6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
In 1876, Duncan MacDonald joins the new, 300-member Mounted Police in western Canada, just in time for a dangerous mission. It seems the Cree Indians, raiding across the border in Montana, took two hostages for their safe return to Canada. But MacDonald, with only scout Natayo to help, will need all his diplomacy and then some to extract the captives from the midst of a thousand Cree.
Starring: Tyrone Power, Cameron Mitchell, Thomas Gomez, Robert Horton (I), Adeline De Walt ReynoldsWestern | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Music: Isolated Score (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
We Americans tend to think of the wild west as being solely within our national purview. But even some cursory reflection reveals this not to be case, for it is the Spanish tradition of the vaquero which gave birth to the modern idea of the cowboy. In fact it might even be argued that the concept of a “cowboy” actually emigrated to North America via Spanish Conquistadors and then other South American influences which ultimately matriculated into our nation. And so in at least one direction—namely south of us in the United States—it becomes pretty easy to at least slightly universalize our supposed “unique” history and to understand it was certainly an international affair. But for some peculiar reason that really is hard to pin down, many Americans just never think of Canada as having had its own “wild west” history, replete with cowboys and so-called Indians. This seems a really oddly chauvinistic (in the true sense of that word) point of view, one completely ignorant of the actual history of Canada. Pony Soldier may not in fact have much to offer in terms of anything other than the sort of romanticized history that regularly dots films of all eras, but it at least offers a relatively rare look at our northern cousins and an era in that nation’s history that few here in the United States ever really have pondered.
Pony Soldier is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. This is unfortunately one of the more ragged looking releases we've seen coming from Twilight Time (which got their HD master from Fox). The Fox outings Twilight Time has released have sometimes not quite reached the near impeccable levels of the Sony-Columbia titles the label also licenses, but this particular release has a fairly murky overall appearance, and I would be shocked if this HD presentation has been culled from an IP. (Stranger things have happened, so I'm only too happy to admit I could be mistaken.) While colors are okay looking, they simply don't quite pop with "true" three strip Technicolor boldness—look, for example, how the Mounties' red uniforms tip ever so slightly toward the orange end of the spectrum (and actually most of these screenshots don't really represent how much tipping is evident throughout this presentation). The image rarely is more than acceptably sharp and well defined (though a few isolated scenes suddenly increase in sharpness and saturation), and in fact a lot of the midrange and wide shots are pretty fuzzy looking. The elements themselves are in good enough condition, with only fairly minor (and expected) minor flecks and specks showing up very intermittently.
Pony Soldier's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix is generally effective, although it's hampered by its era's recording technology, which tends to make everything sound slightly closed in and artificial sounding at times. Dialogue and score are relatively well mixed (I personally would have loved Alex North's score to have been more forward in several key scenes, though the isolated score track offered here as a supplement is outstanding and helps to largely ameliorate that qualm). Fidelity is very good within the narrow confines of this track and dynamic range is fairly wide, though Pony Soldier really doesn't have any battles to speak of, and most of the range is due to North's score and some screeching Cree.
Pony Soldier is a pretty middling effort through and through, and it's a rather odd choice for Twilight Time to be bringing to Blu-ray. The film is undeniably scenic, but from a dramatic standpoint, it's lethargic and predictable, and Power simply looks uncomfortable playing a Mountie. For me personally, the best part of this release was undoubtedly the often stunning Alex North score, and I'm once again truly thankful that Twilight Time presents almost all of its releases with isolated score supplements, even if that feature only appeals to a rather small niche (of which I am a proud member). My sense is this release is probably going to appeal to Power fans (even if this is far from Power's best film) and to those who admire the music of Alex North.
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
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