7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
A pacifist doctor joins a Union colonel's cavalry raid in Confederate territory.
Starring: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Judson Pratt, Hoot GibsonWestern | 100% |
War | 61% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (256 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (256 kbps)
Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (256 kbps)
English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Falling roughly between The Searchers—arguably the best western ever made—and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the last truly great film of John Ford’s prolific career, The Horse Soldiers is generally regarded as “lesser Ford.” While this may be true, it should be remembered that even at his least inspired, John Ford made western and war movies—with occasional forays into other genres—that stood toe-to-toe with practically anything else Hollywood was putting out at the time. The Horse Soldiers, then, may not ride high in Ford’s filmography—not for critics or film scholars, anyway—but it was commercially successful upon its 1959 release, and it’s still a worthwhile entertainment, filled with explosive action sequences and bolstered by deliciously prickly performances from its two leads, William Holden and John Wayne, Ford’s go-to hero.
Marlowe pours himself another one...
I don't think anyone expects much restoration work to be put into MGM Blu-ray catalog releases nowadays—unless we're talking about massively popular tentpole films—so I wasn't surprised to see that The Horse Soldiers' 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer has its share of untouched source-related deficiencies. White specks and small vertical scratches occasionally crop up, brightness and colors sometimes flicker and shift, and the print in general has a slightly grimy look. But here's the big question: Is it an improvement over the DVD? Absolutely. Although the film has never been super-sharp, clarity gets an appreciable boost here, with more visible textures in key areas, like the actors' faces and clothing. Aside from the fluctuations, which most often occur around scene changes, color is also nicely reproduced. Yankee blues are dense, green foliage is suitably lush, skin tones are warm and creamy, and black levels are as deep as they need to be while still preserving relevant shadow detail. One other thing to note: the film has always been very grainy, but MGM fortunately hasn't tried to smooth it away with DNR. I didn't notice any banding, blocking, or excess compression noise, although on this last point, grain is so thick it would be hard to tell if there were more noise than usual. Overall, this seems to be a straight transfer of a moderately used print. The film could certainly look better, but that would probably require a significant time/effort/money investment on the part of an already-strapped studio.
Horse Soldiers rides onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio version of its mono soundtrack. Your player/receiver may identify this as 2.0, but there's no stereo separation here. And none needed. While I appreciate the efforts studios sometimes make to expand the soundtracks of older films to 5.1 channels—and beyond—I'm happy enough with the original versions in lossless format. I'm sure most purists agree. Although obviously limited dynamically and immersion-wise, this track gets all the essentials right. Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand—even if the recordings aren't as pristine as what you'd hear in a contemporary film—and the effects are as clear and powerful as can be expected. David Buttholph's nostalgic score sounds wonderful as well. Most importantly, there are no fatal hisses, drop-outs, pops, or crackles. The disc also includes a number of dub and subtitle options—see above for details.
Unfortunately, the only bonus on the disc is a 1080p theatrical trailer, running just shy of three minutes.
The Horse Soldiers may not be the best of the John Ford/John Wayne collaborations—even Ford himself supposedly wasn't happy with the finished film—but it's a consistently entertaining Civil War drama that features Wayne as a stubborn, tough-as-rawhide Colonel leading his men on a seemingly impossible mission. Although the lack of special features is disappointing, the Blu-ray is a solid upgrade from the now-ancient DVD, which came out ten years ago. Recommended for Ford followers, Wayne worshippers, Civil War buffs—or, at least, those willing to forgive some historical inaccuracy—and western lovers in general.
1948
50th Anniversary
1961
1970
Fox Studio Classics
1969
1966
Limited Edition
1965
Limited Edition to 3000
1965
Signature Edition
1950
1954
1970
1930
1960
Warner Archive Collection
1949
1950
1959
Warner Archive Collection
1956
1953
Fox Studio Classics
1960
For a Few Extra Dollars / Die Now, Pay Later / Per pochi dollari ancora
1966
1971