7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Viennese surgeon Dr. Braun and his daughter Leni come to a small town in North Dakota as refugees from Hitler. When the winds of the Dust Bowl threaten the town, John Phillips leads the townsfolk in moving to greener pastures in Oregon. He falls for Leni, but she is betrothed to the man who helped her and her father escape from the Third Reich. She must make a decision between the two men
Starring: John Wayne, Sigrid Gurie, Charles Coburn (I), Spencer Charters, Helen MacKellarDrama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
One of the side benefits of the glut of John Wayne movies Olive Films has been releasing on Blu-ray over the past many months is the chance to see some of Wayne’s lesser remembered vehicles, including a lot of his early Three Mesquiteers shorts. At least a couple of these outings like Lady for a Night and A Man Betrayed some might argue are actually better left forgotten (though each has its fans, to be sure), while a number of others, like War of the Wildcats and The Fighting Seabees, are at least worthy of a viewing or two, even if they’re not at the top tier of Wayne’s output. Even some rabid Wayne aficionados may have never seen Three Faces West, certainly one of the oddest films in the actor’s long and varied career. This patently bizarre drama mixes elements of The Grapes of Wrath with "getting away from the Nazis" outings like the little remembered 1943 potboiler I Escaped from the Gestapo (the film Frances Farmer was making when she assaulted a hairdresser, ultimately leading to her arrest and years of institutionalization). Just for good measure, there’s a dash of any of the several films called The Oregon Trail (interestingly, one of these is a "lost" John Wayne vehicle from 1936) mixed in to make Three Faces West one decidedly improbable mash up of romance, Nazi intrigue and westward ho travelogue.
Three Faces West is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Aside from some fairly ragged looking stock footage (most utilized to show the disastrous effects of the draught in the Dust Bowl), this is another really solid looking effort from Olive that boasts good contrast, deep blacks and nicely varied gray scale. Fine detail is very good if not overwhelming and the image is suitably sharp given the age of the elements. There's relatively little damage to report here, other than the expected flecks and specks.
Three Faces West features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that sounds really nice considering its age. Especially full bodied is Victor Young's nicely vigorous score, one that traffics in gorgeous string work for the romantic aspects but which features a lot of energetic brass motifs for some of the more heroic sequences. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented and there's not even much ostensible hiss to be heard here, perhaps because it's masked by the ubiquitous sounds of the dust storms which brew throughout the bulk of the first part of the film.
No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.
Three Faces West is among the most wildly improbable of any of the "contemporary" Wayne outings from this era, but unlike some of his other modern day enterprises, this one is so odd that any shortcomings are subsumed by the overall weirdness of the story, making this a perhaps unexpectedly involving and enjoyable film. Coburn definitely needed a dialect coach, but Gurie, whose Hollywood career was distressingly short lived, is lovely (and spunky) and Wayne is resolute and believable. Like some of the other second string Wayne efforts Olive has been dabbling in lately, Three Faces West is no forgotten masterpiece, but it remains one of the more curious little entries in Wayne's impressive filmography. This Blu-ray features generally excellent video and audio and comes Recommended.
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