Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

The Black Stallion Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 19, 2015

Carroll Ballard's "The Black Stallion" (1979) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; five short films by Carroll Ballard; new video interview with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel; new video interview with still photographer Mary Ellen Mark; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring Michael Sragow's essay "Nirvana on Horseback" and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Black

The first half of the film is magical. The visuals are so incredibly beautiful and the atmosphere so unusual that it literally feels like one is welcomed into a vivid dream. Very few words are spoken because the seemingly random sounds and noises are far more important.

Young Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) and his father (Hoyt Axton, Gremlins) are on a ship somewhere off the coast of Africa. Alec is bored and while wandering around the ship witnesses how a group of men try to tame a beautiful black stallion. Later on, the boy gives the stallion a few sugar cubes and angers one of its guards.

During a powerful storm the ship catches fire and people are forced to jump in the ocean. The stallion is also set free. While the ship slowly begins to sink, Alec and the stallion find each other in the freezing water and together reach a deserted island.

It takes a long time before some Italian fishermen discover Alec. During that time he and the stallion learn to trust each other and then become best friends. Some of the sequences in which the two play together can best be described as poetry in motion -- the visuals are absolutely stunning, unlike anything else a camera has captured on film.

The second half is an effective reminder that all dreams eventually come to an end. Alec is reunited with his mother (Teri Garr, Young Frankenstein, Tootsie), while the stallion is moved in the tiny backyard of their house. A garbage man then scares it and the animal runs straight to the farm of Henry (Mickey Rooney, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), a retired jockey whose opinion still matters. Even though the stallion does not have any papers, eventually Henry helps it enter a very important race -- with Alec on its back.

It isn’t difficult to guess how the film would end, but the race is very exciting to watch. The camera positioning is excellent and there are some tremendous shots showing how intense the boy and the horse are. With strategically positioned microphones, sound editor Alan Splet also made sure that one can literally feel the horse’s heavy breathing.

In a brand new video interview included on this release, director Carroll Ballard mentions that had it not been for Francis Ford Coppola -- who bought the rights to Walter Farley’s novel while shooting The Godfather: Part II in Sicily -- The Black Stallion most likely would have been locked in a vault and forgotten by United Artists. Apparently, the people that financed it were not terribly impressed with the look of the film when Coppola, who executive produced it, screened it for them in San Francisco and quickly altered their distribution plans. It was Coppola’s insistence that the film deserved to be seen that helped to have it screened at the New York Film Festival.

The Black Stallion was Ballard’s feature film directorial debut. He shot the film with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Natural, The Passion of the Christ) in multiple locations in Italy, Canada and America. The unforgettable footage from the first half was shot on one of Sardinia’s many beautiful beaches.

In 1983, Reno and Cass Ole, the Texas horse that played the black stallion, reunited in director Robert Dalva's film The Black Stallion Returns.

The Black Stallion 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, Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"Supervised by director of photography Caleb Deschanel, this new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Scanity film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative; the film was then restored in 2K resolution. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain, noise management, flicker, and jitter.
The original 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm original Dolby A magnetic tracks. Clicks, thumps, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, AudioCube's integrated workstation, and iZotope RX 4. Please be sure to enable Dolby Pro Logic decoding on your receiver to properly play the Dolby 2.0 surround soundtrack.

Transfer supervisors: Caleb Deschanel, Lee Kline.
Colorist: Dave Cole/Modern VideoFilm, Los Angeles."

The improvements in detail and especially image depth can be seen throughout the entire film. Not only are edges better defined -- the light halo effects present on MGM's release are completely eliminated -- but overall fluidity is dramatically improved as well (compare screencapture #4 and screencapture #9 from our review of the previous release). During the darker footage shadow definition is also a lot more convincing. Contrast levels remain stable. The high-quality scanning has also ensured that grain is extremely well distributed and resolved (you can see how tight and even the grain is in close-ups and wider panoramic shots if you compare screencaptures #4 and 10). There are absolutely no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Colors are stable and natural. I only wish that the reds were slightly better saturated in a couple of sequences (see screencapture #19), but the overall balance is very good. Image stability is outstanding. Lastly, there are no serious encoding anomalies to report in this review. All in all, this is a very good restoration of The Black Stallion, which will likely remain the film's definitive presentation on the home video market. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

The Black Stallion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. (Please see the Dolby Pro Logic note in the video section of our review).

The audio has greatly benefited from the recent remastering. Depth and clarity are so good that at times it literally feels like one is placed right in the middle of the action. There are also various nuanced sounds and noises that should raise some eyebrows amongst viewers who appreciate great mixing (listen to Black's breathing during the race and the individual solos in Carmine Coppola's exotic soundtrack). The dialog is crystal clear, crisp, stable, and exceptionally easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, distracting background hiss, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in our review.

The Black Stallion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for The Black Stallion. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Carroll Ballard and Scott Foundas - in this new filmed conversation, director Carroll Ballard discusses with film critic Scott Foundass the difficult production history of The Black Stallion, Francis Ford Coppola's involvement with the film and his invaluable support, the shooting of the film in Sardinia, Italy (with some excellent comments about the footage with the cobra), the film's distribution history and success, some of the unique framing decisions (as well as the use of light), Mickey Rooney's performance, the evolution of his directing style, etc. The conversation was filmed exclusively for Criterion at the director's home in California in 2015. In English, not subtitled. (48 min, 1080p).

• Caleb Deschanel - in this new video interview, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel discusses Carroll Ballard's directing style (prior to The Black Stallion the two had done a couple of short films together), the shooting of various parts from The Black Stallion (with specific comments about the Italian crew that worked with them in Sardinia), the various lighting decisions that were made, the special connection between the child and the horse and the role of the trainer behind the camera, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in California in 2014. In English, not subtitled. (22 min, 1080p).

• Mary Ellen Mark - in this new video interview, still photographer Mary Ellen Mark discusses her work in Sardinia and Toronto where different parts of The Black Stallion were shot. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2015. In English, not subtitled. (8 min, 1080p).

• Short Films - presented here are five short films which Carroll Ballard shot between 1965 and 1974. Each short is accompanied by a brand new video introduction by director Carroll Ballard.
  
  1. Pigs! (1965). In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p).
  2. The Perils of Priscilla (1969). In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).
  3. Rodeo (1969). In English, not subtitled. (20 min, 1080p).
  4. Seems Like Only Yesterday (1971). In English, not subtitled. (48 min, 1080p).
  5. Crystallization (1974). In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring Michael Sragow's essay "Nirvana on Horseback". (Mr. Sragow is the West Coast editor and online critic for Film Comment and the author of Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master).

The Black Stallion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion will be admired and revisited for as long as films are made. People frequently exaggerate when they describe films they like, but I assure you that those who have praised this film during the years have not -- it truly is stunningly beautiful. Criterion's new 4K restoration is wonderful and most likely will remain the definitive presentation of the film on the home video market. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.