Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Movie Review

Call the Cavalry

Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 6, 2016

Director John Ford initially refused to cast John Wayne as the aging Captain Nathan Brittles in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, because he didn't think Wayne was a good enough actor for the part. He changed his mind after seeing the Duke in Red River, which famously prompted Ford to remark: "I didn't know the big son of a bitch could act!" Wayne's performance in Yellow Ribbon became one of his signature roles, and the film further secured Ford's reputation as a master painter of iconic Western landscapes. The Warner Archive Collection is bringing the 1949 film to Blu-ray with the full depth and intensity of its Oscar-winning cinematography, captured from the original three-strip Technicolor negatives.

As Captain Brittles (Wayne) counts down to his retirement as commander of the cavalry regiment at Fort Stark, his last days of command fall in turbulent times. It is the summer of 1876, and General Custer and his troops have just been slaughtered at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Reports of Native American revolt are everywhere, augmented by signs of newly formed alliances among the tribes.

For his final mission, Brittles is asked by his friend and senior officer, Major Allshard (George O'Brien), to escort Allshard's wife and niece to a stagecoach pickup that will carry them eastward and out of the war zone. Abbey Allshard (Mildred Natwick) is an experienced military wife, who has grown accustomed to changing her locale, but her niece, Olivia Dandridge (Joanne Dru), is something of a handful, stoking romantic rivalry between two of Brittles' junior officers, Lts. Cohill and Pennell (John Agar and Harry Carey, Jr.). Brittles relies heavily on his chief scout, a former Confederate soldier named Tyree (Ben Johnson), whose sage advice is always accompanied by disclaimers. Brittles also relies on his adjutant, Sgt. Kincannon (Victor McLaglen), a stout Irishman whose performance on duty seems unaffected by his constant drinking.

The effort to remove the Allshard women from harm's way provides the narrative spine of Yellow Ribbon, but the film's true subject is the brotherhood among soldiers, as Brittles' troops encounter one challenge after another, evading the enemy when appropriate, fighting when necessary, always trusting in their fellow soldiers and revered commander. Yellow Ribbon belongs to a venerable tradition of military tales that celebrate the comradeship forged by common risk, where intramural squabbles (romantic and otherwise) are squelched by the urgent need to function as a unit. During their off-hours, Brittle's soldiers may punch each other senseless for fun, as they do during a barroom brawl with the indomitable Kincannon—Ford stages it like a slapstick comedy—but they snap into disciplined efficiency whenever their captain commands. Wayne's portrait of an experienced leader, one who knows what buttons to push to get the best from his troops and who rigorously contains his private feelings, remains a model for numerous subsequent portrayals of eminent commanders. (You can hear echoes of it, for example, in Eric Dane's stoic captain in The Last Ship.) Brittles opens up only at the graveside of his wife and two daughters, who died violently, judging by the dates on the headstones. When his men give him a silver watch as a retirement gift, he visibly restrains his emotion—but note how ostentatiously he consults the time at every opportunity thereafter.

Shooting on location in Monument Valley, Ford and cinematographer William Hoch captured one breathtaking vista after another. The images are both a celebration of the frontier and a constant reminder of its dangers, as Brittles and his troops ride their horses and drive their wagons through massive open spaces where the enemy could attack from any direction. The Technicolor intensity of the soldiers' blue uniforms pops them out of the landscape's earth tones, making them easy to spot and simultaneously announcing that the cavalry is coming.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was Ford's second film in color (after Drums Along the Mohawk) and his first with cinematographer Winton Hoch, who would re-team with Ford for The Quiet Man and The Searchers. Using the paintings of artist Frederick Remington as a guide, the pair evoked visions of the American frontier so powerful that, consciously or not, they have informed the look of almost every Western that has come after. Hoch had already won an Oscar for the Technicolor images in Victor Fleming's Joan of Arc, and he would win his second for Yellow Ribbon.

Yellow Ribbon was photographed in the three-strip Technicolor process used from 1935 through 1953, which is famous for both its vivid hues and its logistical challenges. For the film's Blu-ray debut, the Warner Archive Collection generated a new interpositive from the three separate negatives recorded during filming. The IP was created by YCM Laboratories, which, as the name suggests, is noted for their expertise in handling three-strip negatives (YCM is an acronym for "yellow, cyan, magenta", the portions of the spectrum separately captured by the three-strip process). After the IP was scanned, alignment of the three layers was further fine-tuned in the digital domain.

The result on this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is an image of both exceptionally sharp detail and beautifully delineated shadings of color that breathe new life into Ford's and Hoch's iconic images. Bright blue skies and mountainous rock formations in variegated shades of brown and red frame Captain Brittles and his troops as they snake through the landscape. The rich navy blues and bright yellows of the cavalry uniforms stand in sharp contrast to the intense reds that identify their Native American attackers. Fine detail is so good that you can make out the coats on both horses and the herd of buffalo encountered by Brittles and his men. You can even spot the makeup in an occasional closeup.

Following its usual standards, WAC has mastered Yellow Ribbon at a high average bitrate of 34.92 Mbps.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's original mono soundtrack has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, with fidelity and dynamic range that are appropriate for the period. Dialogue is clear, and the track is free of distortion or interference. Depending on one's personal taste, the score by Richard Hageman (Angel and the Badman) is either classic or stereotypical.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Warner first released She Wore a Yellow Ribbon on DVD in 2002, with reissues in 2006 and 2007. The Blu-ray extras have been ported over from the DVD, with the trailer remastered in 1080p.

• John Ford Home Movies (480i; 1.37:1; 4:08): An opening title card explains: "This footage was shot in the 1940's while John Ford and John Wayne scouted production locations near Mazatlan, Mexico."



• Trailer (1080p; 1.37:1; 2:31): "Only John Wayne can give such a vigorous performance! Only John Ford can stampede the screen with such sweep and eloquence!"

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon is almost seventy years old, but because Ford chose to focus on the relations among soldiers and their commanders, it hasn't dated. What's new on this Blu-ray is the vivid Technicolor presentation by WAC, which is highly recommended.