The Man from the Alamo Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		1.5
Audio		1.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

The Man from the Alamo Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 3, 2020

Note: 'The Man from the Alamo' is currently only available in a two-disc, two-film double feature from Mill Creek with 'They Came to Cordura.'

The film tells the story of John Stroud (Glenn Ford) who fought at the Alamo against Santa Anna's army but was chosen to leave before its fall to warn families about the battle and its cost. When the Alamo falls and all inside are killed, Stroud is ostracized but nevertheless takes up the mantle of fighting for the families in Santa Anna's warpath. The film is, then, not about the battle of the Alamo itself but rather its aftermath, a pleasant change of pace from the otherwise rather stringent focus found in other films. The film is well staged and nicely acted.

The Man from the Alamo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 1080p Blu-ray presentation, framed at the original 4x3 aspect ratio resulting in vertical "black bars" on either side of the 1.78:1 frame, generally looks rather poor. While many shots and scenes appear properly filmic, others almost look as if they've been transferred from video. The 1080p resolution holds throughout, of course, but it appears that the picture was cobbled together from several sources of varying qualities. The entire picture appears rather ragged, even at its best, where skin, clothing, and environmental textures find but only essential detailing, even in close-up. Elsewhere, the picture struggles to show firm, accurate representations of its elements. Colors are poor, too. They are inconsistent at best, seeming to change temperature and contrast with great frequency, sometimes from shot to shot and even in the same shot (see around the 25:40 mark for one of many examples). Worse, the image is plagued by severe blue splotches and discolorations. Other pops and speckles are in evidence, too. The picture is watchable at best, poor at worst, and it favors the latter far more often than the former.

The Man from the Alamo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unfortunately, the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack is no better than its video counterpart. The presentation struggles to find more than a modicum of clarity. The Alamo battle towards film's start is not particularly good but it's also probably the highlight. It plays with plenty of (admittedly crude) intensity and fills the stage's front half with impressive volume output but not much in the way of definition. It's easy to distinguish the difference between exploding cannonballs and rifle shots, but the din is fairly unkempt in total and the scene is more of a mishmash of mushy sounds more so than a crisp experience. There is some underlying hiss and changes in pitch when the scene shifts between characters. Musical scratchiness and changes in pitch in the same scene (28:45) are in evidence. Music stretches fairly well to the sides but it's distinctly lacking in more than cursory clarity. Dialogue is intelligible and center focused but also struggles to find much detail.

The Man from the Alamo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplemental materials are included.

The Man from the Alamo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Man from the Alamo is a solid film about the Alamo and the history around it from a different perspective. Glenn Ford is good as the lead and the story and production values are good enough to warrant a watch. Unfortunately, Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray delivers very troubled video and audio. But the release is priced right so those who just want to watch the movie with no concern for quality can own it cheap.