7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
In 1866 Wyoming, a frontier scout (Van Heflin) tries to prevent a war between the Sioux and the U.S. after the Army builds a road and a fort on territory previously ceded to the Sioux by treaty.
Starring: Van Heflin, Yvonne De Carlo, Alex Nicol, Preston Foster, Jack OakieWestern | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
George Sherman's "Tomahawk" (1951) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary recorded by critics Lee Gambin and Rutanya Alda and vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Tomahawk arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. Unfortunately, this master has a lot of the familiar shortcomings that problematic older masters coming from the major's vaults are known for. For example, there is light but noticeable smearing that exaggerates many of the color registration issues that impact delineation, clarity, and depth. As a result, the bulk of the panoramic footage looks quite weak. There are noticeable traces of sharpening adjustments that make a lot of the close-ups look quite harsh. This mix of smearing and harshness gives the film a digital quality that could become quite distracting if you view your films on a big screen. Interestingly, color balance is quite good, often even very good, so I have to speculate that without the adjustments that are mentioned above this master could have delivered a pretty solid organic presentation of the film. Select areas of the presentation still would have revealed the age of the master, but the visuals would have had a good organic appearance. Image stability is very good. I noticed a few blemishes and nicks, but there are no distracting large cuts, debris, 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 DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The lossless track is very strong. I am not surprised because the current master could have produced very nice organic visuals without the digital adjustments that were made on it. I think that some party at Universal wanted to have a good master for Tomahawk but after it was created it was digitally 'improved' to hide the aging limitations on the source that was used to create it. The audio did not need such 'improvements'. Clarity, sharpness, and balance are very, very good.
George Sherman's Tomahawk gathers several terrific actors but mismanages a good story and fails to impress. Frankly, it looks and feels like a small and rushed project that would have emerged from Republic Pictures. I am a big fan of Van Heflin and expected him to be predictably excellent as the iconic trapper Jim Bridger, but while occasionally good, he plays a different man that is not right for the story. Also, Tomahawk does quite a bit to convince that it can be as authoritative as a documentary feature but enthusiastically embellishes different events and relationships of historic significance. Kino Lorber's recent release is sourced from an older and quite shaky master that was supplied by Universal Pictures.
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1950
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