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

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (November 2019): Arrow have transferred Anthony Mann's The Far Country to  Blu-ray described as being from a "Brand new 4K restoration from the original film elements by Arrow Films". This offers two presentations of The Far Country in both original aspect ratios of 1.85:1 and 2.00:1. These are on separate dual-layered Blu-ray discs and both have a max'ed out bitrates. The image quality is the same. The film has always had a very thick and heavy appearance. The image still has some unsavory softness, more realistic (warmer) skin tones and looks significantly improved in-motion. I like the film-like heaviness and it suits the HD presentation. You can see from the screen captures the information from top and bottom unseen in the 2.0:1 ratio (I like this appearance the best - nice inclusion Arrow!).

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio that has western effects (horses and guns) and a score credited to the collaboration of Herman Stein (This Island Earth, Female on the Beach, The Land Unknown, It Came From Outer Space, War Arrow, Tarantula, There's Always Tomorrow, The Incredible Shrinking Man), Henry Mancini (Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Hatari, Experiment in Terror, Charade), Hans J. Salter (Man Without a Star, The Killer that Stalked New York, The Strange Door, Cover Up, Man Without a Star, Scarlet Street, The Land Unknown, The War Lord, The Mole People, The Strange Case of Doctor Rx) and Frank Skinner (The Appaloosa, Madame X, Magnificent Obsession, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, All That Heaven Allows, Thunder Bay, and The Naked City). It sounds authentically flat but exports some minor depth. Arrow offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

Arrow include a new audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin accessible on both Blu-ray discs. His commentaries are thought-provoking and his gentle manner makes the relaxed commentary always a pleasure to indulge in. Many facets are covered from the production, Mann, Stewart, some supporting players etc. American Frontiers: Anthony Mann at Universal is an all-new 1/2 hour documentary with Mann biographer Alan K. Rode, western expert C. Courtney Joyner (author of Western Portraits: The Unsung Heroes & Villains of the Silver Screen), script supervisor Michael Preece, and critics Michael Schlesinger and Rob Word. It covers much of The Far Country's lesser known details of Mann working at a variety of genres at Universal - educational, informative and entertaining. Mann of the West is a 24-minute newly filmed appraisal of Far Country and the westerns of Anthony Mann by the critic and author Kim Newman who we always love to hear his thoughts and recollections of minute details. There is also an image gallery, original trailer and there is a liner notes booklet with photos and an essay by Philip Kemp, credits and notes on the restoration.

One of the greatest westerns ever made - #9 (I think) in our Top 100 listing. The Far Country is an Anthony Mann / James Stewart film that fans have desired for years. Thank goodness that Arrow had the reins on the Blu-ray despite our reservations on the image. It is complete - offering the much-wanted 2.0:1 (same as Superscope) format version, 4K-restored, the commentary (on both ARs) and the other great supplements. The film gets our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze

ADDITION DVD: James Stewart - The Western Collection contains Destry Rides Again / Winchester 73 / Bend of the River / The Far Country / Night Passage and The Rare Breed. This would be considered and upgrade to have this now in widescreen and NTSC.

It looks about the same as the Spanish PAL release but has a much higher bitrate and a shade better detail.  I'm still VERY pleased about this new Collection of which we have reviewed/compared every title (links in paragraph above). For these six western gems the price amounts to $5 a piece which is really a ridiculous deal.   

 - Gary Tooze

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 - Gary Tooze