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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

directed by John Ford
USA 1940

This classic Ford film eclipses much of the action of John Steinbeck's well-known novel of the Oklahoma farmers' migration from the dustbowl to the California Eden during the Depression years. The Okies were unwelcome in California, of course; they threatened the jobs of the locals. The brutal police hassled and harassed them unmercifully. The migrants formed unions in self-defence and struck for decent fruit-picking wages. This inevitably multiplied the official violence. Ford's film, shot by Gregg Toland with magnificent, lyrical simplicity, captures the stark plainness of the migrants, stripped to a few possessions, left with innumerable relations and little hope.

Excerpt from TimeOut Fiolm Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 15th, 1940 - USA

Reviews                                                              More Reviews                                                     DVD Reviews

 

Comparison: 

20th Century Fox (Studio Classics) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. 20th Century Fox (Ford at Fox) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. 20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Nick Wrigley for the DVD Review!

 Box Covers

Distribution

20th Century Fox (Studio Classics) - Region 1 - NTSC

20th Century Fox (Fox at Ford) - Region 1 - NTSC 20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Also available in The Essential John Ford Collection (The Frontier Marshall / My Darling Clementine / Drums Along the Mohawk / How Green Was My Valley / The Grapes of Wrath / Becoming John Ford)

     

or The complete Ford at Fox Collection (DETAILS HERE)

Runtime 2:09:36 2:09:36 2:09:44.776
Video

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.93 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate:7.93  mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 44,661,015,816 bytes

Feature: 37,159,888,896 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.632 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Studio Classics

Bitrate:

Ford at Fox

 

Bitrate:

Blu-ray

 

Audio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) DTS-HD Master Audio English 1052 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1052 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio French 1038 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1038 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio German 1031 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1031 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Italian 1028 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1028 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio Spanish 1088 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1088 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps

Subtitles English, Spanish, none English, Spanish, none English (SDH), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Commentary by scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw
• U.K. prologue
• Roosevelt Lauds Motion Pictures at Academy Fete
• Movietone news: three drought reports from 1934
• Outtakes
• Restoration comparison
• Still gallery

DVD Release Date: April 6, 2004
Keep case

Chapters 32

Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Commentary by scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw
• U.K. prologue
• Roosevelt Lauds Motion Pictures at Academy Fete
• Movietone news: three drought reports from 1934
• Outtakes
• Restoration comparison
• Still gallery

DVD Release Date: December 4th, 200
7
Keep case

Chapters 32

Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Commentary by scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw
• U.K. prologue

Fox Movie Channel Present Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman (24:37)

Biography: Darryl F. Zanuck - 20th Century Filmmaker (45:04)
• Roosevelt Lauds Motion Pictures at Academy Fete (2:16)
• Movietone news: three drought reports from 1934
• Outtakes (2:20)
• Theatrical trailer (2:25)

Blu-ray Release Date: June 5th, 20
12
Standard
Blu-ray case

Chapters 33

 

 

 

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray (May 2012): The  1080P better shows the contrast with layering that brings out the strong density of the source. Significant amounts of detail are now visible that were black masses on the SD-DVD. The Grapes of Wrath has plenty of sequences shot in very low lighting and these greatly benefit from being rendered via the Blu-ray transfer. There is also more information shown in the frame - on all 4 sides - via the higher resolution. There are also quite a few scenes that showcase surprising depth. Fox's dual-layering with high bitrate has provided a dramatically brighter and richer video presentation.

Fox use a DTS-HD Master - faithfully mono - at 1052 kbps. As background "A Tisket, A Tasket" plays in the first scene and we also get Eddie Quillan crooning "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" and at the dance is more music like "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" and "Red River Valley" (sung by Fonda). Its very clean, predictably flat, but thee is a touch of resounding bass. The transfer has multiple lossless foreign-language DUBs and subtitle options signifying it as region FREE.

We are immediately given the option to watch with the film with the U.K. prologue (this is opposed to separately as offered on the DVD) - that and the commentary by scholars Joseph McBride and Susan Shillinglaw, the Roosevelt Lauds Motion Pictures at Academy Fete, Movietone news: three drought reports from 1934 and brief Outtakes are all brought over from the Fox DVD. But there are a couple of new pieces - Fox Movie Channel Present 'Fox Legacy' with Tom Rothman talking with clips for about 25-minutes and there is an interesting 45-minute biography entitled Darryl F. Zanuck - 20th Century Filmmaker from the TV show Biography. A theatrical trailer is also here.

An easy recommendation - the film has lost none of its impact - it, perhaps, has even more. An essential film experience that we can strongly recommend via the new, impressive, Blu-ray

***

ADDITION: Ford at Fox- Dec. 07': This is just to confirm that the dual-sides disc from the Studio Classics (#17) in 2004 is the exact same as offered in the new Ford at Fox Collection. This includes the duplicate transfer and digital supplements.

We should again reiterate at this time that our comparison is utilizing the disc from the actual Ford at Fox Collection - hence we are unaware if the single-edition includes any liner accoutrements. It is also available in the Essential John Ford Collection with The Frontier Marshall / My Darling Clementine / Drums Along the Mohawk / How Green Was My Valley / The Grapes of Wrath and Becoming John Ford.

***

This long-awaited disc is an absolute beauty. A DVD14 flipper (entire film and commentary on one side (a DVD9) and the rest of the extras on the flipside (a DVD5). The restoration details are worth repeating here:

ABOUT THE RESTORATION:
"This restoration was a collaboration between 20th Century Fox and the Museum of Modern Art, NY. Unfortunately, the original camera negative no longer exists. Various secondary sources were tested, including the two primary picture sources for the restoration - an incomplete nitrate composite dupe negative from the MoMA collection and a composite fine grain master positive belonging to Fox.

The nitrate dupe negative, whilst vastly superior in overall picture quality, contained a significant amount of damage including missing footage. This dupe negative became the primary picture source for this restoration. The fine grain master positive was inferior to the dupe negative in terms of sharpness and contrast but was more complete and was utilized to replace the missing and severely damaged sections in the nitrate dupe negative. As a final step, archival film elements were made of both the restored picture and audio elements, assuring the highest possible quality representation of this film for future generations."

 - Nick Wrigley of Masters of Cinema


20th Century Fox (DVD Editions) - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT
20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT


 
 
 
 

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Screen Captures - DVD PICTURE QUALITY IS EXACTLY THE SAME!

 

20th Century Fox (DVD Editions) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP + MIDDLE
20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox (DVD Editions) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox (DVD Editions) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox (DVD Editions) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


20th Century Fox (DVD Editions) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP
20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

More Blu-ray Captures

 

 Box Covers

Distribution

20th Century Fox (Studio Classics) - Region 1 - NTSC

20th Century Fox (Fox at Ford) - Region 1 - NTSC 20th Century Fox - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Also available in The Essential John Ford Collection (The Frontier Marshall / My Darling Clementine / Drums Along the Mohawk / How Green Was My Valley / The Grapes of Wrath / Becoming John Ford)

     

or The complete Ford at Fox Collection (DETAILS HERE)





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