They Shall Not Grow Old Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

They Shall Not Grow Old Blu-ray Movie Review

Death in living color.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 4, 2019

Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) may not be the first WWI-era documentary of its kind, but this valiant attempt to drag 100-year-old footage kicking and screaming into the 21st century might just be the most ambitious. Utilizing state-of-the-art colorization techniques, restoration tools, and -- most interestingly -- a soundtrack built almost entirely from scratch, it breathes new life into combat footage rarely seen by anyone but rabid history buffs. Through copious amounts of detailed research and dedication, They Shall Not Grow Old largely achieves its goal of striking a solid balance between authentic history and tasteful re-imagining. Despite a few obvious missteps, this 99-minute feature feels like a true labor of love and was dedicated to the director's grandfather, himself a WWI veteran.

Rather than presenting a standard chronological overview of the war, They Shall Not Grow Old aims to accurately re-create an average soldier's life in the trenches while adapting to life in a harsh environment. Forming friendships with fellow soldiers, only to see them brutally killed in action. Getting to know prisoners of war. Sharing public outdoor bathrooms. They Shall Not Grow Old avoids a traditional third-party narrator and is instead supported almost entirely by short stories from actual WWI veterans, all sourced from 600+ hours of archives provided by the BBC and England's Imperial War Museums. These men are are purposefully not identified; nor are dates and locations, which allows the imagery to be its main focal point. The first 20 or so minutes is comprised of fully restored black-and-white footage, framed at roughly 1.37:1 with mostly front-loaded audio and occasional music cues. Almost without warning, the picture zooms into 1.85:1 for the colorized segments and mostly stays there for the remainder of the film. It's bold new territory but, while I appreciate Jackson's desire to modernize this footage, it doesn't always feel right.

They Shall Not Grow Old is still a unique and compelling experience despite the framing choice. Even with a loss of resolution, the act of panning and scanning once-static imagery is Jackson's attempt to create interesting visual moments and discover previously hidden details. Still, I'm a purist at heart and would have preferred to see the entire picture all at once. But where the film clearly rebounds is the equally audacious soundtrack: aside from those veteran interviews, it's built almost completely from scratch and, unlike the visuals, aims for period-specific authenticity. More details about this soundtrack can be found in the A/V section for this review of Warner Bros.' new Blu-ray combo pack -- after all, Jackson's film is as much a technical exercise as a historical documentary, if not more so.

Although They Shall Not Grow Old was not available for purchase or review until several weeks after the release date, it's now shipping as two different versions: this BD/DVD combo pack distributed by Warner Archive Collection, and a single Blu-ray exclusively through Amazon. Both also include an on-disc bonus featurette and Digital Copy redeemable via Movies Anywhere. As with all WAC titles, the discs are manufactured on demand (MOD) and pressed, not burned.

They Shall Not Grow Old Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Documentaries are always a touchy subject in regards to visual prowess, as their overall level of quality -- even more than most productions -- is almost entirely dependent on the age and condition of their source materials. As cited in an accompanying bonus featurette covered in more detail below, They Shall Not Grow Old was largely assembled from 100+ hours of original wartime footage held by England's Imperial War Museums. Much of it was captured at different (and unlabeled) frame speeds, while some reels were third or fourth-generation duplicates. Roughly a century old and captured under brutal conditions, age and time unfortunately rendered much of it unwatchable by modern standards. Various types of damage to these source materials included torn or shrunk sprocket holes, warping, moisture damage, dirt and debris, missing frames, and similar problems. Bottom line: this stuff was in exceptionally poor condition and basically resurrected from the dead. They Shall Not Grow Old was clearly a labor of love and, though somewhat compromised for several frustrating reasons detailed below, should thrill WWI buffs and newcomers alike.

I'll say up front that Warner Bros.' 1080p transfer, without question, is a quality presentation of what they were given. Like other new and catalog Blu-rays, it maintains a high bit rate, is well-authored, and does not suffer from additional tinkering. My problem lies with the director's choice to frame much of the footage at 1.85:1, which does the source material no favors other than simply making it larger. Peter Jackson, again citing from the bonus featurette, chose to pan-and-scan much of the restored 1.37:1 footage for two reasons: it was shot static so the panning creates visual interest, and using more of the widescreen frame puts us closer to the action. I respectfully disagree with both sentiments for the same reasons I railed against all those "full frame" releases we had to avoid during the VHS and DVD era. In this case, it exacerbates the film's existing problems and, while some were expertly massaged away during the initial restoration process, a lot of issues still remain: warping and wavering run rampant, contrast boosting is obvious, and in some cases a modest to heavy amount of noise reduction was also applied. This blown-up appearance also affects the colorization, which is somewhat convincing at times but often looks powdery with poorly-defined edges. There are times when They Shall Not Grow Old, plain and simple, resembles bad CGI. Of course, we're watching 100-year-old footage that kinda-sorta looks new and, in that sense, it's almost a visual marvel. The illusion almost works more often than not. But my gut feeling is that it the remaining visual flaws, of which there are many, would have been much easier to stomach if all of this 100-year-old footage maintained a more faithful aspect ratio.

As hinted at earlier, other scenes during They Shall Not Grow Old were filmed during production and added to fill gaps left by unusable or unavailable film clips. These include era-specific products and items used by the soldiers, as well as original pen-and-ink combat drawings as seen in the British propaganda magazine The War Illustrated; after all, no one was crazy enough to drag a hand-cranked camera into some of the more violent invasions. The items and drawings look great and create a welcome visual contrast between the 1.37:1 black-and-white clips and the colorized, 1.85:1 footage, offering further evidence that WB's transfer is very good despite my reservations about the framing.

They Shall Not Grow Old Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Since the 100-year-old footage that makes up most of They Shall Not Grow Old predates the first sound feature by nearly a decade, every audio element on this Blu-ray had to be created from scratch -- and while likewise "sweetened" for modern audiences, it feels a lot more tasteful than the film's visual liberties. The newly-recorded foley effects, from boots in wet mud to authentic Howitzer shots, sound very lifelike and are placed accurately within the sound field. Other more "controversial" additions include actual voices for certain soldiers, a task accomplished by determining places of origin and hiring corresponding voice actors to record their "lines" with the help of professional lip readers. (One of the more fascinating segments involved finding a typewritten pep talk given to a specific regiment, which is spoken verbatim.) The questionable side to all this? Everything about the audio of They Shall Not Grow Old is a total illusion, since all of the voices and sounds you're hearing were obviously not made a century ago.

Not everything is all-new, of course: the countless voice-over stories that pair with corresponding wartime footage are original sound files of recorded WWI veteran interviews, whose younger selves often appear on screen but are not identified by name; some obviously sound better than others, but source issue defects are few and far between. It provides a fascinating contrast, all things considered, and this purely authentic collection of interviews offers a pleasing contrast to the audio mix's more tastefully exaggerated elements. The experience as a whole feels very immersive and contains lots of outstanding channel separation, low end, and solid dynamic range. In short, it's a real winner.

Optional subtitles, which include English SDH and a few foreign options, have been included during the film and bonus featurette. These are formatted nicely and placed inside the 1.85:1 frame with no obvious sync issues.

They Shall Not Grow Old Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Warner Bros.' two-disc combo pack (one Blu-ray, one DVD) arrives in a dual-hubbed eco-friendly keepcase with a Digital Copy redemption code and no slipcover. Only one bonus feature is included, but it's a good one.

• The Making of "They Shall Not Grow Old" (29:40) - This valuable behind-the-scenes featurette is hosted by director Peter Jackson and details the considerable task of locating and assembling the 100+ hours of footage used to create the final cut. Among other topics, Jackson speaks about the types of damage that film can endure after 100 years, converting different (and usually unmarked) film speeds to 24 fps, cinematography styles during WWI, soldiers posing for the camera, digging through England's Imperial War Museums, matching up interview audio, whittling down hours of footage, using original drawings from The War Illustrated, colorization research, traveling to Belgium, recording new foley effects, lip reading, hiring singers from he British Assembly in New Zealand, picking and choosing the subject matter, and more. This is an outstanding piece and really deepened my appreciation of the film, even though it doesn't go into much visual detail about the actual film restoration and colorization. A few technical demonstrations would have been greatly appreciated.

They Shall Not Grow Old Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old is a uniquely compelling documentary that depicts life during WWI in new and exciting ways...but the combination of restored film clips, authentic historical items, archival interviews, and new sound effects makes it feel more like a remix than a time capsule. The colorization, especially combined with Jackson's bad decision to pan and scan the 1.37:1 material, doesn't always work to the film's advantage; it just feels gimmicky and reveals loose seams in the stitching. Its completely hand-built sound mix, on the other hand, feels much more organic and stands as the more convincing new element. Still, They Shall Not Grow Old was obviously a labor of love and will completely hypnotize open-minded history buffs and newcomers alike. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray combo pack serves up a great A/V presentation (despite my complaints about the visuals) and the bonus featurette, though hardly detailed in all areas, adds some value to the package. Recommended to established fans and newcomers alike.