Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Red Sun Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 1, 2015

Terence Young's "Red Sun" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. There are no supplemental features on this release. In English, with optional German subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Kuroda and Link

The late 1860s. Somewhere in the Wild West, a large gang of robbers led by Gauche Kink (Alain Delon, Le Samouraï) stop a train transporting gold. They steal the gold and an extremely valuable ancient sword from Japan’s first ambassador (Tetsu Nakamura), who is on his way to Washington to meet the President. During the attack, Gauche attempts to eliminate his biggest rival in the gang, Link Stuart (Charles Bronson, Once Upon a Time in the West), but he survives and later reluctantly agrees to help Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune, Seven Samurai), the ambassador’s bodyguard, recover the sword.

A few days later, Link and Kuroda visit a popular brothel and kidnap Gauche’s beautiful mistress, Cristina (Ursula Andress, Perfect Friday). When word reaches Gauche that Cristina is with Link, he gathers a few of his best men, and they begin looking for them. Meanwhile, Link and Kuroda kill a few Comanche warriors after they torture Cristina, but more of them appear, and they are forced to fight for their lives.

Terence Young’s western Red Sun is based on a pretty good story by Laird Koenig, but without the impressive cast its reputation almost certainly would have been different. The cast was probably the main reason why the great French cinematographer Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast) agreed to lense it as well.

Once they become partners, Bronson and Mifune frequently begin to look quite awkward together. However, Red Sun does not take their characters too seriously. This makes a big difference because their lines and reactions are often far from impressive.

Delon and Andress share a better chemistry, but their characters also lack depth. This is unfortunate because there are plenty of good opportunities for interesting surprises that could have strengthened these characters, especially during the second half, where they are expected to match Bronson and Mifune.

Still, Red Sun is an enjoyable film. Seeing Mifune’s fearless samurai in oddly compromising situations and gradually learning that in the Wild West any rule can be broken, for instance, effectively negates many of the screenplay's shortcomings. Also, even though plenty of humor can be quite silly, it does not transform Red Sun into a dreary parody.

Alekan was a genuine master, but in Red Sun there are only a couple of sequences where the camerawork feels inspired. The best ones are during the grand finale and have the best action.

Red Sun was scored by the great French composer Maurice Jarre, who worked with some of the most influential directors of the last century. His credits include such classic films as Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, The Damned, and Judex.

Red Sun Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Terence Young's Red Sun arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.

The disc's main interface can be set in English or German, so it is probably safe to assume that the upcoming German release of Red Sun will be identical. The two releases are distributed by StudioCanal.

It appears that the release has been sourced from the same master that was used to produce the old R2 DVD release, which until recently offered the best presentation of Red Sun on the home video market. Generally speaking, detail and clarity are quite pleasing. There are small segments where it is easy to tell that the master was prepared some time ago -- there are some minor density and contrast fluctuations -- but typically the film looks quite decent. Grain is visible, but there are traces of light filtering. Fortunately, even though the film looks a bit softer than it should, there are no distracting visual anomalies. There are no traces of recent sharpening adjustments. Colors are stable and natural, but saturation could be better. Overall image stability is very good. Finally, there are no large cuts, debris, stains, or torn frames to report in our review. To sum it all up, there is certainly room for improvement, but for the most part this is a rather nice technical presentation that makes it easy to enjoy the film. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Red Sun Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional German subtitles are provided for the main feature, but they can be accessed if one sets the main interface in German.

Clarity is quite good but depth could be slightly inconsistent. This isn't to imply that there are distracting fluctuations, but if the audio is fully remastered fluidity and depth will certainly be better. The dialog is stable and clean. There are no pops, audio dropouts, heavy background hiss, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Red Sun Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features on this release.

Red Sun Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is some incredible talent in Terence Young's Red Sun, but it is something of an exotic experiment that is probably best to see very late at night. I enjoy the film and frequently revisit it and was quite pleased when a few years ago StudioCanal finally released it on DVD in its proper aspect ratio. The new Blu-ray release appears to have been sourced from the same master that was used for the DVD release. The film could look better in high-definition, but you will be pleased with the technical presentation. RECOMMENDED.