Under Western Stars Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Under Western Stars Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 16, 2024

Some may read a plot summary for this film that officially launched Roy Rogers as a leading man (after cameos in much higher budgeted features like the Bing Crosby - Frances Farmer hit Rhythm on the Range), and have a distinct sense of having seen similar plot machinations elsewhere. Under Western Stars features Rogers playing an eponymous rancher character who, during the dark days of the Depression and various shortages (in this case water) experienced by the American populace, goes to our nation's capitol as a congressman to set things right. Well, this is obviously a low budget, "singing cowboy" riff on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, right? That might seem logical until a little matter of relative release dates (or even years) comes into contention, since Under Western Stars came out over a year before the well regarded Capra film.

Under Western Stars is almost a schizophrenic viewing experience at times, since on one level it's a completely goofy enterprise where men on horseback suddenly burst into song, while on another completely different level, the film actually attempts to get into some rather interesting sociopolitical and socioeconomic content that frankly seems a bit at odds with the underlying tone of the film. That said, the whole "water rights" issue is reasonably well integrated into the story, even if (musical theater joke warning), the songs aren't. That said, Rogers gets to warble several tunes, and he has a fascinating "eleventh hour" gospel tinged number urging politicians to help those suffering in the Dust Bowl. This "pre-Dale Evans" feature offers Carol Hughes as the romantic interest, with Smiley Burnette offering comedy relief and "backup vocals", along with the Maple City Four. Kind of amazingly given the somewhat rote song score material, "Dust" by Johnny Marvin actually got an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, perhaps understandably losing to Bob Hope's nascent signature tune "Thanks For the Memory" (a song whose original lyric actually explores a love affair gone wrong, which many people probably don't realize).

Under Western Stars Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Under Western Stars is presented on Blu-ray by Film Masters' new(ish) Archive Collection imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. This is the first Film Masters Archive Collection release I've received to review, and it's on a BD-R, which leads me to believe this new imprint is probably a(n) MOD enterprise. Kind of interestingly, this film actually had a prior release on Blu-ray as part of MVD's double feature Roy Rogers: His First & Last Double Feature, though MVD never sent a review copy of that release, so I can't comment on how this transfer stacks up to the other one. Things are certainly watchable here, but there are recurrent signs of age related wear and tear, starting with a pretty wobbly and unstable credits sequence (which is also littered with scratches). That instability can be spotted throughout the presentation, with frames warping slightly or appearing otherwise a bit "jumpy". Scratches, while not debilitating, are pretty constant, and tend to be especially noticeable against the western skies, if not the stars. Contrast is generally pretty good, if not optimal. The grain field is more than apparent, but the entire transfer looked to me like it may have undergone "grain management", with a somewhat soft, even smeary, look at times. That said, detail levels are reasonably good in more stationary shots. Some of the location work featuring galloping horses is understandably on the blurry side at times. My score is 2.75.

Under Western Stars Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Under Western Stars features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that maybe surprisingly doesn't show much if any actual damage like the video side of things, but which still can't escape an inherently thin, narrow and boxy sound. There's some rather odd music editing under the opening credits (at least to my ears), and a few other abrupt changes throughout the film that suggest whoever was doing the sound editing may not have had much musical acumen, but the score is reasonably full bodied within the above outlined context. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Under Western Stars Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this disc.

Under Western Stars Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Under Western Stars is almost comically backward looking and forward thinking at the same time. The whole "singing cowboy" motif can't help but come off as impossibly quaint to jaded modern day sensibilities, but the whole, well, Capra-esque focus on the common man confronting government big wigs to get justice is really rather presciently contemporary. This new Archive Collection from Film Masters is evidently going to be a BD-R MOD situation, for those who care about such things. Technical merits are reasonable if not completely free of age related issues, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.