6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 2.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.6 |
A small southern town has just been rocked by a tragedy: a young woman has been violently raped. The white town fathers immediately declare that the attacker had to be black, and place the blame on Garth, a young black man. Assuming that the men in white sheets aren't intent on holding a fair and impartial trial, Garth takes to the woods as the Klansmen lynching party hunts him down.
Starring: Lee Marvin, Richard Burton, Cameron Mitchell, O.J. Simpson, David HuddlestonThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Terence Young's "The Klansman" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the disc. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Sheriff Track Bascomb
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Terence Young's The Klansman arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.
The release is sourced from a dated master, likely the only one that Paramount Pictures currently has in its vaults. Unsurprisingly, there are some obvious limitations on display. For example, depth isn't optimal, and during nighttime and daytime footage it is clear that crucial nuances are lost as well. Shadow definition is also affected and plenty of the darker footage struggles with pronounced black crush. Colors remain stable and appear rather healthy as no recent attempts have been made to artificially boost up saturation, but it is again easy to see that the primaries are not optimal and key nuances are missing. On the other hand, even though the film does have a dated appearance, the lack of compromising digital corrections actually makes it very easy to tolerate. To be perfectly clear, despite the various limitations that are mentioned above, there are still some fairly decent organic qualities that have been retained. Obviously, the larger your screen is, the easier it will be to spot the limitations, but this is certainly a raw presentation of a film for which there simply isn't a better master at the moment. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
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.
It is clear that the audio has not been recently remastered, but the quality of the lossless track is good. The dialog is always clear and easy to follow. Depth is also consistently pleasing. There are no balance issues to report, though I sense that there might be some room for improvement in the mid/high registers where the relationship between clarity and fluidity can benefit from some careful optimizations. There are no audio dropouts or other digital errors to report.
Most unfortunately, there are no special features to be found on this Blu-ray release.
There is a lot that one can pull out of Terence Young's The Klansman to argue that it is a bad film, but the dangerous social polarization that is chronicled in it does not at all strike me as a thing of the past. The film clearly stumbles a bit when it rushes to create harsh contrasts that would have a profound and lasting impact on its audience, but even they aren't entirely devoid of logic. If you have been curious about The Klansman but have read very harsh reviews that outright dismiss it, my advice is to ignore them, see it, and form your own opinion. The Blu-ray is sourced from a dated master, but given how controversial, elusive and difficult the film has been to see, it is a small miracle that there was actually a suitable master for a high-definition release that you can now purchase and add to your collection. RECOMMENDED.
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