition to 3000
1962
1953
Warner Archive Collection
1957
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1943
1980
1948
1982
1955
Warner Archive Collection
1950
65th Anniversary Edition
1958
Warner Archive Collection
1955
1961
Fox Studio Classics
1969
2014
Warner Archive Collection
1940