USA 1953
For those who don’t know who Glenn Miller was, he was
the one to invent the big band and thereby revolutionizing band sound.
Contra to the ordinary band, the big band has sections rather than a
single instrument, thus making it sound bigger, hence the name. In 1935
Miller arranged his first big band and by 1937 he had his own. But it
wasn’t until 1939 that he broke thru and his sound became instantly
recognizable with the big band sound. At the height of his career, Miller
chose to join the armed forces in 1942 and over the next two years he
would serve the US by playing for the troops, adding an invaluable moral
effort. Sadly, while flying to Paris in December 15, 1944, the plane never
arrived, presumed crashed. Today Glenn Miller is remembered as the father
of the big band and the composer of more than twenty classic melodies,
amongst them now legendary tunes as "Moonlight Serenade", "String of
Pearls" and of course "In the Mood".
In between the classical westerns, Mann and Stewart teamed up for a
biographical picture on Glenn Miller. The film begins in 1924 and follows
Miller over the next twenty years, until his fatal crash. To add
authenticity, Mann invited original musicians and singers to participate,
such as Frances Langford, Louis Armstrong, Ben Pollack, Gene Krupa, James
Young and Babe Russin, to name some.
The film itself is a heart warming homage to Miller, taking full advantage
of both its stars, James Stewart and June Allyson, but also of Miller’s
music, and became a huge box office hit. And while it is possible as far
removed from the existential westerns of Mann, it remains both one of his
best directorial efforts and one of Stewart’s best parts. It is a film,
that still today invites one to just sit back and be carried away. Pure
Hollywood cinema.
Posters
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Theatrical Release: December 10, 1953 (Hollywood, California)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Universal - Region 1 - NTSC
Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the Review!
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| Distribution |
Universal Region 1 - NTSC |
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| Runtime | 1:52:17 | |
| Video |
1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Audio | 2.0 Dolby Digital English | |
| Subtitles | English, French, Spanish, None | |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 21 |
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| Comments |
The
image is cropped from the OAR of 1.37:1, approx 13% top and 12%
bottom, to aprx 1.85:1, in order to allow anamorphic encoding (see
comparison between VHS and DVD below). While Universal eventually did
mask their films into 1.85:1, only 5 films were released in Widescreen
in 1953, and this is not one of them. The transfer leaves a lot to wish for. It is awfully grainy, during reel change it changes drastically in color and light, and it has minor emulsion errors. Clearly, the image was neither remastered nor restored, but appears to be directly transferred to DVD. Apart from that, very little compression artifacts. Sound is original mono having gotten a 2.0 Dolby Digital upgrade. This is an Academy Award winning sound mix and it does sound great, even though its center based. But image it getting a solid 5.1 Dolby Digital upgrade to make that glorious big band sound come to life. |
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Screen Captures
subtitle sample (English only)
captures resized to 800px from 960px native resolution
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VHS capture showing intended framing
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Universal Region 1 - NTSC |
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