NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (June 2024): Kino have transferred Raoul Walsh's Pursued to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "2022 HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative, Dupe Negative and Comp Print". We reviewed the Olive Blu-ray from 2012 HERE and have compared captures below. It a very satisfying upgrade showing a more accurate 1.37:1 ratio that is not distorted (vertically stretched) as the Olive is and the overall 1080P image is much brighter, tighter and show better grain. The restored Kino also has more a 50% higher bitrate. The Gallup, New Mexico vistas look gorgeous. This is a far more film-like appearance.  

NOTE: We have added 52 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Pursued has fight fights, gunfire, horses that come through with modest depth and a resounding score by Max Steiner (Mildred Pierce, Key Largo, Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, Bird of Paradise, Beyond the Forest, The Fountainhead etc. etc.) sounding clean and supportive in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith who, in her book, In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City , wrote about the phenomenon of the 'Noir Western' of which Pursued is one of the earliest and purest examples, with its Freudian themes of repressed memory and tortured family dynamics, it has also been seen as launching the trend of psychological western that would flourish in the 1950s. Imogene talks about one the great unpretentious masters of genre films, Raoul Walsh, the James Wong Howe cinematography, Mitchum (she's describes as "cool and guarded",) Teresa Wright and some of the other cast and crew including Niven Busch who wrote the film and was married to Teresa Wright at the time, Montgomery Clift being considered for the lead and much more. It's at Imogen's usual high standard and noir, western and vintage film fans will find it engrossing. Also on the old Olive Blu-ray is a Martin Scorsese introduction, included here along with a handful of trailers; When the Daltons Rode, The Shepherd of the Hills, The Ox-bow Incident, Canyon Passage, Duel in the Sun, The Virginian, Yellow Sky, Rawhide, Not as a Stranger, Night of the Hunter, Man With the Gun, and The World in His Arms.  

Raoul Walsh's Pursued is regarded as an early "film noir western" and it has deep-rooted psychological themes of lost memory through trauma (or dissociative amnesia.) Throw into the mix a sister's romantic relationship with her "foster brother" and an intense sibling rivalry. Revenge-murder motivations surface through recalled, dark cinema trope-ish, flashbacks. Teresa Wight is 'par excellence' and Mitchum is at his maximum beefcake (Imogen Sara Smith says "he never looked more beautiful.") Master Raoul Walsh helming, a Max Steiner dramatic score and James Wong Howe's atmospheric photography combine for iconic cinema. I'm so pleased that Kino gave the old Olive Blu-ray a full makeover with new 4K scan, audio improvement, and a 'DVDBeaver favorite' doing the new commentary. Must-own stuff. Our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze