The Savage Innocents Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Savage Innocents Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 1, 2017

Nominate for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Nicholas Ray's "The Savage Innocents" (1960) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The Arctic desert

This frequently strikingly beautiful film from the great director Nicholas Ray is a true oddity. It attempts to deliver a serious message about tolerance of ‘exotic’ cultures, but it plays so loose with a whole range of different facts that it is actually effective only as an exotic fairy tale for grownups.

The main protagonist is an Inuit warrior in his prime named Inuk (Anthony Quinn) who struggles to survive deep into the heart of the Arctic desert. Death is always lurking around, but he isn’t afraid. In fact, it is its presence that helps him remain strong and appreciate life even more.

Not long after Inuk chooses a wife (Yoko Tani) he meets another warrior who shows him an old rifle that he has acquired from the ‘white man’ at a distant trading post. The warrior then reveals to Inuk that if he brings a large load of furs to the ‘white man’ he can trade them for a rifle that looks and makes the same noises like his. After months of hunting Inuk and his wife eventually arrive at the trading post to exchange their furs for a rifle, but following a night of celebrating Inuk accidentally kills a missionary priest (Marco Guglielmi) when he refuses to sleep with his wife. Inuk and his wife then return home and resume their traditional way of living, but two patrols (Peter O'Toole and Carlo Giustini) are dispatched to track them down and bring them to justice.

Ray breaks the narrative into multiple episodes that initially highlight the many unique struggles of the Inuit in a truly indescribably brutal part of the world and later on compare their way of living to that of the ‘civilized’ people that they meet. In the final third of the film, Ray also reexamines the significance of the classic perceptions about right and wrong when two incompatible cultures meet. So the entire film offers revelations and carefully crafted comparisons whose ultimate goal is to promote acceptance of what in many ways initially may appear unacceptable.

Sadly, while Ray’s heart and mind might have been in the right place the entire film is nothing more than yet another overly melodramatic Hollywood interpretation of a completely misunderstood culture. Quinn was a great actor, but here he looks and most of the time behaves as if he is in some awkwardly ambitious early adaptation of The Flintstones. (The half-broken English lines coupled with the mistimed laughter are absolutely horrendous). Then there are the ‘proper’ Hollywood ways of explaining common rituals and practices, like the casual wife-swapping, with made-up code words that are so stupid that they could embarrass even a late-night TV host. And on top of this someone concluded that having a bored narrator routinely clarifying the obvious would be a brilliant idea. So disappointing.

The film does have one redeeming quality: a lot of the footage from the Arctic desert and especially the bits featuring the various animals is quite magnificent. Apparently, the U.S. Army helped Ray shoot the overwhelming majority of it in the Arctic zones of Greenland and Canada.

*For the final version of the film someone decided that it would be a terrific idea to dub O’Toole’s voice, and an unnamed American actor did. When O’Toole found out what was done, he demanded that his name is removed from the official credits.

The Savage Innocents Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

I find the technical presentation somewhat underwhelming. While the Blu-ray release very clearly represents a noticeable upgrade in quality over the old DVD release of the film that British label Eureka Entertainment produced years ago, the master that was used really does not have the strong qualities that an elaborate and competent restoration ensures. In fact, what I see here suggests that at some point the film was remastered, but not fully restored. Here's why: Early on there are minor but noticeable color pulsations that actually momentarily affect all basic color values. Elsewhere there are obvious traces of some digital adjustments, and while they don't irreversibly damage the integrity of the film it is pretty clear that depth has suffered because of them (you can see the strong black crush in screenpcatures #5 and 7). There are also some tiny flecks and damage marks that can be seen popping up here and there. The good news is that clarity and detail can still be very pleasing, but this has more to do with the fact that the original Technirama elements are actually of exceptionally high-quality. Also, the overall image stability is very good. (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).

The Savage Innocents Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Some remastering work was likely performed because clarity and stability are very good. However, I think that a full modern remix job will likely introduce some noticeable improvements in terms of dynamic balance because there are a few sequences where some 'thinning' is present. On the other hand, it is quite possible that some of the minor fluctuations are actually inherited. The dialog and the narration are free of distracting age-related imperfections and easy to follow.

The Savage Innocents Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this release.

The Savage Innocents Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The very big problem with Nicholas Ray's The Savage Innocents is that it desperately wants to be a serious film about a unique culture that it clearly misunderstands. It relies strictly on the power of its visuals to convince that its interpretation of various rituals and customs is legit and, rather predictably, repeatedly misfires in spectacular fashion. The casting choices are also impossible to defend. The great Anthony Quinn, for instance, agreed to play a brave Inuit warrior but actually looks like an exotic character from an awkwardly ambitious early adaptation of The Flintstones. This new Blu-ray release of The Savage Innocents offers a decent upgrade in quality, but ideally the film should look better in high-definition. RENT IT.