6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In 1952, Saigon is caught between the corrupt colonial powers and the Communist uprising. An idealistic young American (Audie Murphy) champions a shadowy Third Force, but cynical British journalist Thomas Fowler (Michael Redgrave) is concerned only with the American's interest in his mistress. When jealousy forces Fowler to take sides at last, the personal and political consequences are devastating.
Starring: Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude Dauphin, Giorgia Moll, Bruce CabotRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
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 | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "The Quiet American" (1958) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Sandpiper Pictures. The only supplemental feature on the release is a remastered vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Quiet American arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Sandpiper Pictures.
The release is sourced from a very solid organic master supplied by MGM. It is not a brand new master, but it has the qualities I would expect to see from a new master. If I had to guess, I would say that it was struck from an interpositive.
The overall quality of the visuals ranges from very good to excellent. There are minor density fluctuations that appear before or after transitions, but they inherited, so even if the film is fully restored in 4K, they will be retained. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Grain is present and often very nicely exposed, though I suspect that on a dual-layer disc, with some additional encoding optimizations, it could be even more attractive. On a very large screen, it certainly looks very good. The grayscale is very convincing, too. I did not see any distracting crushing, and grays and whites are wonderfully balanced. Is there any room for improvement? If there is, I am unsure what type of meaningful improvements can be made. Image stability is very good. I noticed a few small blemishes and dark spots, several tiny scratches too, but there are no large cuts, warped, or torn frames to report. (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 LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
All dialog and narration and clear and easy to follow. However, in a few areas there is noticeable unevenness, which may or may not be inherited. Sometimes it is accompanied by extremely light thinning, so it is possible that if the audio is fully remastered some of these are will sound slightly better. I did not encounter hiss, pops, cracks, or other distracting age-related anomalies.
Communism and neutrality are incompatible. It is why communists always force the nonbelievers to convert or declare them enemies and promptly take them out. The Quiet American is a political film disguised as a romantic melodrama whose main message is this timeless truth -- sooner or later, one must pick a side. It features one of Audie Murphy's most unusual but also most impressive performances, which many critics have speculated might be his best. I cannot agree that it is so because Murphy is sensational in To Hell and Back. This recent Blu-ray release is sourced from a wonderful organic master supplied by MGM. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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