NOTE: The original release, televised from time to time in pan-and-scan format, had a severely restricted color scheme. Wellman claimed it was the black-and-white color film he had wanted to make for a long time. Almost everything in the farm house interior, including the furniture and the butter churn, was white, for example. The restricted color scheme wasn't always consistent. Nevertheless, the effect was quite striking. I've wondered whether the idea for the emphasis on black and white came from the Mitchum character's hallucination late in the source novel of seeing the landscape around him in black and white. (Thanks Marshall)

***

The image quality of Track of the Cat is not at Paramount's best. It is very dirty, lots of digital noise, occasional artifacts and colors lean towards being dull. The best part about it was the film, followed by the strong audio which sounded especially dynamic. The image is quite watchable, progressive and anamorphic and the 2.55 widescreen is impressive. I enjoyed the commentary very much and there are numerous featurettes comfortably filling the dual-layered disc. Although not pristine I appreciate Paramount's efforts bringing this to digital - I'm still very excited about The Batjac Suspense Collection which we will eventually review in full.

Gary W. Tooze