Springfield Rifle Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Springfield Rifle Blu-ray Movie Review

Goodbye, horses.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III May 30, 2025

A sturdy Civil War Western directed by Andre de Toth (a once-prolific director later relegated to second-unit duties on Lawrence of Arabia and Superman), Springfield Rifle also doubles as the unfortunate Gary Cooper film to directly follow his career-defining performance in High Noon. While this slow-burning, espionage-tinted production can't hope to reach those dizzying heights, it nonetheless provides decent genre entertainment in 93 minutes or less. Mostly dismissed by critics as the time of its 1952 release, Springfield Rifle is now ripe for re-evaluation via Warner Archive's solid new Blu-ray package which features a brand-new 4K-sourced restoration of the original camera negative.

At Colorado's Fort Hedley circa 1864, Union forces led by Lt. Colonel John Hudson (Paul Kelly) endure mounting losses as aggressive rustlers continue to steal valuable horses from the area in large numbers with the help of a Confederate spy suspected by Colonel George Sharpe (Wilton Graff). Unable to employ equal counter-espionage tactics since those methods are frowned upon by George Washington, Hudson's proposed solution is to demand more solders. Instead, Sharpe suggests making use of the "Springfield rifle", a slick new repeating weapon that will increase its bearer's defensive power multiple times over... but unfortunately, it's not quite able to be mass-produced yet.

Leading a group of men and horses through the same mountain pass where countless Union soldiers were ambushed, Major Alex 'Lex' Kearney (Cooper) faces the same fate but voluntarily gives up the herd in exchange for the lives of his men and they all return safely to Fort Hedley. Railroaded by the powers-that-be, Lex is wink-wink discharged from his position but secretly ordered to use his newfound "freedom" to infiltrate the Confederate spy ring. He's even required to keep the mission a secret from his suspicious wife Erin (Phyllis Thaxter), who tells him that their adult sun, shamed by his father's actions, has run away to join the Army. With his faux disgrace on full display, Lex gradually works his way up enemy ranks and might eventually be aided by a brand-new shipment of the titular guns.

"Spy thriller" and "traditional Western" are rarely combined, but Springfield Rifle makes a decent case for this genre mashup, which was not-so-coincidentally produced during the first five years of the Cold War when increased military funding was regularly demanded. The end result is at least a little overworked for its own good (at least considering the fairly short running time), yet Cooper's reliable presence, Andre de Toth's capable direction, and great cinematography by Edwin DuPar (Objective Burma, Giant) all help to keep it largely grounded during key moments. In the considerable shadow of High Noon it's almost doomed to be underrated, but Springfield Rifle still stands decently tall as a somewhat minor yet still worthy effort by almost everyone involved. Resurrected by Warner Archive following two separate DVD editions by WB and WAC in 2006 and 2016, it's now poised to attract a new generation of genre fans.

Springfield Rifle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Archive have once again worked their magic on this sterling 1080p transfer, which is advertised as being sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative. As seen in these direct-from-disc screenshots, it's a pleasing and film-like image indeed that boasts excellent fine detail, clarity, depth, and of course color reproduction with a natural and well-saturated palette that showcases no shortage of stunning outdoor landscapes and pale blue skies. Even the comparatively more plain-wrap interiors and their overwhelmingly brown colors look good. Despite the occasional "dupey" looking shot here and there, this surprisingly grain-heavy picture remains largely consistent with a natural film-like texture that has obviously not been processed with any perceivable amount of grain management. As such, it's very clean but not "scrubbed" and achieves an organic appearance that likely resembles original theatrical showings. Disc encoding is also strong, running at a supportive bit rate from start to finish and usually hovering in the mid-30Mbps mark with no egregious signs of macro blocking or posterization. All things considered, this is another mark in the "win" column and clearly the best that Springfield Rifle has looked on home video to date.

Springfield Rifle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Keeping pace is the film's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track, which as always preserves Springfield Rifle's original mono mix in a split two-channel container. It's an unavoidably thin but trouble-free presentation, one that occasionally opens up at select moments but mostly exists as a pure "gets the job done" effort with clean, crisp dialogue and largely well-balanced sound effects. Not much width is achieved here but it strikes a perfectly nice balance at the right moments and, if nothing else, feels purely in line with what viewers should expect out of a genre film from this era. The original music by prolific composer Max Steiner, who wrote no less than eight other scores that year and eight more in 1953, sounds great as well and rounds out this solid lossless track with energy to spare.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

Springfield Rifle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork and a handful of bonus features.

• So You Want to Enjoy Life (10:59) - This unrestored Joe McDoakes short -- as always, written and directed by Richard L. Bare -- stars series regular George O'Hanlon as the titular "man behind the 8-ball". In this outing, the poor schmuck discovers he has but a month to live so he decides to make the most of his limited time left. PRO TIP: Maybe don't physically assault your boss until you get a second opinion?

• Classic Cartoons - A pair of decently-restored shorts from the Warner Bros. vault.

• Rabbit's Kin (6:53) - This 1992 Merrie Melodies short, directed by Robert McKimson, finds Bugs in a sympathetic mood as he looks after the well-named Shorty who's hunted by a cougar. It's been thankfully rescued from DVD purgatory and its former home as part of WB's Golden Collection Volume 1 set.
• Feed the Kitty (7:23) - An all-time favorite around these parts, this absolutely classic Chuck Jones short features Marc Antony and Pussyfoot as he tries to hide the sweet little kitten from his stern owner. This one can already be found on the first Platinum Collection set, but I'll gladly take a backup copy.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:43) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

Springfield Rifle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Andre de Toth's Springfield Rifle marked lead actor Gary Cooper's next on-screen appearance after Fred Zinnemann's immortal High Noon, and it's obvious that this film can't hope to reach those dizzying heights in most respects. It was undoubtedly punished by some critics at the time for that very reason but still stands as a decently strong genre effort more than 70 years later and, as always, this film's second life is strongly supported by Warner Archive's outstanding restoration efforts. Riding high on Blu-ray with a terrific new A/V presentation and a few fun era-specific extras, it's a decently well-rounded disc that's well worth picking up for classic Western enthusiasts. Recommended.