7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In the early nineteenth century, after an ivory-hunting safari offends a group of South African hunters, the colonialists are captured and hideously tortured. A lone marksman is released, without clothes or weapons, to be hunted for sport, and he begins a harrowing journey through savanna and jungle back to a primitive state.
Starring: Cornel Wilde, Gert van den Bergh, Ken Gampu, Patrick Mynhardt, Morrison GampuThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: LPCM Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Cornel Wilde's "The Naked Prey" (1965) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include an original trailer for the film; audio commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince; the original soundtrack for the film; recorded reading of "John Colter's Escape" by actor Paul Giamatti; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, vintage interview with Cornel Wilde, and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The prey
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit DataCine from a 35mm low-contrast print struck from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm DME magnetic tracks, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle.
Transfer supervisor: Maria Palazzola.
Colorist: Gregg Garvin, Modern VideoFilm, Los Angeles, CA."
The master that was used to produce this release is the same one that the folks at Eureka Entertainment worked with when they prepared their release of The Naked Prey in 2015. I did some direct comparisons between these release and if any additional work was done it is impossible to tell. Naturally, the same source limitations that we highlighted in our review of the Region-B release are retained. For example, while detail and clarity remain very pleasing during some of the wider panoramic shots it is easy to tell that depth could be even better (see screencaotures #3 and 10). Density levels are good, but there grain exposure and distribution can be even better. Highlight can be managed even better, and this is something that would help smaller nuances appear even more convincing. Colors are stable and there are good nuances, but ideally both can be better saturated and balanced. There are no traces of distracting sharpening adjustments. Image stability is very good. There are no large damage marks, cuts, scratches, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 3.75/5.00. (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 on standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The film has a pretty fluid organic soundtrack that utilizes plenty of natural sounds and noises, so the overall dynamic intensity has some pretty obvious limitations. However, clarity, depth, and stability are very good. There are no balance issues to report either.
I don't particularly like Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey. It is an interesting project, but it heads in two completely different directions at the same time and as a result the important contrasts and similarities it highlights look and feel more than a bit suspicious. I much prefer Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, which tells a very similar story but in a far more effective manner. Criterion's upcoming release is sourced from the same master that Eureka Entertainment worked with a few years ago when they prepared their release of the film, but it has a superior selection of bonus features. RECOMMENDED.
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